Finding Pending PO Approvers

Introduction

This guide explains how to check who is still waiting to approve a Purchase Order (PO) in Business Central, directly from the PO itself, and how to delegate an outstanding approval if the approver is unavailable.

1. Open the Outstanding Purchase Order

1. Open Business Central.
2. Search for Purchase Orders using the magnifying glass.
3. Find and open the outstanding PO you want to check.
4. Select Request Approval from the top menu.
5. Click Approvals.

This opens the approval entries associated with that Purchase Order.

2. Filter the Approvals

To see who still needs to approve the PO:

1. Open the Filter pane.
2. Find the Status field.
3. Set the filter to Open|Created.
4. Apply the filter.

This shows both active approvals and those waiting for an earlier approval stage to be completed.

3. Find Who Needs to Approve

Check the following columns:

• Approver ID – The person responsible for approving the PO.
• Status – Whether the approval is currently awaiting action or waiting for an earlier stage.
• Sequence No. – The order in which approvals are processed.

Understanding the Statuses

4. Understanding the Sequence Numbers

The Sequence No. shows the order in which approval stages are processed.

For example:

In this example:

• Manager A has already approved the PO.
• Manager B is the person who currently needs to approve it.
• Manager C is waiting for the earlier approval stage to be completed.

The sequence numbers represent the approval order, not the number of outstanding approvals.

5. Delegating an Outstanding Approval

If the person responsible for approving a PO is unavailable, the approval can be delegated to another authorised approver.

How to Delegate

1. Open the outstanding Purchase Order.
2. Go to Request Approval → Approvals.
3. Find the approval entry with the status Open.
4. Select the approval entry.
5. Choose Delegate from the available actions.
6. Business Central will reassign the approval according to the configured approval hierarchy.

You may need the appropriate permissions, such as Approval Administrator, to delegate approvals on behalf of other users.

Who Does the Approval Go To?

When an approval is delegated, Business Central uses the Approval User Setup to determine who should receive it.

The standard delegation priority is:

1. Substitute – If the original approver has a substitute assigned, the approval is delegated to that person.
2. Direct Approver – If no substitute is assigned, Business Central checks for the original approver's designated approver.

This allows approvals to move up the approval chain when the original approver is unavailable.

Important: Delegating an approval does not approve the PO. It transfers the outstanding approval request to another user, who must then review and approve it.

6. Quick Summary

To find who is holding up a PO:

1. Open the outstanding Purchase Order.
2. Go to Request Approval → Approvals.
3. Filter Status to Open|Created.
4. Check the Approver ID column.
5. Look for Open to identify who currently needs to approve the PO.
6. If the approver is unavailable, select the Open entry and use Delegate to reassign it.

Remember:

• Open = Needs approval now.
• Created = Waiting for an earlier approval stage.
• Delegate = Passes the approval to the configured substitute, approver or Approval Administrator.