Approvals - ORCA Docs

Some documents need a client to say yes before work starts: a quote, a design, a contract. On a construction job a RAMS (risk assessment and method statement) is the classic, so it's the example here. Approvals let you send one from the job: the client gets an email with a link, reads the document, and either approves it or tells you what to change. The answer lands on the job, and you get an email.

No chasing through your inbox, no "did they ever reply?".

Approvals are a per-account module. If you can't see the panel on a job, the ORCA team needs to switch Approvals on for your account. The team also sets up what can be sent, because there isn't a settings screen for it yet. For each section that sends documents, they choose the file field the document lives in and, if you want them, the contact field it goes to, a status picklist, dates to fill in, and who gets the chase.

The Panel on a Job

Open a job and look in the sidebar. Each thing that can be sent has its own panel, named after it, such as RAMS. The panel shows:

The status, if the section has one: for example Issued to client, Approved or Changes requested.
The latest send: Waiting on the client since a date, opened on a date or not opened yet. Once they answer it changes to Approved with who and when, or Changes asked for with their comment.
A note that a to-do will chase it (see below).
A Sent 3 times list, once you've sent more than once, showing each send and what happened to it.

The panel only does something once a document is on the job. Until then it says to add the document to its file field first, then send it from here. Only people who can edit the job see the button.

Sending

Add the document to the job's file field (the RAMS Document field, say).
In the panel, click Send RAMS. The button reads Send again while a send is waiting for an answer, and Send a new version once the last one has been answered.
Fill in the form:
- Document: a pick-list if the field holds several files, newest first. With one file it just names it.
- To: the client's email. If the job has a contact for this, it's filled in for you. You can change it.
- Name: so the email says "Hi Sam".
- Message: already filled in with a polite ask, which you can rewrite.
Click Send for approval, or Cancel.

ORCA then emails the client, marks the status as sent, stamps the sent date if the section has one, and adds a note to the job saying what went to whom.

The email comes from your company's name "via ORCA", and replies go to you, not to ORCA. It has a Review the RAMS button and a line asking them not to forward it, because the link is theirs.

What the Client Sees

The client clicks the button and lands on a page with your company's name and logo, the job, who sent it and when, your message, and the document's file name. They need no login and no ORCA account. The link is the only key.

On that page they can:

Open the document. A PDF opens in the browser, anything else downloads.
Type their name and any comments.
Click Approve, or Ask for changes. Asking for changes needs a comment saying what to change.

They get one answer. Once they've answered, the page shows it back to them (Approved, or changes asked for) and the buttons go away.

When a link stops working

You send a new version. The old link is withdrawn the moment you send again. Anyone opening it sees that a newer version has been sent and should use the latest email. Only the latest version can be approved, so nobody signs off an out-of-date document.
60 days pass with no answer.
14 days after they answer.
The job, or the document on it, has been taken away, or the module is switched off.

Anyone landing on a closed link is told why and to ask the sender to send it again.

What Happens When They Answer

On the job:

The status moves to Approved or Changes requested, if the section has one.
On approval, the approved date is stamped, if the section has one.
A note is added: who approved it or asked for changes, with their comment.

By email, ORCA tells you (the person who sent it) and the job's owner, if the section has an owner field:

Subject RAMS approved: J-1047, with a line saying it's marked approved on J-1047.
Or Changes asked for on RAMS: J-1047, with their comment, and a reminder that once you've updated it you can send it again for a fresh link.

Each email has a link straight to the job.

To answer a request for changes, update the document on the job and click Send a new version. That one gets a new link, and the old one stops working.

The Five-Day Chase

If a send hasn't been answered after five days, ORCA raises a to-do:

Title: "Chase RAMS approval for J-1047".
For: the job's owner, if the section has an owner field, otherwise whoever sent it.
Due: the day it's raised.
It says who it was sent to and when, and that sending it again gives them a fresh link. It's linked to the job, so one click gets you there.

The check runs every morning at 08:00. Each send is chased once, not nagged daily. If the client answers first, or you send a new version, there is nothing to chase. The five days can be changed per approval by the ORCA team.