What you’ll achieve
No payout reaches a partner, or your bank, without the approvals you require. Small payouts under your threshold go straight through, so approvers only see the ones that matter. Each approver gets one email listing what waits on them and approves from a single screen. The partner sees a payout only once it is approved, and every decision is logged on the partner with who made it.Before you start
1
Get the Payout settings permission
Changing approval rules needs the Payout settings permission, in the Commissions group of your internal role.
Admin roles have it, and roles that existed before it arrived have it off, so finance can own the rule without anyone else changing it.
Approving and declining payouts needs write access to Payouts. See Create an internal role.
2
Decide who approves
Approvers can be named people, the partner manager of each partner, or a partner team role such as Partner Marketing.
A role resolves per partner, so the right person approves each partner’s payout without one rule per partner.
Watch it
- Video
- Click through
Steps
Phase 1 - Set the approval rule
1
Open the approval settings
Go to Payout Settings and find the Approval settings card, under Payment settings.
Collapse the card and its badge reads No approval or Approval required, so you can see the current rule at a glance.
2
Choose Approval Required
The card offers two options:
- No approval - payouts are approved automatically, without review. This is the default.
- Approval Required - you list who has to approve, in order, and each step must approve before the next one is asked.
3
Set the auto-approve amount
Auto-approve below is an amount in your company currency.
A payout under it is approved automatically and skips every step; a payout at or above it waits for your approvers.Set it to the amount below which a review costs more than it protects, for example 1,000.
Leave it blank to review every payout. When you set it, it must be above zero.
4
Choose who approves first
Under Approval Steps, open the first step’s picker (Select someone). It lists, in this order:
- Partner Manager - the partner manager of the partner being paid, so each payout goes to the person who owns that partner.
- Your other partner team roles, such as Partner Marketing or Partner Enablement - whoever holds that role on the partner.
- Every user on your team, by name.
5
Add the next steps
Choose Add approval step to add a second step under the first.
Each step waits for the one before it: finance only sees a payout once the partner manager has approved it, for example.
You can chain up to six steps; past that the card reads Approval is limited to 6 steps. Remove a step with its bin icon.Under the steps, the card reads the rule back in plain words, such as “The partner manager needs to approve. Then Jane Doe needs to approve. Payouts under $1,000.00 are approved automatically.”
Read it before you save: it is exactly what Introw will enforce.
6
Save the rule
Choose Save in the page header. The confirmation reads Payout settings saved, and Introw takes you back to Payouts.
A step with nobody in it blocks the save with Add at least one approver to each step.From now on, every new payout starts at Pending approval unless it is under the auto-approve amount.
Payouts already waiting on approval move to the new rule. When the new rule is stricter, with an extra step or a lower auto-approve amount, payouts that were approved but not yet paid go back for approval too.
Phase 2 - Approve or decline payouts
1
Get the email
When a payout reaches your step, Introw emails you You have a payout to approve, or the number waiting, with a View payouts button.
It bundles everything that waits on you into one email, and the button opens Payouts with your review already open.
2
Open what needs your approval
On Payouts, and inside a batch, Needs your approval shows how many payouts wait on you. Choose it to open Payouts to approve.The left side lists each payout with its partner and period. The right side shows the commission lines of the payout you opened, with Commission item, Close date, Amount, Commission and Plan, and the total.
The list also holds payouts where your step comes later, so you can see what is on its way to you.
3
Approve
Choose Approve to approve the open payout, or tick several and choose Approve with the count.
The payout moves to the next step, and once every step has approved it reads Approved.
When nothing is left, the dialog reads All caught up.You can also approve inside a batch: select payouts and choose Approve in the selection bar, or open a partner’s payout and choose Approve in its footer. Both open Approve payout, where you can add a message.
4
Decline what should not pay
Choose Decline, add an optional message, and confirm with Decline payout.
This rejects the payout and declines all of its commission lines, so the payout reads Declined and the partner is not paid for it.You can decline a payout you already approved, and an approver on a later step can decline before their step opens.
To undo it, restore the payout or its lines; a restored payout goes back through approval.
Phase 3 - Track the approvals and pay
1
See where each payout stands
With approval on, a batch gains an Approvals column and an Is approved filter.
The column reads 1/2 Approvals given, Fully approved, Auto-approved, Declined by you, or who declined.Choose it to see every approver with their status: Pending approval, Waiting for an earlier step, the date they approved, Declined, or Skipped.
A warning icon marks a role or partner manager with no active person behind it, such as a partner with no partner manager. Assign one, or the step waits.
Review approval workflow takes you back to the rule.
2
Pay what was approved
On Introw Pay, Pay now only pays approved payouts. The Pay commissions dialog says how many are still waiting, such as 2 of 3 are still waiting on approval.On manual invoicing, Send to partner, Request partner invoice and Mark as paid appear on a payout once it is approved. Approval moves payouts between stages, so you cannot change the stage of a payout by hand while approval is on.Once a payment has started on a payout, nobody can approve or decline it any more.
When a payout changes after review
Approval follows the money on the payout:- Editing or adding a commission line sends the payout back to the first step, and the approvals already given are dropped.
- Restoring a declined payout or a declined line sends it back for approval.
- Declining a line keeps the approvals already given.
- Any change that takes the payout under the auto-approve amount approves it automatically.
Verify it worked
Approval Required is selected in the Approval settings card. A new payout above your threshold reads Pending approval and shows up under Needs your approval for the first approver, who also gets the email. After the last step approves, the payout reads Approved, the Approvals column reads Fully approved, and the payout appears in the partner’s portal. Each approve or decline is logged on the partner’s activity for your team only, with who decided and their message.Related
Run a payout cycle
Create the batch and move every payout to paid.
Pay a payout cycle with Introw Pay
Pay every approved payout with one invoice.
Configure commission and payout settings
The payout method, schedule and minimum on the same page.
Implementation reference
Stages, visibility and troubleshooting.