ZoneApprovals is a managed bundle and is Built for NetSuite (BFN) verified by NetSuite. All releases undergo an extensive testing cycle before being released to Production accounts. New releases are announced upfront by email to the contact person(s) registered for new functionality which is noted when the first two places in the version number change (e.g. from version 1.7.x to 1.8.0). Patches and bug fix updates are not announced upfront and are noted when the last place in the version number is updated (e.g. from version 1.80.0 to 1.80.1).

For more information, please review the ZoneApprovals Release Process or review past ZoneApprovals Release Notes.

General Release Information

Release 1.6.0 has been released on the 28th of February 2023 and contains several enhancements and bug fixes. Below you can find more information related to the enhancements and bug fixes. We will update your Production account automatically and the Sandbox account can be updated from your (the customer's) end at any given time.

Enhancements

FFA-370 Group-Based Approvals

In this release, Group Based Approvals are introduced. Previously, segmentation and threshold combination could only be approved by employees. Upon collecting customer feedback, transactions subject to approval can now be approved by a group. Groups can be created using the standard NetSuite Group functionality which can be found under List > Relationship > Groups. Groups can be created static or with dynamic members. The only prerequisite to using a group as an “Approver” is to enable the “Available for ZoneApprovals” checkbox on the Employee group form. More information regarding the creation of a group can be found on the page Create an Approval Group.

FFA-467 Approval by email deactivation on transaction level

When the main “Approval configuration” is fully configured for “Approval by email”, the system will send out approval emails for all transactions deployed. In this version release, the possibility to exclude certain type of transactions from the “Approval by email“ functionality has been introduced. Users can now overrule the email activity by unchecking the new configuration option named “ENABLE APPROVAL BY EMAIL“ on the Approval Transaction Records. When not checked, the email logic will remain in force to all deployed transaction, except for the specific transaction type records, excluded by this setup.

Approval Transaction Record

FFA-470 Automatically submit ZoneCapture related Vendor bills

ZoneApprovals main configuration has been enriched with a new functionality. ZoneCapture users can now auto-submit Vendor Bills and Vendor Credits for approval routing when generated automated by ZoneCapture. This checkbox can be found on the “Approval Configuration” record.

This new functionality of “Automatically submit auto-generated ZoneCapture transactions“ is enhancing the overall experience of using ZoneCapture & ZoneApprovals SuiteApps.

FFA-472 Approval log for automation

In ZoneApprovals, transactions automatically transformed to status “Approved” can be encountered. Reasons can be various, a transaction’s deployment might be missing or a matrix’s conditions might not be met. In this version release the audit trail is improved, providing clarification for the end user of auto-approved reasons.

FFA-497 Option to configure the dashboard portlet searches

ZoneApprovals comes with e predefined dashboard portlet. The dashboard icons are in the background saved searches responsible for displaying the number of transactions and when the user clicks on the dashboard icon the actual saved search will be opened. In this version we offer the option to create a custom saved search and connect it with a specific dashboard portlet icon. With this option it is possible to extend the data displayed or to filter specific transaction if needed. The searches can be configured by navigating to Setup > Company > General Preferences sub section “Custom Preferences”. Here a new section named “Approvals” can be found that allows to change for each dashboard portlet icon the saved search.

FFA-498 Update the Approval Hierarchy Definition Record Fields to be mandatory

In this version release, an increased protection is introduced to the Approval Hierarchy Definition’s setup. The fields of the key parameters as “Comparison operator“ and “Amount limit“ are defaulted to mandatory, validating the values recorded. This improvement is protecting users from unforeseen issues when an Approval Matrix is created.

FFA-522 Exclude ZoneReconciliation transaction from approval routing

In this version a new configuration option is introduced that allows ZoneReconciliation user to exclude transaction from approval routing. This new configuration option can be found on the “Approval Configuration” record and is named “Exclude bank reconciliation-related transactions from approval”. When this checkbox is enabled transaction created by the ZoneReconciliation will be automatically approved. This will provide a seamless flow between both SuiteApps.

FFA-553 Include next approver name in email template

Due to a limitation in Netsuite users faced the situation that it was not possible to include the name of the next approver in a custom template. In this release a new functionality has been introduced to overcome this limitation. To display the next approver name in a custom email template a placeholder can be used. This place holder is “NEXT_APPROVER”. This place holder will be replace by the system with the actual name of the next approver. This allows the user to create for example the following start of a custom email template

Dear NEXT_APPROVER,

This will result into an outgoing mails stating

Dear Jon Do,

FFA-569 Matrix UI enhancements

ZoneApprovals used a matrix that allows user to define the needed approval routing flow. The UI from this matrix page has been extended with additional logic so it provides more clarity and guidance to the end user. The following enhancements have been introduced

• “Sourced Vendor Approver” and “Sourced Employee Approver” both have a special icon now to distinct them better from the other icons
• “Group” also have a special icon to distinct them better from the other selection options
• Some options aren’t available for specific transaction types. When the user changes or selects values that can not work together the system will warn the end user and guide them to a solution.

FFA-615 Set "Default Email Recipient"

The Approval configuration has been further improved by introducing a "Default Email Recipient" setup. The Default Email recipient holds such a logic that supports the communication flow, in cases when the original recipient can not be found.

Approval Configuration

Bug Fix

FFA-514 Incorrect “Approval Reason”

Under certain circumstance it happened that the application didn’t set the expected “Approval Reason” but copied for example the data from the previous line. This version introduces an enhanced logic that prevents this from happening so that the correct approval reason is present at all time.

FFA-542 No approval email after resubmit

In ZoneApprovals the user can reject a transaction if it does not meet the expectations. After a resubmit for approval the application did not send out again the approval by email even if this was configured and did happen on the first approval routing. In this release the logic has been improved so that after a resubmit the approval mails are sent out as expected.

FFA-548 Approval email is not re-sent after transaction is rejected and then resubmitted for approval

A very common scenario within an Approval routing is the Rejection of transactions. After a transaction is rejected, it can be updated by the initial creator and re-submitted for approval. When this process took place, no email was re-sent to the dedicated approver. In this release this issue has been resolved and an Approver can be notified of a re-submitted transaction as expected.

FFA-552 E-mail approval request sent twice

An occasion was raised of an approval email request sent twice. This scenario occurred in situations of approved transactions. After a transaction has been approved, the end Approver would receive an additional email approval request. This scenario is fully removed in this version release, limiting and securing the correct flow of email communication.

FFA-570 Approval Matrix ID is copied when a Purchase Order is transformed to Vendor Bill

The scenario of maintaining two different Approval Matrixes for Purchase orders and Vendor Bills is very common. In this version release, the Vendor Bill’s inheritance of Purchase order's matrixes is fully separated, taking into consideration different end user setups. This improved logic allows for correct storage of an applied matrix ID to both transactions (the Purchase order and the final Vendor bill).

The scenario to fully omit Vendor Bills with already approved Purchase Orders is supported too. To enable this behavior, an end user should only select the EXCLUDE PURCHASE ORDER RELATED VENDOR BILLS checkbox on the main Approval configuration.

FFA-658 When a custom segment is selected on a Matrix line, an error is triggered

In this version release, the usage of custom segments within a Matrix logic was resulting in an error. The scenario is now fully handled by allowing users to fully get advantage of a custom segment usage on both, body and line levels.