What does SM Space Workflow do?

It decides who has to sign a document off, asks them, and records what they decided. You set the rule — by value, by supplier, by anything on the document — and it routes each one, chases anybody who does not answer, and keeps the whole history. It is part of the SM Space ERP system, so an approved purchase order is already approved everywhere.

Can approvals depend on the amount?

Yes, and that is the most common rule. Under $5,000 the department head signs it; over $20,000 it goes to the CFO as well. Amount is only one field though — you can route on the supplier, the customer, the department, the delivery terms, or anything else the document carries. Conditions can be combined with ANDs and ORs.

What happens when an approver is on holiday?

They hand their approvals to a colleague before they go, and they can be narrow about it: one kind of document, under a certain amount, between two dates. The decision records both names — who approved it and whose authority they used. If nobody has delegated, a timer on the step reminds and then escalates to someone else you named.

Can two people approve at the same time?

Yes. A step can run several approvers side by side instead of one after another, and you choose what finishes it: everyone, any two of three, a set percentage, or the first person to respond. If two people approve at the same instant, both decisions are recorded and the document moves on exactly once.

Can we turn approvals off for some documents?

Yes — that is the default. A document type only needs approval if you have authored a workflow for it and switched it on. Leave supplier credit notes without one and they behave exactly as they do now. Switch one off and the next credit note goes through untouched, with no release and no developer.

Do we need a developer to set up a workflow?

No. Workflows are drawn on a screen: you drag the steps onto a canvas, join them up, set who approves each one and under what conditions, and publish it. SM Space checks the route before it will publish — a branch that does not cover every case is refused rather than discovered by the first document down it. Somebody technical is useful for the first one; nothing is written in code.

SM Space · Workflow & Approvals

Approval Workflow Software for Every Document

SM Space Workflow is the approval workflow software inside the SM Space ERP system. You choose which documents need signing off, who signs them, and in what order — by value, by supplier, by anything on the document. Steps can run one after another or side by side, hand over while someone is away, and chase themselves when nobody answers.

One approval engine that any document in SM Space can be put on — and you decide which ones. Thirty-four kinds of document run on it today.

Book a demo See how it works

Last updated: September 2026

A document gets signed off

PUR-000312 · $4,200 · purchase order

Raised10:02
Department headD. Whitfield · approved 10:14
Approved

twelve minutes, and the record says who and when

The rule nobody could write down

one rule, four documents

$4,200 Dept headdone
$24,000 Dept head → Finance → CFOdone
high risk Dept head → Finance ‖ Legal → CFOlegal at the same time
she raised it ~~Dept head~~ → Financeskipped — nobody approves their own

the fourth one is the detail everybody who has done this by hand has hit

Away, and covered

D. Whitfield → S. Ferreira

until 19 Sep · purchase orders · up to $10,000

PUR-000318 $6,400

approved by S. Ferreira
on behalf of D. Whitfield

both names, on the record

S. Ferreira → D. Whitfield ✗ that would be a circle

refused when you save it, not found later by a request that went nowhere

Nobody notices, so it chases itself

PUR-000324 · $9,750

Mon 09:00sentto R. Okafor
Tue 09:00reminderno response
Wed 09:00escalatedto P. Nandi
Wed 11:20approvedby P. Nandi

without a timer: found Friday 16:40

counted in working days, on your own holiday calendar

Above: a $4,200 order approved by a department head; the same order at $24,000 picking up finance and the CFO, with legal reviewing in parallel for a high-risk supplier, and the department-head step skipped when the department head is the person raising it; approvals delegated to a colleague for one week, one document type and one amount, with both names recorded on the decision and a circular delegation refused as it is typed; and an unanswered approval reminding on day two and escalating on day three.

What you can do

Decide which documents need approval, and switch it on without a developer
Draw the route on a screen: drag the steps, join them up, publish it
Route by value, supplier, customer, department or anything else on the document
Run steps one after another, or several at once
Require all of a group, any two of three, a percentage, or the first to respond
Skip a step when the person raising it is the person who would approve it
Send approvals to a named person, a role, a group, or whoever a field on the document names
Cap what someone can approve, by amount and currency
Hand your approvals to a colleague while you are away, for a limited time, document type and amount
Add an extra approver to one request without changing the rule
Remind, then escalate, when nothing happens by a deadline
Withdraw, recall, put on hold, reject with a reason, revise and resubmit
See who decided what, when, and on whose authority

Multi-Level Approval Rules

Most approval settings are a list of amounts and names. That is not how anyone describes their own rule when you ask them how it really works.

Ask, and you get this: department manager, then finance. Above $20,000 the CFO as well. If the supplier is high-risk, legal reviews it at the same time. And if the person raising it is the department manager, skip that step — nobody approves their own.

SM Space runs that rule as written. A $4,200 order goes to the department head and is done. The same order at $24,000 picks up finance and then the CFO. At $24,000 from a high-risk supplier, legal reviews alongside them rather than after. And when D. Whitfield raises the $4,200 order herself, the department-head step is skipped and it goes straight to finance.

Steps can run in a line or side by side. A side-by-side step can need everyone, any two of three, a percentage, or just the first person to answer. Conditions nest with ANDs and ORs. An approver is a named person, a role, a group, or whoever a field on the document names — and each one can carry a ceiling, so a manager approved up to $10,000 is not offered a $40,000 order.

Purchase order · approval route

$4,200under $20,000
1. Department headD. Whitfield
2. Approved
$24,000over $20,000
1. Department headD. Whitfield
2. FinanceM. Alvarez
3. CFOJ. Sørensen
4. Approved
$24,000high-risk supplier
1. Department headD. Whitfield
2. FinanceM. Alvarez
3. Legal — at the same timeA. Baptiste
4. CFOJ. Sørensen
5. Approved
$4,200raised by the department head
1. Department headskipped — she raised it
2. FinanceM. Alvarez
3. Approved

One rule, written once. Nobody approves their own document, and nobody had to remember not to.

The same purchase order, four times. At $4,200 the department head; at $24,000 finance and the CFO as well; from a high-risk supplier legal reviews alongside them; and when D. Whitfield raises it herself, her own step is not there.

Turn Approvals On Per Document Type

Approval is not something the software makes you do.

Author no workflow for supplier credit notes and supplier credit notes behave exactly as they do now. Author one, switch it on, and from the next credit note it applies — with nobody deploying anything. Switch it off and you are back where you were, on the next document, not after a release.

The design underneath is worth one sentence, because it is why this is trustworthy. When a document is submitted, SM Space asks whether a workflow applies, and “no workflow applies” is a normal answer, not an error. The document simply carries on, and the reason is recorded — no trigger matched, or the workflow exists but is switched off. Your levers are ordinary settings on a screen: is this workflow active, is this version published, does a trigger for this document exist.

That is also why the same engine can run 34 kinds of document today and still leave the 35th alone.

Module bindings · Supplier credit note

Switched on

WorkflowSupplier credit note approval
StatusActive
Version3published
Starts onCredit note submitted

routed CRN-000094 went to two approvers

Switched off

WorkflowSupplier credit note approval
StatusInactiveswitched off
Version3still published
Starts onCredit note submitted

no workflow applies CRN-000095 carried on exactly as it does today — the workflow exists but is switched off

Two documents, minutes apart, one setting between them. Nothing was deployed and nothing failed — “no workflow applies” is a normal answer.

Two credit notes minutes apart, one setting between them. With the workflow on, CRN-000094 went to two approvers. With it off, CRN-000095 carried on exactly as it does today.

Delegation and Out-of-Office Approvals

You can hand your approvals to a colleague while you are away, and you can be narrow about it: one workflow, one module, one kind of document, under a certain amount, between two dates.

D. Whitfield is away until 19 September. She delegates to S. Ferreira, for purchase orders only, up to $10,000. PUR-000318 at $6,400 arrives and S. Ferreira approves it. A $14,000 order the same week does not reach him at all — it is outside what he was given.

The record names both people. The decision stores who pressed the button and whose authority they used: approved by S. Ferreira, on behalf of D. Whitfield. An audit that shows only the deputy cannot answer “who was responsible?”, and one that shows only D. Whitfield is a lie.

You cannot create a loop. If S. Ferreira tries to delegate back to D. Whitfield while her delegation to him is live, it is refused as you save it — not discovered three weeks later by a request that never reached anybody.

Delegation · D. Whitfield

ToS. Ferreira
Until19 Septhen it stops by itself
DocumentsPurchase ordersnothing else
Up to$10,000per document

PUR-000318 $6,400

Approved by S. Ferreira, on behalf of D. Whitfield

both names, on the record
PUR-000321 $14,000

Waiting for D. Whitfield

over the $10,000 she handed over — it never reached him

refused S. Ferreira → D. Whitfield — that would be a circle

Refused as it is saved, not discovered three weeks later by a request that never reached anybody.

Handed over until 19 September, purchase orders only, up to $10,000. PUR-000318 approved by S. Ferreira on behalf of D. Whitfield; PUR-000321 at $14,000 never reached him; and a delegation back refused as a circle.

Approval Reminders and Escalation

Every step can have a clock on it. If nothing happens, it reminds. If still nothing, it escalates.

Everybody recognises the alternative. An order that needed signing off on Monday, found on Friday, sitting in the inbox of somebody who was off all week.

With a timer on that step: Monday 09:00 it goes to R. Okafor. Tuesday 09:00, no response, so a reminder goes out. Wednesday 09:00, still nothing, so it escalates to P. Nandi, who was named on the step for exactly this. Approved 11:20. Friday never happens.

The clock counts working days, not calendar days, against your own holiday calendar and working hours — so “two business days” over a long weekend means two days people were actually at work. If a step asks for business days and no calendar has been set up, SM Space refuses to publish that workflow rather than quietly treating it as 48 hours, because a reminder that fires on a Sunday looks exactly like the system working.

You choose what happens when the clock runs out: escalate, reassign, approve automatically, reject, or cancel. And a person always wins the race — if somebody approves the same second the timer fires, the person’s decision is the one that counts.

Approval task · PUR-000324 · $9,750

Mon 09:00 Sent to R. Okafor two business days to answer
Tue 09:00 Reminder no response
Wed 09:00 Escalated to P. Nandi named on the step for this
Wed 11:20 Approved by P. Nandi

without a timer found Friday 16:40, in the inbox of somebody who was off all week

Two business days means two days people were at work — the clock reads your own holiday calendar, so a long weekend does not start the reminders.

Sent Monday, reminded Tuesday, escalated Wednesday to P. Nandi and approved at 11:20. Without a timer on the step, the same order is found on Friday at 16:40.

How SM Space approval workflow software compares

The one-line answers buyers usually ask for, and then the one that matters more — what it does not do.

Steps in a line One approver after another, in the order you set.
Steps side by side Several approvers at once, joining back up when they are done.
Any two of three A quorum, a percentage, or the first person to respond.
Routing by value Under $5,000 the department head; over $20,000 the CFO as well.
Routing by anything else Supplier, customer, department, delivery terms — any field on the document.
Approval ceilings Someone approved to $10,000 is not offered a $40,000 order.
Delegation Scoped by document type, amount and dates, with both names on the record.
Reminders and escalation On a timer, counted in working days on your own calendar.
On and off per document type A setting somebody changes on a screen, not a release.
Full history Every decision: who made it, when, and on whose authority.
Cloud Runs in a web browser, nothing to install.

What it does not do. It cannot send an approval to somebody outside your company — an approver has to be a user in your SM Space, so a customer or a supplier cannot be a step in a route. There is no administrator override that forces a document past its approvers. And it does not certify you against any control framework: approval routing supports controls like segregation of duties, it does not audit them for you.

How it fits with the rest of SM Space

One engine, and it knows almost nothing about the modules using it. That is the whole reason it can be shared.

Purchasing & procurement — 10 documents runs on
Accounting & finance — 11 documents runs on
Sales & invoicing — 6 documents runs on
Asset & equipment — 7 documents runs on

One approval engine It knows a document as a kind, an id and a few fields — and nothing else about the module it came from

reads Your approval inbox — one list, not six screens
reads HR management — the holiday calendar the deadlines count on
reads Audit & compliance — who decided what, and on whose authority

The engine knows a document only as “this kind of thing, with this id, and these fields”. It never reaches into a module’s data. That is why the same engine can approve a purchase order and a year-end close without either module knowing the other exists — and why putting a new kind of document on it is a job for an afternoon rather than a release.

Thirty-four kinds of document run on it today: ten in purchasing and procurement, eleven in accounting and finance, six in sales and invoicing, and seven in asset and equipment management. It reads one thing from HR management, and only one: your holiday calendar and working hours, so a two-business-day deadline lands on a day somebody is at work. Audit and compliance keeps every decision. And because approvals live in one place, “what is waiting on me?” is one list rather than six screens. The alert that tells an approver a document is waiting — on the bell, by email or in Teams, with a link straight to the Approve button — is sent by the shared alerts and notifications software, which is also where reminders and escalations go out from.

Who this approval workflow software is for

Companies of roughly 20 to 500 people where approvals happen by email, the rule lives in one person’s head, and last month something went out that should not have — or sat for a week because the only person who could sign it was away. SM Space is a cloud ERP system: it runs in a web browser, with nothing to install.

Frequently asked questions

What does SM Space Workflow do?: It decides who has to sign a document off, asks them, and records what they decided. You set the rule — by value, by supplier, by anything on the document — and it routes each one, chases anybody who does not answer, and keeps the whole history. It is part of the SM Space ERP system, so an approved purchase order is already approved everywhere.
Can approvals depend on the amount?: Yes, and that is the most common rule. Under $5,000 the department head signs it; over $20,000 it goes to the CFO as well. Amount is only one field though — you can route on the supplier, the customer, the department, the delivery terms, or anything else the document carries. Conditions can be combined with ANDs and ORs.
What happens when an approver is on holiday?: They hand their approvals to a colleague before they go, and they can be narrow about it: one kind of document, under a certain amount, between two dates. The decision records both names — who approved it and whose authority they used. If nobody has delegated, a timer on the step reminds and then escalates to someone else you named.
Can two people approve at the same time?: Yes. A step can run several approvers side by side instead of one after another, and you choose what finishes it: everyone, any two of three, a set percentage, or the first person to respond. If two people approve at the same instant, both decisions are recorded and the document moves on exactly once.
Can we turn approvals off for some documents?: Yes — that is the default. A document type only needs approval if you have authored a workflow for it and switched it on. Leave supplier credit notes without one and they behave exactly as they do now. Switch one off and the next credit note goes through untouched, with no release and no developer.
Do we need a developer to set up a workflow?: No. Workflows are drawn on a screen: you drag the steps onto a canvas, join them up, set who approves each one and under what conditions, and publish it. SM Space checks the route before it will publish — a branch that does not cover every case is refused rather than discovered by the first document down it. Somebody technical is useful for the first one; nothing is written in code.

Decide who signs what, once.

Book a 30-minute demo and we’ll build your own approval rule on the screen.

Book a 30-minute demo