Note:
This feature is only available to you if you have booked the “Advanced” or “Pro” package. To make changes to your current package, please get in touch with your contact person or contact contactcustomersuccess@alasco.de.
Topic overview
- Utilisation of order approval processes
- Processes for approving contracts
- Special Instructions for use
- Notifying all participants
Introduction
Before a Contract can be assigned to a contractor , it is often necessary for different internal stakeholders (e.g. managing directors, project managers, purchasers) and external parties (e.g. investors, planners) to approve the assignment. This ensures that the order is processed by the right experts, taking into account all relevant aspects, such as the budget. The conventional approval process is customized for project developers depending on the size of the order and the approving bodies, but is usually carried out manually - often via routing slips, by telephone, email, verbally or in other tools. This manual process means that the release status between the people involved is not always clear, which can lead to duplicate clarifications or important instances perhaps not being taken into account.
As an order passes through many hands manually, order approval can be very inefficient. Decisions and reasons for approval are often not sufficiently documented, meaning that information is lost and there are many queries as to why orders are not commissioned or approved. Clarification requires a great deal of communication between all those involved in the approval process, which delays the process yet again. Delayed approval can have the following consequences:
- Proposal deadlines cannot be met
- Orders are placed later than usual and possibly only at an extra charge.
- The construction schedule cannot be met and cost damages may arise.
- Frustrated teams due to complex and time-consuming coordination without system support
- Lack of transparency in decision-making and decision-making processes
Project developers lack a place where all authorized parties can view the status of the current contract and where approvals are documented, traceable and efficient according to regulated processes. Until now, approvals have only been mapped manually or using separate tools, which can lead to media discontinuities and disrupt the flow of information.
With the contract approval process in Alasco, you can have your contracts checked and approved quickly and easily in a documented and traceable manner by all parties involved, thus avoiding unnecessary additional work and stress. All parties involved are informed in turn and you will receive a notification at the end of the test run regarding the successful release of a contract or the reason for rejection, with the option of making improvements.
Note:
This functionality may not be included by default in your chosen product package. If this is the case and you are interested in using this function, please contact your responsible contact person or customersuccess@alasco.de to adjust your package.
Activation of the order approval process
To use the contract approval process, you need a contract with the status “Draft”. First, select the corresponding contact in the “Contract overview” tab under the “Costs” menu item. In the contract overview, click on the “Actions” button at the top right of the screen and select the “Start approval process” option.
As soon as you have started the approval run, you can select the users who are to approve the contract from the drop-down menu in the window that appears. After making your selection, you can use drag and drop to adjust the order of the users again or use the X to remove a user from the approval run.
Click the “Start approval process” button to start the contract approval process for the contract.
The selected users will then receive a notification in which they are asked to review and approve the contract.
Approval Processes
After starting the contract approval process, a banner appears in the order overview showing the current approval status and the user with whom the contract is currently for approval.
The users who are to approve the contract now have the option, directly in the banner in the contract overview, of rejecting the contract with a reason or approving it with a approve comment.
If the contract is rejected, the entire contract approval process is canceled and the initiator receives a corresponding notification. The initiator can then make any necessary changes to the order and restart the approval process if necessary.
When rejecting or approving an order, the reviewer can leave a comment. This is then displayed in the contract history.
Notification function
Activating this feature also activates notifications. Users who have started a contract approval process will now see a bell icon next to their name in the upper right corner of the screen.
As soon as an contract is rejected or approved by all auditors, you will receive a notification there. Click on the message to be forwarded directly to the history of the respective contract.
The contracts that are currently being released are displayed on the dashboard under the item “Tasks in progress” next to the invoices and change orders.
In addition, the person to whom a contract is currently assigned can also see it in the “My Tasks” area.
If the auditors have activated the daily notification in their personal settings, they will not only be reminded of the invoices and change orders to be checked in the daily e-mail, but now also of the check of the contracts. This will continue until they approve or reject the contract.