New feature: introducing quote approval

We’re always looking for ways to improve efficiency for agencies, and our latest feature – quote approval – is designed to do just that. 

This new addition to Synergist streamlines the approval process for client quotes, helping you maintain financial control and improve workflows. Here are just a few ways it can help:

• Better financial control: Ensure quotes align with your pricing strategies before being shared with clients.
• Reduced risks: Eliminates the risk of sending incorrect or unauthorised quotes to clients.
• Faster workflow: With automated approval workflows, you can minimise back-and-forth emails and speed up your sales cycle.

What is quote approval?

The new quote approval feature allows agencies to create a structured approval process for reviewing and approving client quotes, reducing the risk of errors and miscommunication.

Key elements of the feature include:

• Configurable approvals: You can define who has approval permissions, ensuring the right level of oversight.
• Approval limits: Assign different approval levels to different team members. Juniors can self-approve lower-value quotes, while seniors handle larger approvals.
• Clear visibility: Every quote’s approval status is recorded, providing full visibility into the process.
• Automated notifications: Alerts are sent to the relevant approvers when a quote needs review and to job handlers once a quote is approved.
• Version control and revisions: If you amend an approved quote, it automatically creates a new quote version, so you can easily track any changes.

How it works?

The process is simple yet powerful:

1. Enable the feature: Quote Approval is off by default, but you can activate it via the Utilities > System Parameters settings.
2. Set your approval rules: Define who can approve quotes and establish their financial limits for approval.
3. Submit for approval: When a quote is created, it remains in ‘draft’ status until it is submitted for approval. You can add notes and share the estimated charge vs quoted value.
4. Approval process: The designated approver(s) is notified and can either approve or query the quote.
5. Locking approved quotes: Once a quote is approved, it’s locked to prevent changes from being made. If changes are needed, you can revert the quote to draft, and a new revision of the quote will be created.
6. Seamless communication: Notifications are sent to relevant team members, and the quote can be sent directly to the client as a PDF.

Additional approval workflows in Synergist

While Quote Approval is a new addition, Synergist also offers a range of approval processes to streamline agency operations, including:

• Purchase order approval: Provides a purchase requisition for approval before being committed and given a PO number.
• Purchase invoice approval: Ensures goods or services are marked as received before payment is made.
• Sales invoice approval: Provides structured review and processing workflows for client invoices.
• Expense approval: Helps agencies streamline processing and ensure accurate financial records.
• Timesheet approval: Helps agencies maintain accurate project and job time tracking.  

Get started today

Quote Approval is available in Synergist (V13). If you’d like to learn more or need help setting it up, get in touch with our support team or check out the online help documentation.

What’s next?

As part of our ongoing commitment to enhancing agency workflows, we’re continually refining Synergist’s approval processes. Future developments may include further controls and audit trails for billing plans to provide even greater financial oversight.