General Information
The bulk approval feature provides the end user one general overview that shows all transactions that are pending approval for the specific user. The overview combines all transactions into one page and allows the user to approve or reject transactions from one page. The bulk approval feature allows the user to quickly filter the list of transactions and if needed, provides the ability to drill down to the transaction level data without leaving the overview. With this, the user has a very detailed overview which allows them to speed up a decision making process. The bulk approval follows the configuration and therefore respects the setting for mandatory approval or rejection reasons. The bulk approval feature is available as an individual page but also as a minimized dashboard portlet.
Activating the Dashboard Portlet
To add the Bulk Approval portlet navigate to your dashboard and then click "Personalize" on the top right corner of your dashboard. Open the section named "SuiteApps" and select the option "Bulk Approval". After clicking the portlet will become visible and will load the data. The first load can sometimes take time. During loading the ZoneApprovals logo will be visible. After the portlet is added it can be dragged&dropped on the dashboard, where it is wanted/needed. It is recommended to keep it in the middle section because the screen size provides a better overview.
Filtering transaction types is also possible inside the Dashboard Portlet. They will not be visible by default, but can easily be enabled. To enable the multi-select chips, navigate to Home > Set Preferences > Custom Preferences > ZoneApprovals section. Enable the ALLOW UTILIZATION OF FILTER CHIPS WITHIN THE BULK APPROVALS PORTLET checkbox, then only save.
Once enabled, the Dashboard portlet will be expanded with the new multi-select chips:
Bulk Approval Overview Page
To open the bulk approval page navigate in the main menu to one of the following paths
- SETUP->ZONEAPPROVALS->ZONE BULK APPROVALS
- TRANSACTIONS->ZONEAPPROVALS->ZONE BULK APPROVALS
Using the Bulk Approvals
The bulk approval overview exists out of a header section and transaction data section. The header section for the dashboard portlet provides slightly less options compared to the full overview page. In this section both elements will be explained in detail and where needed differences between both view will be highlighted.
Header
Filter Chips
The header provides the user a filter option only in the overview page and not in the dashboard portlet. The filters are shown to the user as “chips” which are multi-select for the transaction types. The first 2 chips allow the user to filter the data table to only show what is approved or rejected. This option will not show lines where the user has not yet selected to approve or reject.
The next set of “chips” allow to filter transaction and are multi-select. This means that when a chip is selected, for example journals, the data table will only show journals. When the user would also select the “chip” expense reports the data table will show both transaction types.
The last “chip” is a reset option. When this is pressed all filtering options will be removed and the data table will show again all data that is present
Progress Cards
The second part of the header are 3 “cards” that do provide the user an indication of what is processed so far. The cards provide the following data
- Total Value Approved: This “card” sums the amount of the approved transactions
- Total Value Rejected: This “card” sums the amount of the rejected transactions
- Approval Progress: This “card” shows the user how much is processed in percentage. The calculation is 100% divided by the number of line multiplied with the lines where an approval or rejection action has been performed.
Transaction Data
The transaction data section shows the user all the transactions that should be reviewed. Each line represents a transaction and each line provides the option to drill down to the actual transaction line level data. When the plus icon is pressed this data will be shown automatically. When pressing the minus icon the drill down data will be hidden again. For certain transactions the drill down data could provide also the option to show on the same screen attachments. For example when ZoneCapture is used it will allow to view instantly the vendor/supplier invoice. When working with expense reports it will allow to view instantly the receipt from the employee related to an expense transaction line.
On each line the user can select if they would like to approve or reject the transaction. There is also a column that allows entering an action reason. This is equal to the approval or rejection reason. When a line has been approved or rejected will will turn green or red. When the lines remains red it means that the action reason is mandatory. Without this reason the bulk approvals will not allow saving the submitted data and will be blocked until the line is containing the expected data.
Enable Bulk Approvals to Vendor Center roles
The Bulk Approvals Page and the Bulk Approvals Portlet are also available to Vendor Center roles. Their setup is recommended for users that prefer to execute approval routing in the native NetSuite UI, rather than utilize 'Approval by email'.
To generate a user access, the first step is to create an Employee record. Please note, the employee record does not necessary have to have access:
It is optional to enable the 'Approval by email' and 'Super Approver' checkbox under the subtab ZoneApprovals. If enabled, the system will respect this logic and provide an email request for this user (when a transaction is submit for approval and this user is the next approver) or display all the transactions pending approval, if Super Approver is set.
Once the employee record is created, under the ZoneApprovals tab, ZoneApprovals Parent Employee subtab click the button 'New Vendor'.
The system will take you to a vendor record of NetSuite and populate primary information as defined on the Employee record (Name with ZA VC prefix, email address, subsidiary).
Make sure to provide 'access' to this record utilizing the Vendor Center role:
Before saving the record, only make sure the 'Vendor Available for ZoneApprovals' checkbox is enabled and the 'ZoneApprovals Parent Employee' field holds the employee name with which the vendor record was accessed from. These fields can be found on the ZoneApprovals tab of the vendor record.
Once these steps are completed, the user will be provided with an access link and from there can login to NetSuite.
Once logged in to NetSuite via the Vendor Center role, hover 'Zone Bulk Approvals' from the menu, then 'Zone Bulk Approvals Overview' to reach the Bulk Approvals Portlet. By default the Portlet will be disabled, therefore proceed with setting up the content by selecting the 'ZA Bulk Approval Dashboard VC PL'. Upon save, the Portlet will be available.
The full page overview is available when navigating to 'Zone Bulk Approvals' > 'Bulk Approvals' > 'Zone Bulk Approvals'.
To disable the Vendor center Bulk Approvals access, only remove the employee record from the 'ZoneApprovals Parent Employee' field and disable the 'Vendor Available for ZoneApprovals' checkbox. These values are present on the vendor record (tab ZoneApprovals).
Access can also be removed from the Employee record itself:
The remove action will clear out the 'ZoneApprovals Parent Employee' value from the vendor record. The checkbox 'Vendor Available for ZoneApprovals' will be unselected in a scheduled manner, after a period of time.
Disable the Bulk Approvals deployment to Vendor Center roles
The deployments of the Bulk Approvals page and portlet are enabled by default. To disable it, make sure the 'ZA Bulk Approval Vendor Center SL' and 'ZA Bulk Approval Dashboard VC PL' script deployments are undeployed.
To reach these deployments please navigate to Customization > Scripting > Scripts. Filter the results per type Suitelet and reach the ZA Bulk Approval SL. Click on 'View' and under 'Deployments' the 'ZA Bulk Approval Vendor Center SL' will be available. Click on the title, edit the record and disable the checkbox 'Deployed'. Then save.
To reach the ZA Bulk Approval Dashboard VC PL please navigate to Customization > Scripting > Scripts. Filter the results per type Portlet and reach the ZA Bulk Approval Dashboard PL. Click on 'View' and under 'Deployments' the 'ZA Bulk Approval Dashboard VC PL' will be available. Click on the title, edit the record and disable the checkbox 'Deployed'. Then save.