AP Invoice Approval Workf
Multi-level vendor bill approval by amount, department and budget
Approving supplier bills over email and spreadsheets is how organisations end up paying invoices that were never properly authorised, breaching segregation of duties and failing audit. Odoo has no native accounts-payable approval matrix to stop it. This module adds a configurable multi-level workflow to vendor bills: ordered rules select the right flow by amount band, department and optional budget breach, then route the bill through sequential approval steps, each owned by a named approver group with self-approval blocking. A posting guard makes the control absolute — a governed bill simply cannot be posted until every required step is signed off — while delegation, SLA tracking and an overdue-escalation cron keep approvals flowing. AP teams, controllers and auditors get an enforceable, fully traceable authorisation trail tied directly to each bill.
Key Features
Amount/Department/Budget Approval Matrix
ap.approval.rule records carry an amount_min/amount_max band, an optional department (analytic account) and a requires_budget flag. find_rule walks them in sequence and the first whose _matches passes defines the step set, so routing is fully data-driven.
Ordered Multi-Step Sign-Off
Each rule holds ap.approval.rule.step lines, each pinned to an approver res.groups. On submit the bill instantiates one ap.approval.request per step; only the first is 'active', and _advance_approval activates the next waiting step as each is approved.
Enforced Posting Guard
account.move._post is overridden so a governed vendor bill (in_invoice/in_refund) raises a UserError unless ap_approval_state is 'approved'. The control is impossible to bypass — an unapproved bill simply cannot be posted.
Self-Approval Block and Group Checks
_user_can_act verifies the user is in the step's approver group (or an AP manager) and, when self_approve_allowed is off, blocks the bill's own submitter from approving their step — enforcing segregation of duties at every decision.
Delegation of Active Steps
action_delegate lets a current approver hand an active step to a specific user via delegated_to_id; that delegate may then sign off even if they are outside the approver group, keeping approvals moving during absences.
SLA Tracking and Overdue Escalation Cron
Each step has an sla_hours target (default 48) and an activated_on stamp; is_overdue flags breaches. The _cron_escalate_overdue job posts an overdue notice on the bill once per step (guarded by the escalated flag) so stuck approvals surface automatically.
My Approvals Inbox
get_my_ap_approvals returns every bill whose active step the current user is entitled to action, filtered through _user_can_act, giving each approver a focused queue of exactly what is waiting on them.
Bulk Approve / Reject Wizard
The ap.bulk.approve wizard takes the selected bills, applies the decision and shared note to each bill's active step where the user is permitted, and reports how many were processed — clearing a backlog in one action.
Use Cases
Screenshots
All Approval Steps
Approval Rules
Bulk Approve Reject
Why Choose This Module
Stop approving bills over email. This module adds a configurable multi-level approval matrix to vendor bills: rules select an approval flow by amount band, department and optional budget breach, then route the bill through ordered approval steps with sign-off, rejection and a complete audit trail. A bill cannot be posted until its workflow is fully approved.
Specifications
- Compatible: Odoo 18.0 / 19.0
- License: OPL-1
- Languages: English
- Author: Pokutsoft
- Dependencies: account
- Support: support@pokutsoft.com
Update date: 2026-07-02