Order items that need approval should go into a status that works sort of like like "save for later". Called it an "approval cart"
- User places order that needs approval. A status shows that these items will need approval before checkout can occur.
- email is sent to the approver
- If approver OK's the order then an email is sent to the user letting them know they can check out
- If approver denies order an email is sent to user with a note as to why it was denied. User can change the order and request approval again.
Using a method like this means that no unapproved order hit the system.
I'm OK with orders that need approval being able to be checked out, but payment / budget deprication should be delayed until the items are approved (e.g. the invoicing should be after approval).
All the way around, the approval workflow should be able to be set on a site by site methodology, esp. in the B2B portal, based on what the down stream customer managment wants to happen e.g. approval before check out or after is a culture thing.
Disapproved products don't need to end up in the orders view. Even if they have to end up in orders to maintain continuity of the order, the status should automatically be set to 'order cancled' (or some other very visible method of identification) so my order managers don't try to pull the pick and pack, or whatever.
Additionally, when in the pending pane the ability to look at an order as a single entity (batch edit) the entire order one time, not open 20 lines one at a time.
When an entire order has had all items dispensation completed the next screen should be the PENDING pane not forcing the supervisor into the "all orders" pane. ( we have multiple sites and this is a nightmare of 'where am I' for some of my operators.