Approve by email

If you are asked to approve a bill by email, you can decide from a private web page with no account and no password.

What you receive

An email from WorkApproved with a subject such as "Approve: INV-1042, Tasman Timber". It says a bill in the organisation is waiting for your approval, shows the document, supplier, amount and due date, and has a Review and decide button to your private page. If the decision is slow you may get a "Reminder" email, and a later email if it is escalated.

Steps

1. Choose Review and decide in the email.
2. Read the bill: who submitted it, the dates, the lines and totals, and the attachment.
3. If there is a risk flag, read its reason. A High flag must be acknowledged before you can approve. Check the point it raises yourself, tick the box, and, if the page asks, write what you checked. See What the risk flags mean.
4. In Your decision, choose one:
   • Approve (a comment is optional).
   • Reject. Write the reason first. It goes back to whoever submitted the bill.
   • Ask a question. Your question goes to the person who submitted it. The approval waits until they answer, and you are emailed then.
5. You see a confirmation. You can close the page.

If you are standing in for someone, the page says "You are standing in for" their name, and your decision is recorded as yours, for them.

Good to know

• The link is for you alone. Please do not forward it. Anyone who has it can decide as you.
• Your decision is recorded with the time, your IP address and your browser, as part of the audit record.
• The link stops working once the bill is decided, if the bill is changed in Xero, or on the date shown at the bottom of the page. A link lasts at most 30 days, and every reminder carries a fresh one.
• The invoice is on the page. It is attached to the email only if your organisation has chosen that.
• You approve by choosing Approve on the page. Replying to the email does not approve anything. A reply goes to WorkApproved's support inbox, so never put an approval link in a reply.

When the link does not work

The page tells you why:

• Already decided or Done: you approved it: nothing more is needed.
• The document changed after this email: it was edited in Xero, so the approval started again. A new email is on its way to whoever should look at it now.
• This link has expired: choose Email me a fresh link. It goes to the address the email came to.
• This is no longer waiting on you: it moved to someone else.
• This was reassigned to someone else: an administrator moved it, so this link no longer decides it.
• This document was withdrawn: it was deleted, voided or sent back to draft in Xero.
• Please sign in to decide: you now have a WorkApproved login, so decisions are made signed in. Choose Sign in to decide.
• This link does not work: it may have been cut short when copied. Open it again from the email.

If you are answering a question

You may get an email asking you to answer a question about a bill. The page has a Your answer box and a Send answer button. If the bill itself needs changing, change it in Xero instead. The approval then starts again with the new version.

Related

• Approve a bill
• Add approvers and people
• Set up a workflow
• Get help or send a correction