Overview

Luminous supports an approval workflow for supplier purchase orders (POs): designated approvers receive an email, review the PO, and approve or reject it before it proceeds. This article explains exactly when that workflow fires, what conditions must be satisfied, and an important limitation that applies to POs created through the External V1 API.

When does the approval chain trigger?

The approval workflow is triggered only when a PO is created through the Luminous in-app interface (the main Purchase Orders screen). Creating a PO via the External V1 API (POST /purchase-orders) does not automatically trigger the approval chain — that API path fires inventory and automation events, but the approval process is not initiated.

If your team creates POs programmatically and you need approvals, the recommended path is to create them in the Luminous UI, or to review your workflow with your Luminous account team.

What must be in place for approval to trigger (in-app creation)?

Even when POs are created through the in-app UI, several conditions must all be true for the approval chain to start:

  1. At least one Approval Rule exists for Purchase Orders.
    Go to Settings → Approval Rules. There must be an active rule with its Model set to Supplier Purchase Order.
  2. The rule has a condition based on Total Cost.
    Total Cost is the only field currently supported for Purchase Order approval conditions. You configure the operator (e.g., greater than) and the threshold (e.g., $20,000).
  3. The rule is linked to an Approval User Template with at least one assigned user.
    In Settings → Approval User Templates, your template must have one or more users who each have a valid email address on file.
  4. The new PO's total cost satisfies the rule's condition.
    At the moment the PO is saved, Luminous evaluates all active Purchase Order approval rules in order. The first matching rule triggers the workflow. If no rule's condition is met, no approval record is created and the PO proceeds without requiring approval.

What happens once the approval chain starts?

  1. An approval record is created with status Pending Approval.
  2. Each user in the linked template receives an email with a link to approve or reject the PO directly from their inbox.
  3. As approvers respond, the approval status updates:
    • Partial – at least one approver has approved but not all have responded yet.
    • Approved – all assigned approvers have approved (or, if Single Approver mode is enabled on the rule, any one approval is sufficient).
    • Rejected – any assigned approver rejects the PO.
  4. You can also monitor and act on approvals from the Purchase Orders Grid in Luminous — look for the Approval Status column.

Approver logic: AND vs. OR

When configuring your approval rule, the Logical Operator setting controls how multiple conditions are evaluated:

  • AND – all conditions in the rule must be met to trigger the workflow.
  • OR – any one condition being met is enough.

This is separate from the Single Approver setting, which controls whether one person's approval is sufficient to mark the entire PO as Approved.

Setting up the approval workflow

For step-by-step instructions on creating approval user templates and rules, see How to Set Up Purchase Order Approval Flows in Luminous.