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Approval workflow for order

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Adrian Ursu
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Posted on 17/10/2014 12:25:02

Hi Guys,

 

I have a prospect that want us to build into the B2B ecommerce scenario a way to define an approval workflow for the users.

This means that there can be several approval levels from the order initiator to the final approval (don't ask me why they need it).
The number of aproval steps varies from company to company (it's not user related).

An approval user can approve the order, can reject it and can EDIT it.

My approach is to have the cart converted to order from the order initiator and change the order state according to each user's level.

While I think that I can handle the reject and approve, I am on uncharted territory when it comes to EDIT order.

Any suggestions or best practices for that?

Thanks,


Adrian


Replies

 
Merethe Nielsen
Posted on 20/10/2014 08:45:44
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Hi Adrian,

Maybe you can use the new Quotes module that is available from 8.5.1. With the Quotes module it is possible to create and edit quotes before the final order. It is possible to edit the quote state from backend and frontend and edit the quote from backend.

 

Quick guide:
Install Quotes module
Create two order contexts (checkout and quote) and assign them to separate carts
Set up a quote flow with whatever states fit your business (e.g draft, new, waiting, accepted)
Setup customer center with quote templates - adjust quotedetail template reorder and checkout links with &OrderContext=ORDERCONTEXT# argument
In frontend: Log in to extranet. Add a product to your quotecart and perform checkout
In backend: Locate quote in Quotes section and edit it as needed
In frontend: Find your quote in customer center -> My Quotes and from detail view add it to your checkout cart

 

Kind regards,
Merethe

 
Adrian Ursu
Posted on 20/10/2014 09:09:29
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Hi Merethe,

That's actually a very good idea.

I am going to need to let the users change the status of the Quote from the font-end. I assume that will be possible if we use the API.

I will give it a try.

By any chance, is it possible to control the email notifications flow for each customer?

Thanks,

Adrian

 
Adrian Ursu
Posted on 20/10/2014 09:39:39
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A few more questions (since I cannot find anything on the manual).

Is the Quote state user dependant (like the cart) or it can be viewed and changed by different users?

What I would need is to make the Quote bound to a Company (user group) rather than a specific user. Or I can bound it to a specific user if necessary, The one that initiates the quote.

One user can open several quotes at a time?

Thanks,


Adrian

 
Jonas Krarup Dam
Posted on 21/10/2014 13:53:21
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Hi Adrian,

I'm not sure what you mean by user dependant: Quote states are defined for the system, along with rules for which state changes the user is allowed to do in the frontend.

You cannot have different quote states for different users.

A quote is tied to a user, just like an order or a cart. you may be able to do something with the impersonation functionality, to set something that'll work as companies, but I'm not sure.

One user can have multiple quotes in the system at the same time, and if you have more than one cart-context, a user can have more than one "active" quote at a time.

Regards, Jonas

 

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