ApprovalMax Product Feedback Update May 2018
We recently noticed that a number of feedback posts in our Knowledge Base had flown under the radar.
We’re now actively following up on these requests, and in this blog post we’ll share an update on all major product questions.
Top Requested Features
Budget Management
One of the most requested features in our integration with Xero is the ability to check Bills/POs against the defined budget during the approval process. It shows Approvers of Bills and POs where they are in terms of budget and saves them a great deal of time as all of the budget information can be found directly within the approval request.
The Beta version is already available per request.
We’ve already received a terrific amount of feedback after releasing the Beta version, including requests to add a Year-to-date budget. We’re now working towards finalizing this feature, with plans to release it later this year for all users.
Search Function
Many of you have written to tell us how important it is for you to be able to search for any and all information in ApprovalMax.
At the moment, this feature sits squarely in second place in our list of feature requests. And we’re pleased to announce that a Search Function is currently under development.
Take a look at the screenshot below to see the prototype Search Function in all its glory. We’re excited to release this, but we cannot announce an exact ETA at the moment.
Please note that, in the meantime, you can continue to create reports and apply filters to locate necessary information. For example, if you want to find all approved bills from one specific company, you can create a report and select that particular company.
Xero Expenses Support
Note: This feature requires the Xero Expenses functionality and the full availability of the Xero API.
The good news is, Xero has already released its new Expenses module and is now working on the API. As of the end of April 2018, it is listed as a ‘Near Term’ item in the company’s Developer Roadmap.
Once their API is ready, we will require a few months to finalize the solution on our side. And we are looking forward to doing just that. For the time being, you need to use the Bills function.
Popular Feature Requests: Coming Soon
Side-by-side view
A very popular feature request, a side-by-side review of invoices and invoice data entry (meaning that you’ll be able to see original invoice and its digital version on one screen) is coming very soon!
This will allow you to reduce the time spent on reviewing documents, while improving your user experience as you won’t need to switch between different tabs or screens.
Enhanced User Experience & Faster Approvals
It’s our goal to make our users happy by eliminating clutter, not only from your desks, but also from ApprovalMax itself. That’s why we’ll be making the platform even easier to use for both web and mobile devices as soon as possible.
We plan to enhance user experience by restructuring the way Purchase Orders and Bills look, making them more intuitive, without the distractions of unnecessary details.
Approvals will also take less time, as ApprovalMax won’t have to wait for the system’s reply in such cases where you, for example, have several attachments to process. Instead, the system will count your decision (approved / rejected) immediately, allowing you to move to the next step, while dealing with the rest in the background.
As soon as we are ready with those new features, we’ll share the details in our blog.
Potential New Features
In addition to the above feature requests, there are also a number of potential new features that we found very cool and logical to implement longer term.
Please vote for your favorite from the links below to let us know which feature you’d like to see next.
- Bulk Approvals
- Export Approval Workflows to PDF
- Okta SSP Support
- Google Apps App and Login Support
- @Mention in comments
Need Your Feedback:
We received several requests for the creation of recurring purchase orders like rent, electricity, cleaning, telephone bills etc.
Before this goes any further, we’d appreciate if you could provide examples of your use cases here, in as much detail as possible.
Thank You!
Lastly, we’d like to say a big thank you to all who shared ideas with us – we greatly appreciate it and we’ll do our best to align our product with them.
Next month, we’ll tell you more about our upcoming plans.
If you have any additional feedback, please revisit our Knowledge Base, or contact us at: support@approvalmax.com.