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Dear Odoo users,

We are looking for a comprehensive approval system where Vendor Bills have to be approved by set project managers before being able to get posted. 

So for example a vendor bill gets uploaded in Odoo, the accountant selects a project or chooses a PO where the project is connected through analytic accounts. Then the project manager set for that project is notified that a vendor bill has to be approved. Only after approval it can be posted OR paid. Either works.

I have been searching on the App Store but cannot find anything. Can anyone help or maybe they use a similar system?

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Best Answer

A different Analytic Account can be set on each line of a Purchase Order.


You can already:

1 - click at the bottom of the Vendor Bill in the system notification where you see This vendor bill has been created from: POXXXXX to open the Purchase Order.

2 - from the Purchase Order, see the different Analytic Account(s) used, for each product/service ordered.  

3 - click open each Analytic Account and click the Project (or Projects if there are multiple) to see not only who the current PM is, but also any prior PM's that may need to approve the Bill.

[extra credit] - click the Avatar of the PM to see if they are even in the office this week or online right now.


Once you know who is the best person to ask, click once at the top on the Vendor Bill (link in the breadcrumbs) to schedule an approval via an Activity on the Bill (perhaps create a custom Activity "Approval" if you need one). 

The request will be emailed to them and they will see it in their Activities dropdown (clock) at the top of their Odoo screen. You will have a record of who approved it and when.


See also:

https://www.odoo.com/forum/help-1/discuss-odoo-14-how-can-we-see-who-is-online-or-offline-in-the-chat-window-like-messenger-fb-194937

https://www.odoo.com/documentation/15.0/applications/productivity/discuss/overview/plan_activities.html


Note:  If the PM placed the Purchase Order, you can also just look in the chatter after the first click and see them there / click their Avatar there.  You could also add a custom field to the Purchase Order form view so a PM need to be selected when the PO is created, and that would also meant you are just a single click away from discovering who you need to ask.

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Author

The first problem is that it has to be automatic, plus when you use activity nothing is blocked from continuing the process. Hence there needs to be a different kind of approval process.

Automating this will require thinking about and handling many edge cases: (1) after it is approved, an error is discovered causing it to be credited and re-entered; (2) the approver is out of the office; (3) the Bill was pre-approved (maybe even verbally); (4) the Bill does not require approval (ie: related to overhead expenses such as Tax Bill, Rent, Insurance); (5) the project is not setup; (6) the PM is not assigned yet; (7) the Bill is required for a pre-payment (asset, so not burdening the budget); (8) approval would delay payment and incur a financial penalty; (9) the PM does not have the information needed to approve and must delegate to another; and (10) several more that I can't remember right now. We don't recommend blocking because there are always exceptions to every rule.

Author

Fair point. However, there has to be a way to do this better. Maybe to account for the points stated, or to have a solution in between the two. I will try to draw this out soon and come back with it.

Project administration is works really well in most ERP systems, and in comparison to Odoo it lacks massively. Approval is a major factor.

Best Answer

Hi 

i think it is easy to set an approval cycle while Procurement  through approval Module and set the approvers hierarchy for example Project Manger 

Sample

Civil Engineer request a material to purchase , he create a RFQ , RFQ will be approved by project manger then accountant to convert to PO then Vendor Bill 

i think odoo standard will do that 

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I couldn't figure it out using the Approval Module on our test server as it seems quite limited. I will look further into this, thank you.

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