What are approval rules?

Approval rules allow your company to customise how requests are routed for approval based on amount, department, project, or category.

The approval rules module is switched on for your company by Bilaro support. When the module is off, or if your company has not created any rules, approvals work using the company approval threshold as before:

  • Requests at or below the company threshold need only a Manager's approval.
  • Requests above the company threshold require a Director's approval.

Rules only add scrutiny. A rule can add a Director step or name specific approvers, but a rule can never remove a Director step that the company threshold requires.

How do rules match a request?

When a request is submitted, Bilaro evaluates your active approval rules from the top of the list downwards (lowest priority number first). The first active rule that matches all its conditions applies to the request.

A rule can combine any of the following optional conditions:

  1. Amount band. Set an Over (RM) and Up to (RM) limit (SST-inclusive). The lower limit is excluded and the upper limit is included (for example, over RM 20,000 up to RM 50,000). Leaving either field blank leaves that end open.
  2. Department. Match requests raised for a specific department selected from your company's list.
  3. Project. Match requests linked to a specific project.
  4. Category (direct payments only). Direct payments carry a category (such as Utilities, Office Rental, or Statutory Payments). Because standard purchase requests do not carry a header category, category conditions match only direct payments.

Each rule also has a Needs a Director option:

  • When ticked, any request matching this rule is routed to a Director, even if the amount falls within the company threshold.
  • If left unticked, the rule itself does not mandate a Director, but the company threshold still applies.

If no rule matches a request, the request falls back to the standard company threshold.

Live factors can also require a Director: a Bill of Quantities (BQ) overrun, an exception to your quotation policy, or a scored evaluation override will still add the Director step when the request is approved.

How to test a request (preview)

Before saving or reordering rules, Admins can test which rule would apply to a hypothetical request without saving any data.

  1. Open Approval rules under Admin Tools in the menu.
  2. Scroll to the Test a request panel below the rules list.
  3. Enter a test Amount, and optionally select a Department, Project, Request type, or Category.
  4. Click Test.

Bilaro displays the matching rule, its priority, whether a Director step is required, named approvers, and partner consent requirements, together with the reasons behind the outcome.

Who approves a request under a rule?

A rule can independently specify who approves at the Manager step and who approves at the Director step. Four approver options are available:

  1. Default approvers. Any user holding the required role (Manager or Director) in the company may approve.
  2. Specific person. A named individual who holds the required role in your company.
  3. Department head. The designated approver assigned to the department on the Departments page.
  4. Project manager. The project manager assigned to the chosen project on the Projects page.

Setting a department head

To use the Department head option in rules:

  1. Open Departments from the main menu.
  2. Click Edit on the relevant department.
  3. Select the user in the Department head field and save.

What happens when a named approver cannot act?

If a named approver has left the company, lost their Manager or Director role, or is the requester who raised the request (since approvers cannot approve their own requests), Bilaro does not strand the request.

Instead, the request falls back to normal approvers holding that tier's role. The audit log notes that fallback approvers acted and explains why the named approver could not handle the request.

Who may approve at the Director step?

On the Approval Rules page, Admins can configure the company-wide setting Director step: who may approve:

  • Any Director (the named Director is notified first). When a rule names a Director, only that Director is notified, but any Director in the company may still approve. This avoids delays if the named Director is travelling or unavailable.
  • Only the named Director (or an Admin). Only the specific Director named by the rule (or a company Admin) may approve. Other Directors cannot approve the request.

When is a request's route decided?

A request's route is calculated and stored when the request is created or when a draft is submitted:

  • If a request is edited while it is still Submitted (before the Manager review), its route is worked out again.
  • Once the request moves past Submitted, its stored route is fixed.
  • Editing, reordering, or deleting rules later never changes requests already in progress. Existing requests keep their original route and approver requirements.

For joint-venture companies, Bilaro supports multi-partner governance where requests must receive approval from every joint-venture partner.

Setting up partners

Joint-venture partners are managed on the Approval Rules page under Joint-venture partners:

  1. Click Add partner and enter the partner name (for example, "Partner A (Demo)").
  2. Click Members to select the users authorised to sign for that partner.
  3. Use the up and down arrows to arrange the partners in their desired order.

A company must have at least two partners before a partner-consent rule can be created.

When editing an approval rule, tick Needs every partner's consent:

  • Ticking this automatically ticks and locks Needs a Director, because partner consent is decided at the Director step.
  • Requests matching this rule go through the Manager step as normal, then enter Pending Director status until one eligible signer from each partner has approved.
  • The last partner signature completes the company approval and moves the request to Approved (or on to the group layer if configured).

The following rules apply to all partner-consent requests:

  • One signature per partner. Exactly one authorised signer from each partner must approve.
  • Two different people. Each partner signature must come from a different person. If a person is a member of two partner lists, they can sign for only one partner on that request.
  • The requester never signs. The person who created the request cannot sign for any partner on their own request.
  • Admins never override partner signers. Unlike named-approver fallbacks, Admins and Global Admins cannot sign in a partner's place unless they are listed as an authorised member of that partner and hold the required role.
  • Director-solo fast path is disabled. Requests requiring partner consent never skip partner signatures, even if the company has no active Manager.
  • Rejecting or withdrawing clears signatures. If any partner signer rejects the request, or if the requester withdraws it, all recorded partner signatures are cleared and the request returns to the requester as Draft.
  • Partner deletion protection. A partner cannot be deleted while an active rule requires partner consent, or while any open request is routed waiting on that partner.

Admins can configure four settings on the Approval Rules page:

  1. Who may sign for a partner. Choose Directors on the list or Directors or Managers on the list.
  2. Signing order. Choose Any order or In the order listed. With fixed order, partners must sign in their listed order; later partners cannot sign until earlier partners have signed.
  3. Manager-step approver may sign. Choose whether the user who approved the Manager step on this request may also sign for their partner.
  4. Who may reject. Choose Partner signers or an Admin or Partner signers only.

What does the request page show for partner consent?

When a request requires partner consent and is at Pending Director, a Partner consent card appears at the top of the request page:

  • It lists each partner that has approved, showing who signed and when.
  • It displays which partners are still pending ("Waiting for: Partner B (Demo)").
  • If a partner has no eligible signers available (for example, if all members have left or are disqualified), the card displays a warning stating that an Admin needs to update the partner list.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if no approval rule matches a request?
The request is routed using your standard company approval threshold. Requests up to the threshold need a Manager; requests above it need a Director.

Can an approval rule allow a purchase above the threshold without a Director?
No. Rules can only add scrutiny. A request whose amount exceeds the company approval threshold always requires a Director.

Can the same person approve the Manager step and also sign for a partner?
Yes, provided the setting "The person who approved the Manager step may also sign for their partner" is enabled. If disabled, a different person must sign for the partner.

What happens if a partner list has no one eligible to sign?
The request cannot proceed until an Admin adds an eligible user to that partner's member list. An attempt to approve will show a notice explaining that the partner has no eligible signer.

Does changing an approval rule change requests already submitted?
No. A request's route is snapshot when it is submitted. Future edits to rules apply only to new requests and drafts submitted after the edit.

Can a partner be removed while requests are waiting for approval?
No. Bilaro stops you deleting a partner if any active rule uses partner consent or if any open request is currently waiting on that partner.

Need more help? Email support@bilaro.my.