Orca Oz Enterprises, (Orchid's alter ego), shares some of the creative ways they've found of using Extender to manage Approval Workflows.
Workflow
Streamline approvals and other business processes to improve compliance, accountability and transparency within Sage 300
Increase the visibility of approvals and other business processes in Sage 300
- Track and progress approvals
- Manage alerts and exceptions
- Increase auditability of business processes
- Promote business process visibility and transparency
- Make more effective use of emails
- Facilitate collaboration amongst Sage 300 users
- Link Sage 300 to cloud-based collaboration tools
- Manage customer and vendor returns process with RMA
Design workflows in Sage 300 to cater for many common business scenarios
Use Extender Configurator to build workflow steps using a range of pre-defined Actions. Upgrade to Extender Developer to create custom actions using Python. Add Remote Action Service to progress workflows from outside Sage 300, or Workflow Anywhere for its made-for-mobile console. To manage customer returns, consider Returns Material Authorizations and its workflow features.
Extender Workflow Use Case Examples
There is virtually no limit to the business processes that can be implemented and automated using Extender Workflow - particularly once you start developing your own Custom Actions. To start you thinking, here are a few sample use cases. (These have also been developed into Tutorials and Workflow Sample Templates.)
Examples using Extender Configurator
A/R Credit Limit Approvals
- Automatically start a workflow when the Credit Limit field is updated.
- Restore the original limit pending approval.
- Assign to different teams or individuals for approval, dependent upon the requested new limit.
Set a Customer On-Hold, and email the Salesperson:
- A workflow is manually started by the A/R team, using a screen icon.
- The customer is placed on hold, and their primary salesperson is notified by email.
- Two different users need to approve sequentially before the customer can be taken off hold.
Retail O/E Order Approvals
- Automatically start a workflow when a new O/E Order is inserted for a retail customer.
- The order is placed on hold, and a customer service manager is notified by email.
- A user in Accounts must approve the order to have it taken off hold, or reject the order and provide a reason.
- The person who originally entered the order is notified of the outcome by email.
Approve A/P Payment batches
- Automatically start a workflow when the A/P Payment Batch status is updated in Sage 300.
- "Ready to Post" batches are reset to "Open" until the request is approved.
Vendor Alert
- A workflow is manually started by the Purchasing team in order to send alerts about certain Vendors to Operations.
- They can choose to either 'send and forget' an email, or wait for confirmation that Operations have seen the notification on the Workflow Console.
I/C Option Notification
- Automatically start a workflow when the Serial Number Expiry Number of Days is changed in I/C Options.
- A user must acknowledge receipt of the notification in order to complete the workflow.
Examples using Custom Actions (Extender Developer)
Using Workflow status
- Approve EFT File Creation: Develop a custom script to validate that batches are approved before users can create EFT Files
- Approve an invoice before a Credit Note can be created
- Approve a shipment before creating a sales invoice
Custom actions for approvals
- Custom credit limit checks by sales area when creating an OE Order
- Check for a “returned receipt” as part of credit limit checking
- Require approval if some lines on the O/E Order have a low margin
- Attach PDF report to an email notification sent by workflow
Integration with non Sage 300 tools
Integration with collaboration tools (e.g. Slack, MS Teams, Twitter, Twilio) when starting or progressing a workflow for Sales Orders and Purchase Orders
