Introducing the stages of the Canopy approval workflow

Canopy utilises approval workflows to ensure suppliers cannot enter your supply chain, and ERP system, without the proper authority.

The approval workflow on Canopy his highly configurable, so your specific workflow may differ from what is outlined below. For more information your workflow, please consult your Administrator.

This sequence of articles explains Canopy's default approval workflow.

In this article you will learn:

Types of approval

Stages of the Canopy approval workflow

Which elements of the workflow are configurable?

Configuring individual data points for approval

Switching on/off stages of the approval workflow

Types of approval

There are two types of approval:

1. Approving specific data points
   Any data point in Canopy may be assigned an approval. By setting a data point to require approval, you can have certainty that the information in question has been seen by the relevant team(s), and they have granted approval in full knowledge of that information. If a data point requires approval, you will see clear instructions underneath the data point informing the approver about what they need to do. Data point approval may be rule-driven, which means the requirement for approval may be conditional.
   
   
2. Approving the supplier as a whole
   The Supplier Profile as a whole will require approval, independent of any specific data point approvals. Approving the supplier as a whole is not possible until all data point approvals have been completed. By approving the supplier as a whole, you are moving the supplier to the next step in the approval workflow.

Both of these types of approvals are discussed in this article.

Stages of the Canopy approval workflow

When approving the supplier as a whole, there are 4 main stages to Canopy's default workflow. They are:

1. Request Approval - the process of approving a new supplier request from the business, before the supplier is invited to complete their profile on Canopy. For more information, click here.
2. Section Approval - once the supplier has submitted their profile for review, Section Approval invites specific teams to approve the sections of the profile that are relevant to them. For more information, click here.
3. Bank Verification - this is a specific step in the workflow, whereby a dedicated Bank Verifier is asked to confirm that they have verified the supplier's bank details. For more information, click here.
4. Final Approval - once Section Approval and Bank Verification have been completed, the profile passes to a Final Approver for final approval. This is the final step before the supplier is published and made available to trade with. For more information, click here.

The end-to-end workflow is illustrated below

Which elements of the workflow are configurable?

The approval workflow within Canopy is highly configurable to fit the needs of your business. For a detailed understanding of your specific configuration, please consult your Administrator.

There are two groups of configuration that impact the approval workflow, as follows:

1. Configuring which specific data points in the profile require approval, and by who
2. Switching on/off stages of the approval workflow

Configuring individual data points for approval

Changing the fields that require approval, and who is responsible for granting that approval, is designed during your initial implementation, and may also be changed throughout your lifetime working with Canopy.

Deciding that a field requires an approval creates both a positive and a negative impact on your supplier operations:

Positive:  it means the field will never reach a 'published' state until the relevant team/person has reviewed it and confirmed its acceptance;

Negative:  it creates work for the approver by requiring them to have eyes on the field in question, and means the supplier as a whole may not pass to the next step in the workflow until all data point approvals have been completed.

Because of this, best practice dictates that data point approvals are reserved only for those fields that are absolutely critical. Non-critical fields may be reviewed at any time as part of the overall supplier approval.

Switching on/off stages of the approval workflow

There are various configuration options available to ensure the workflow in Canopy fits your preferred way of working.

Each stage may be configured as follows:

• Request Approval - this workflow step may be switched on, or off, or be defined by a set of rules
• Section Approval - while Canopy is pre-configured with 5 different Section Approver User Groups, you may wish to change these to fit the needs of your business
• Final Approval - this workflow step may be switched on, or off, or be defined by a set of rules

For specific information about the configuration options available at each stage, please follow the links above to consult their specific article pages.