Require approval stages before a supplier is approved

Approval rules add named sign-off to supplier approval. Each stage is one person's decision about the same documents, as they stood when the review started. Stages don't review documents, grant exceptions or certify a supplier.

How do I set up approval rules?

1. Open the rules

   Choose Approvals in the sidebar, then Create approval rules. Only Owners and Admins see it. Publishing needs a sign-in from the last five minutes, so Vendarity may ask you to sign in again.

2. Add the stages

   Set Number of stages to 1 stage, 2 stages or 3 stages. For each stage, enter a Stage name, such as Quality review, and choose the Named reviewer. Add a First substitute · optional and a Second substitute · optional if someone may stand in.

3. Choose which suppliers each stage covers

   Use Supplier category, Site name · optional and Requirement criticality. All conditions must match, and a blank one matches every supplier. Type a site exactly as recorded, including capitals: it matches the supplier's site or the site of a requirement that applies to it.

4. Decide on conditional approval

   Keep Require stages for matching suppliers ticked. Tick Allow conditional approval only where valid Owner/Admin exceptions cover every unmet requirement only if a review may end in a conditional approval.

5. Publish

   Write the Reason for this rule version, at least 8 characters, and choose Publish approval rules.

Reviewers and substitutes must be active Owners, Admins or Reviewers, and a stage's reviewer and substitutes must be different people. To change the rules, choose Publish next rule version. Reviews already started keep the rule version they started with; new reviews use the new one. To stop requiring stages, untick Require stages for matching suppliers and publish.

Which suppliers need staged approval?

A supplier needs staged approval when at least one stage matches it. Stages that don't match are skipped, and the others keep their order. On the supplier's page, Supplier approvals under Related opens its approvals, with the Stages selected for this supplier.

While a stage matches, approving or conditionally approving the supplier with Record approval decision is refused, and Vendarity asks you to open its approval review. Suspend stays available there at any time. A supplier that no stage matches is approved there as usual.

How does a review move through the stages?

1. Start the review

   On the supplier's Supplier approvals page, choose Start approval review. Choose the Requested supplier decision, write the Reason for the supplier decision, at least 8 characters, and choose Start approval review. If the supplier can't be approved yet, the button is unavailable and the reason shows below it.

2. Decide each stage in order

   The next stage's named reviewer or a substitute chooses Review stage on the review. They check the supplier's documents with Open supplier evidence, write a Decision reason of at least 8 characters and choose Accept this stage. A substitute also writes a Reason for substituting.

3. The approval is recorded

   When the last stage is accepted, Vendarity records the requested decision as the supplier's Approval, with the reason given at the start. Until then, the supplier's approval doesn't change.

Approve · all applicable requirements satisfied needs every requirement that applies to be current. Conditional approval · valid exceptions required appears only when the rules allow it, and needs an exception for each requirement that isn't current. Only an Owner or Admin records exceptions; a rule can't grant one. See Request changes, mark a requirement not required or record an exception.

Each acceptance checks the supplier again. If its documents, exceptions, findings or requirements changed after the review started, or it can no longer be approved, for example because a document expired, the stage can't be accepted. Cancel the review and start a new one.

Who can decide each stage?

Only the stage's named reviewer or one of its substitutes, and only while they are an active Owner, Admin or Reviewer. Vendarity checks their role at every decision. Everyone else sees that the next assigned reviewer or an eligible substitute must continue. Managers and Viewers can see reviews but can't start or decide them.

Each stage needs a different person. Someone who decided an earlier stage can't decide a later one, even when the rules name them there too. Vendarity won't start a review unless different active people can fill every selected stage, and it refuses an acceptance that would leave a later stage with no one independent to decide it. There is no override.

What happens when a review is returned or cancelled?

• Return review: the stage's reviewer or a substitute ends the review with a reason. Fix what they raised, then start a new review.
• Cancel review: an Owner or Admin ends an open review with a reason, for example after the supplier's documents changed.

Either way, the supplier's approval doesn't change, and earlier stage decisions stay in the review's history. A stage can't reject a supplier outright: to stop relying on one, choose Suspend in Record approval decision. After a suspension, an open review can't be accepted, so return or cancel it.

What does the review record show?

Each review on Approvals shows its status (In review, Approval recorded, Returned or Cancelled), its rule version and the requested decision. Each stage shows its reviewer and substitutes and whether it is Awaiting review, Not reached, Accepted, Returned or Cancelled. A decided stage shows who decided it, when, their reason and any reason for substituting.

Approval record opens the full record: the requested decision and its reason, the rule and supplier versions, and Documentary position reviewed. That lists each requirement's status when the review started, with links to the supporting documents, and a Snapshot fingerprint that identifies the stored copy. Later changes to the supplier or the rules never rewrite it.