Sign-offs

Some stages shouldn't be moved to by just anyone. A tender that goes to the client only once the Project Director says so. A purchase order over 50,000 that only the Executive can approve. A sign-off is a rule on a stage: only these roles can move a record there.

Anyone else who tries is told who can, and nothing in that save is kept. Not the stage, and not the other fields they edited on the same screen.

What You Need

Sign-offs are set per section, and they need a board: a picklist the section's records move through (see Picklists). The stages are that picklist's options. A section with no board shows a note saying so and has nothing to sign off.

You also need permission to open Settings, and the roles you want to name must already exist (see Accounts & Users).

Setting One Up

1. Go to Settings > Sections and edit the section.
2. Find Freeze, revise and sign-offs. Under "Stages only some roles can move a record to, optionally above a value", click Set up sign-offs. Once you have some, the link reads "2 sign-offs. Change".
3. Each row is one sign-off:
   • Moving to: pick the stage.
   • Only: tick the roles who can move a record there. Tick more than one and any one of those roles will do.
   • When (optional): leave it on Always, or pick a field and the row becomes "Value is over", with a box for the amount. Then the rule only bites above that amount.
4. + Add a sign-off for another row, the cross at the end of a row removes one, and Save keeps the lot.

You can have up to 20 rows. The "is over" list offers the section's number, currency, formula and roll-up fields, so a total worked out from a job's lines works as well as a typed figure. If you choose a field you have to say the amount. Saving with the amount blank, or with no role ticked, is refused and says which row.

Saving with every row empty clears the lot. ORCA says the section has no sign-offs now.

What Someone Without the Role Sees

They try to move the record, from the record form, the kanban board or the tracker, and ORCA says, for example:

Only Executive can move this to Approved when Value is over 50,000.

With two or more roles it reads "Only Director, Executive or Finance can move this to Approved." If the rule is Always, the "when" part is left off.

• On the record form, the save is refused. Nothing from that save is kept, so they can't leave the stage alone and quietly keep their other edits. Fix it or ask someone with the role.
• On the kanban, the message pops up and the card goes back where it was a moment later.

The rule bites on arriving at the stage. A record already sitting at it is left alone.

The "over" rule watches the value too

With "Value is over 50,000", a record at Approved can't have its value pushed over 50,000 by someone without the role. Otherwise you could approve a 10,000 PO and then change it to 90,000. Equally, a value at or below the limit is fine for anyone to move.

If someone creates a record straight at the stage, or changes the value and the stage in one save, ORCA judges the save as a whole, by what it would leave behind.

Who Counts

• Nobody is exempt, admins included. If you need to test a sign-off, add yourself to the role.
• The system passes. Things ORCA does by itself, like an automation updating a field, the site clock or a seeder, aren't people, so they can move a record to a signed-off stage.
• The API has no role. An API key isn't a person, so it holds no role. That means it can't move a record to a signed-off stage, however powerful the key is. The call comes back as a 422 with the same message, and nothing is saved. The one exception is an "is over" rule where the value is at or below the limit, which anyone may do. See the API.
• Importing a CSV drops a stage the importer can't sign off, rather than putting the record there anyway.

The Approval Pattern

A sign-off stops the wrong person moving a record. It doesn't tell the right person it's waiting. Pair it with an instant automation and the approval asks for itself.

On Purchase Orders:

1. Stages: Draft, Awaiting approval, Approved, Ordered.
2. Sign-off: Moving to Approved, only Executive, when Value is over 50,000.
3. Automation: trigger A record moves to a stage (straight away), ticking Awaiting approval. Step: raise a to-do, "PO needs approving", for everyone in the role Executive.

A buyer moves the PO to Awaiting approval, which anyone can do. Every Executive gets a to-do linked to the PO. One of them opens it and moves it to Approved. If a buyer tries to drag it to Approved themselves, they're told who can.

Another automation can fire on Approved, for example to stamp an "Approved On" date set to today.

A Sign-off Is Not a Freeze

A sign-off controls who can move a record to a stage. Freeze and revise controls whether a record, and its lines, can be changed once it gets there. They sit on the same Settings screen and work well together: sign-off the Submitted stage, freeze at Submitted.

Related

• Record Automations : the "A record moves to a stage" trigger and to-dos for a role
• Freeze and revise : lock a record at a stage
• Accounts & Users : create the roles a sign-off names
• API : writing to records from outside ORCA