Create approval flow on a bank account

  • 25/04/2024
  • 7 minutes to read

When you create payments in the payout journal, the payments may need to be approved by multiple users. This helps to increase the security of the payment process. The approval flow can be set up and controlled using the procuration function in Continia Payment Management.

How to use procuration in Continia Payment Management

The approval flow is set up on the bank account. This ensures to which extent each account can be used, and which security level is required for each bank account.

Follow the guide below to access the power of attorney function.

  1. Select the icon Søg efter side eller rapport, enter Bank Accounts, and then select the related link.
  2. Select the bank account for which you want to set up approval flow.
  3. In the tab Navigate, select Procuration. Here you can choose between Groups, Users and Setup, described in details below.

We suggest that the initial setup of approval flow is performed in the given order in the menu.

Procuration groups

  1. In the tab Navigate, select Procuration and then select Groups.
  2. Create the procuration groups that must have authority to approve payments in the payment journal for the given bank account. For example, if the payment must be approved by 2 approvers, you must at least create 2 groups, e.g. Finance and Management.
  3. Click OK to close the window.

Procuration users

  1. In the tab Navigate, select Procuration and then select Users.
  2. Create those users, who should have authority to approve payments in the payment journal for the given bank account. Use the drop-down to choose from the users created in Dynamics NAV or Business Central on-premises.
  3. Specify which Procuration Group Code the user should be associated with.
  4. If necessary, specify a Procuration Department. This field allows you to divide power of attorney users by departments, so as to ensure that all employees in a department also belong to the same power of attorney group. This field is not related to the Department-dimension in Dynamics NAV or Business Central on-premises, but is included here only to provide a better overview.
  5. Click OK to close the window.

Setup

  1. In the tab Navigate, select Procuration and then select Setup.

  2. Set up rules of procuration for each Procuration Group Code.

    FieldDescription
    Procuration Group CodeSpecifies the Procuration Group Code the rule must apply to.
    Allocation %Indicates how large a share of the payment a User from the above Group may approve.
    Required Allocation %Indicates what percentage of the payment must be approved before the user in question can approve it. Be careful not to state anything in Required Allocation % if it is first-approver (Sequence = 1).
    SequenceIndicates the order in which the approval is to be made, ie which Procuration Group Code is the first approver, second approver, etc.
    Max. AmountIndicates how large an amount may be approved for. Max. Amount is always calculated in Local Currency (LCY).
    Department FilterIndicates which department dimension the Procuration Group may approve for. Documents to be paid must therefore have a corresponding department dimension attached, for example, to the sales header.
    Project FilterIndicates which project dimension the Procuration Group may approve for. Documents to be paid must therefore have a corresponding project dimension attached, for example, to the sales header.

    Note

    Procuration rules cannot be set up for individuals Users, only for Groups.


  3. Click OK to close the window.

The application of approval flow in practice

Here is an example of the approval flow when a payment is sent, where a approval rule is set up with two users:

  1. User 1, who does not have procurement rights, creates a payment suggestions in the payment journal but cannot approve the payments, as he is not a member of a procuration group.
  2. User 2, who is a member of procuration group Finance, approves the payment by accessing the Payment Overview (F5) from the payment journal. Here, payment journal lines can be approved F9.
  3. Payment journal lines now get status "Partially Approved"
  4. If you subsequently edit the lines in the payment journal, you will receive a warning. If you accept, the payment line will be validated again and must be re-approved. Only valid entries can be approved.
  5. User 3, who is a member of procuration group Management, also approves the payments, by going into the Payment Overview (F5) from the payment journal. Here the payment lines can be approved with F9.
  6. Payment journal lines now get status "Approved".
  7. Once the payment lines are approved, User 2 or 3 sends the payments to the bank.
  8. The payment lines will then have status "Sent". If you use direct communication, the status can also be changed to "Received" and in some cases also to "Paid". The latter, however, requires that the payment method be an Immediate Transfer.