Setting Up Approvals on a Contract Job

This guide is for account managers/admins configuring who approves timecards on a contract job and how that approval works.

Where to find it

1. Go to People → Clients, open the client, and open the Contract Job (Contract Job Detail).
2. Scroll to the Approvers section. (There’s a blue ⓘ info icon next to the heading for in-app help.)

The Approvers section appears for standard timecard jobs. It’s hidden for certain timecard methods that don’t use approvals.

Prerequisite — Add the person as a contact on the client

Approvers come from the client’s contacts, so anyone you want to make an approver must exist as a contact first. If they’re already a contact, skip to Step 1.

To add a contact:

1. Go to People → Clients → Contacts, open the client, and open its Contacts page.
2. Click Add Contact. A new row opens for entry.
3. Fill in the fields:
   • First (required)
   • Last (required)
   • Email (required — must be a valid email)
   • Title, Phone, Ext (optional)
   • Active — leave checked so they can be used and can log in.
4. Save. You’ll see a confirmation (e.g. “Added John Smith”) and the contact appears in the list.
   

What happens automatically:

• The contact is set up with the Client Contact role.
• If you entered an email, Bilflo automatically sends them a welcome/invite email so they can set their password and log in. (No email address = a placeholder system address is generated; they can be assigned to jobs but can’t log in or approve.)

Resend an invite: If a contact never set their password, click Reset Password on their row → confirm Send Reset Email. They’ll get a fresh link (“Reset Password Email Sent”).

Edit / deactivate: Click a contact to Edit their details, or uncheck Active and save to deactivate. The Registered checkbox (read-only) shows whether they’ve completed registration.

Adding a contact does not make them an approver — it just makes them available. Assign them to a job in Step 1 below.

Step 1 — Add your approvers

1. Click + Add Approver.
2. In the Add Approver window, find the person using the Search by name or email box.
3. Click Select next to each person you want. They’ll show as Added.
4. Click Close when done.

Things to know:

• Approvers come from the client’s contacts — the person must already exist as a contact (with a valid email) to appear here. If they’re missing, add them using the prerequisite section above, then come back.
• Contacts with system email addresses are excluded automatically.
• Each approver row shows their Name and Email. Remove someone with the ✕ in the Actions column.
• By default, approvers are set up to approve time.

Step 2 — Choose the approval order

Once you’ve added at least one approver, the Approval Settings box appears. Pick an Approval Order:

• Any Order — “Approvers can approve in any sequence.” Everyone is notified at once; the timecard is approved once the required number of people sign off.
• Sequential — “Must approve in listed order.” Approvers are notified one at a time, top to bottom. Each person is only notified after the one before them approves, and everyone in the list must approve.

Plan note: Sequential is only available on higher-tier plans (Plan 4+). On lower plans it shows a lock icon and can’t be selected.

Step 3 — Set how many approvals are required

If you chose “Any Order” and have more than one approver, a Minimum Approvals Required field appears:

• Enter a number (e.g. 2 of 3 approvers).
• Minimum is 1; the max is the number of approvers you’ve added.
• Example: 3 approvers with a minimum of 2 means the timecard is approved as soon as any 2 of them approve.

If you chose “Sequential”:

• An Order column appears in the approver table. Use the ▲ / ▼ arrows to arrange approvers into the order they should sign off.
• Minimum approvals is handled automatically — everyone in the list must approve, in order, so there’s nothing to set.

Step 4 — Save the job

Save the contract job to apply the approval setup.

• ⚠️ A job needs at least one approver — if you try to save without one, you’ll be prompted to “Please add an approver.”

Quick reference

How it behaves once live

• Any Order: all approvers get the email immediately; approved once the minimum is met.
• Sequential: only the first approver is emailed; after each approval the next person is notified; done when the last approves.
• Denied at any step: the timecard goes back to the contractor to fix and resubmit, and the approval cycle starts over.