To strengthen compliance and operational control, we implemented the approval workflow feature.
Currently, the system has different types of workflows, each focused on a critical point of the process:
- Approval of quote requests
- Approval of reopenings
- Approval of counteroffers
- Approval of nominations
With these workflows, previously defined users (one or more) gain the authority to approve or reject actions performed in the system, ensuring traceability, standardization, and reduction of operational risks.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to configure and use the counteroffer approval workflow, ensuring that negotiations follow internal rules and only proceed after proper validation.
Access the system in the environment where you intend to configure the counteroffer approval workflow. It is important to note that each client has an exclusive environment, which means that all workflows and information generated in this space are confidential and private.
In the left-side menu, click on “Settings”. Then locate the “Counter offer” tab to enable the “Approval Workflow on Counter” option, or search in the top-right field of the screen.
Next, access the left-side menu and click on Compliance.
In the Workflow Group List table, create an internal name to identify this approval process.
This identification will be extremely important if:
- there is more than one type of approval workflow active or to be created;
- different approvers are defined for different users, even within the same type of approval workflow.
Then, in the Approvers field, select the users who will have permission to approve or reject counteroffers. To include new responsible parties, click Add and register the corresponding approver or group.
When defining an Approver, it will be necessary to indicate the Approval Workflow Type for which they will be responsible. In this tutorial, we will select the Counteroffer type.
Next, define the approver’s Priority. This field determines the approval order, for example, who approves first and who approves next.
Important: priority only applies when there is more than one approver configured for the counteroffer approval workflow. Otherwise, the workflow will proceed directly to the single defined approver.
After this configuration, in the “Workflow Group List” field, you will select the group created earlier.
The Currency and Amount fields shown below should only be used when approval depends on the total freight value. In practice, this allows you to create approval rules based on financial limits. Example: if Approver X should review only counteroffers whose freight value exceeds R$ 70,000, configure it as follows:
- Currency: BRL
- Value: 70,000.00
In this way, the approval workflow is triggered only when the value informed in the counteroffer exceeds the defined limit, ensuring financial control without generating unnecessary approvals.
Attention! If it is not necessary to configure approval rules based on freight cost, leave the currency field as BRL and the amount field set to zero.
When returning to the Workflow Group List table, note that the Approver already appears correctly in the Approvers field, while the User field remains blank. This is expected: at this moment, the group has been created, but there are still no users linked to it.
To define which users will have their actions submitted for approval in this workflow, follow the steps below:
- Access the left-side menu Users.
- Locate the desired user and click the view icon (eye) in the Actions column.
- Click Edit User.
- In the Approval Workflow Group field, select the group configured earlier.
From this linkage onward, all counteroffers made by this user will automatically go through the defined approval workflow.
Finishing this configuration step, we will now see how it works in practice for the user who must request counteroffer approval.
After accessing the quotation with status “Ended”, click the “Analyze Quote” button to view the proposal comparison screen under “Contracts Found”.
On this screen, click the eye icon in the “Details” column according to the offer you wish to submit for counteroffer approval.
Then, click the “Counter Offer” button to send a message to the logistics provider negotiating and set a date and time for their response, as well as attach a document if necessary.
Immediately after, define a message to the Approver and set a date and time for the request, as well as attach a document if necessary.
After the counteroffer approval request is submitted, the user can track the request status through the “Approval Workflow” screen by clicking on the left-side menu.
Finally, we will now see this same screen from the approver’s perspective, where they can access the quotation if necessary to review the details and then choose “Approve” or “Decline” by clicking the corresponding button in the “Actions” column.
Lastly, regardless of the decision, the approver will be directed to the final stage of the process, with a field where they must record a message to the requesting user justifying their decision.