[PLG:APR] Approval Workflow Issues

[csmith73]

I am using Inventree 0.13.5 and approvals plugin version .5b4 Below are the current workflows that I am trying and having difficulties with. I have Minimum approvers set to 1 while testing so I don't have to login with multiple accounts.

Workflow #1
Create new PO -> Click the blue Issue PO button before clicking start approval process button
-With this workflow the blue issue order button disappears, the PO shows as new in the approvals table, once you approve the PO the PO shows as approved in the PO approvals table, but there is no complete order button so you cannot receive any line items or complete the PO. The PO shows in Inventree PO list with a status 15 code. The approval notifications work.

Workflow #2
Create new PO -> start approval process but do not approve -> Click Issue order button -> Receive Items and complete order.
-With this workflow the approval process was started but the PO never approved yet you can still Issue and complete the order in Inventree. It looks like once you complete the order it is also marked as approved in the approval table but was never officially approved.

Workflow #3
Create new PO -> start approval process and approve the PO -> PO is automatically marked as placed and shows the complete order button
-This workflow works but you get no approval notifications when you do it this way, and if a user clicks the Issue order button before the PO is approved it causes it to mess up and go to a status 15 code as shown in Workflow #1.

I am not sure what the intended workflow was meant to look like, but I think something along these lines would make the most sense.

1. Create new PO -> 2. Start the PO approval process and all parties approve PO (Issue PO button hidden during this time) -> 3. Once enough people approve the PO according to Min Approvers the Issue PO button appears -> 4. Click Issue PO to Issue the PO -> 5. Complete order button appears and you can receive in line items.-> 6. Click complete order button.

Status Codes at Each Step for Inventree PO

1. Pending
2. Pending
3. Pending
4. Placed
5. Placed
6. Complete

Or do away with the Issue PO button and just have the person putting in the PO "Issue" it by approving it themselves. Then the complete order button would not appear until after all of the necessary approvals.

Not sure if this makes sense to anyone else, or is even possible but I just wanted to start the conversation.

[matmair]

Hi there @csmith73,

sorry for the late response, I tried to fix a few bugs and get 0.5 out before responding here.
The general workflow is designed like this:

graph TD;
    A-->B;
   B-->C;
    C-->D;
D-->E;
D-->F;
E-->G;
G-->H;
A[Create PO]
B[Fill out PO information]
C[Issue PO -> approval gets started and notifications send out]
D[PO is changed to status 15/Pending, not editable anymore]
E[Approval is accepted -> PO is changed to *placed* -> notifications get send out]
F[Approval is rejected -> PO is changed to *cancelled* -> notifications get send out]
G[Receive items]
H[Complete PO]

Loading

This sounds most like 3.
It is currently not possible to disable buttons in core via plugins, my approach is to just block the changes that would be issued and sending notifications. That could be implemented in core but would take some time.

What are your thoughts in the inteteded workflow?

[csmith73]

Hi @matmair,

This workflow looks great. I don't think not being able to hide the button is a big deal as long as it is blocked from doing anything if a user were to click it. I am in the process of getting a test server up and running so I can test out the latest iteration .5 of the approval plugin. Thanks again for all of your work on this.

[matmair]

@csmith73 I have added this graph to the docs https://doc.invenhost.com/inventree_approval/main/home/#_overview

[matmair]

@csmith73 version 0.6 contains multiple bug fixes, this should now work. If something is missing/not working please comment in this repo and I will try to address it in the next sprint.