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 1.7.0 has been released on the 30th of May 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-189 Bulk Approvals

In this version, we announce the new bulk approvals feature. This new feature will allow the user to approve or reject any configured transaction type from one general overview. This bulk approval overview is available as an individual page or as a dashboard portlet. Both overviews will provide the user a full oversight of the pending transactions to be approved and on each transaction, the user can drill down and see on the same page the high-level transaction data and potentially related documents like the original vendor invoice. More information regarding bulk approvals can be found on the page Bulk Approvals.

FFA-481 Option to redirect approval

A new configurable option has been added that allows redirecting the approval to another employee within the company. This is a user permission that can be set on the employee record and when enabled, the user can press a button name “Redirect Approval”. When pressed a new screen will allow the selection of another employee. This change will be recorded in the audit trail. More information can be found on the page Employee Settings.

FFA-523 User role approval routing

This version brings a new selection option in the matrix configuration that allows selecting a user role. When a user role has been selected as the next approver it means that all employees logged in with that user role can approve or reject the transaction.

FFA-554 GL account approval segmentation

This version brings a new GL account segmentation option. This new segmentation allows the user to define in the matrix a specific GL account that should trigger particular approval routing. This new feature can be found on the approval matrix as an additional segmentation chip. Just like the other segmentation chips the GL account chip can be dragged&dropped into the matrix. From here the user can select a specific GL account and then populate the threshold approvals for that specific account and amount.

FFA-553 New template var for next approver

A new email template variable has been introduced in this release that provides the option to use the full name of the next approver in the email template. This sourcing was not possible with standard logic. To show the full name of the next approver the tag NEXT_APPROVER can be used. This tag will be automatically replaced by the system with the next approver full name when the email is sent out by the system. More information can be found on the page Email Template.

FFA-571 Option to reset approval routing

A new configurable option has been added that allows restarting the approval flow in full. This is a user permission that can be set on the employee record and when enabled the user can retrigger the approval routing. More information can be found on the page Employee Settings.

FFA-574 Selection options conversion to chips

This release changes how selected options are display in the matrix. In the previous version the selection options where shown as regular text and this release changes the selected option to “chips” that do provide nice and clean overview to the user.

FFA-631 Option to switch between amount and gross amount

This version brings a new configuration option on the Approval Configuration that allows the user to switch between net amount and gross amount. This new checkbox is named “Use Net Amount”

FFA-666 General threshold allowance

This release brings a new feature that allows setting a threshold for an amount change that is allowed on a transaction that is in the approval flow or which is fully approved. This new feature can be found on the “Approval Configuration” and on the “Approval Transaction Record” which allows to deviate on a transaction level. The threshold can be set as a fixed amount or as a percentage. When a user would alter the transaction and exceeds the threshold then ZoneApprovals will fully automatically submit the transaction again for approval. More information can be found on the page Approval Configuration.

FFA-675 Replacement of the Fast Four logos

In this release the Fast Four logos that were visible during a loading operation are replaced with the ZoneApprovals logos.

FFA-686 Ability to capture the approval/rejection reason during approval by email

The request from our active user customer base was that it would be a nice enhancement if ZoneApprovals would allow to provide an approval or rejection reason during the approval/rejection by email. This release introduces this ability. To provide an approval or rejection reason the user must reply to the mail with first the defined magic keyword and then type the potential reason between two hashtags (#). For example a response could look like this: Rejected #The rate on the invoice is incorrect and should be 124#. ZoneApprovals will always store a potentially provided reason, but does not respect the option to make a reason mandatory.

Bug fix

FFA-552 Double email for approval

In certain situations did happen that the employee received twice an email for approval. This did happen instantly but sometimes also after the final approval. This release resolves this issue so that approval email are only sent out when needed and only once.

FFA-575 Menu title is visible twice in new Netsuite version

In the Netsuite version 2023.1 the matrix and license page did show the page title twice. This release resolves that and the page title is visible again only once.

FFA-576 Missing field level help “Source Employee Approver”

The field “Sourced Employee Approver” that is visible on the employee record did not provide the user a field level help. In this version the field level help has been added so the user can read what kind of option this field provides.

FFA-581 Remaining approval logs not reset after rejection

On the ZoneApprovals subtab the user can see how many approval logs are still pending before the transaction is fully approved. When in the meantime the transaction did get rejected this counter did not revert back to zero what could impact potential custom reporting. This release changes the logic so that after rejection this field will reset the value to zero and will populate again on resubmit for approval.

FFA-657 Option “Empty” and “Any” visible as selection option

In ZoneApprovals the user has the option to add custom segments to the matrix. When adding a custom matrix the user can see a layover that provides a dropdown to select a custom segment to be added. This dropdown did contain also the option “any” and “empty” which shouldn’t be there. This release removes these options so that only custom segments are available for selection.

FFA-673 Next group approver not set

ZoneApprovals offers the option to use group-based approval routing. On the subtab named “ZoneApprovals” the user can show a field that indicates if a group-based approval routing is active so that the active group is visible. This field didn’t populate with a group value and this has been resolved in this release.

FFA-682 Actual approver not set during a group approval routing

When a group approval routing was active and one member of the group approved or rejected the transaction, the approval log audit trail didn’t record the actual member of the group that performed the approval routing action. This release resolves this so that the audit trail does highlight the actual employee that performed the approval action.

FFA-687 Email signature causes no action with approval by email

In certain situations an email signature was able to break the approval by email logic resulting into the situation that the transaction wasn’t actually approved or rejected. This release introduces a new email processing logic that resolves this issue with the email signature with HTML content.