Mastering DPF Approvals

From Setup to Speedy Sign-Offs 

Everything You Need to Know to Streamline Purchase Order, Expense, and Invoice Approvals in DPF 

Reading Time: 2-3 minutes 

Approvals can either make or break your production workflow. With tight deadlines, ever-changing budgets, and multiple departments vying for attention, the last thing any production needs is bottlenecks in getting purchase orders, invoices, or expenses signed off. 

That’s where Digital Paper Flow (DPF) shines, and in this article, we’ll show you how to master the approval process from setup to day-to-day shortcuts. 

Whether you’re setting up your first Approval Group or want to eliminate delays with skipped approvers and bulk email resends, this article will walk you through the tools that make approvals smarter, faster, and stress-free. 

Step 1: Set Up Your Default Approval Groups 

Before anything can be approved, your system needs to know who should approve what, and in what order. This is where Approval Groups come in. 

By default the Invoice will use the same Approval group as the Purchase Order that was attached into it. However, if no PO is attached it will use the default setup in system defaults. We recommend doing this so that it decreases the manual work of selecting the approver group in DPF. This is why every Purchase Order group in DPF needs to have an Invoice approval chain setup inside of it, which we discuss below in Step 2. 

Start by creating approval groups tailored to your needs. You can set them based on: 

• Department (e.g. Art Dept, Locations, Accounts) 

• Module (POs, Invoices, Expenses, Timecards) 

• Hierarchy (e.g. Production Manager → Line Producer → Financial Controller) 

Tip: You can assign default approval groups to specific document types (e.g. POs) to make the process automatic every time a new record is created. 

To find out more, go to TPH Customer Support: Getting Started with Digital Paper Flow > DPF Eclipse Integration > Set Up Default Approval Groups 
https://tphglobal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TPHCS/pages/1731067923/Approval+Group+Setup 

Step 2: Build Flexible, Foolproof Approval Chains 

Approval chains in DPF aren’t static. You can customise them for each record, or even add conditional logic depending on value thresholds or supplier types. 

You can add your Approval Chains for Invoice, Expenses, Documents and Timecards to all the existing PO approval groups. There is no need to create new ones and the workflow is much better if you use your existing PO approval groups. Ensure that your users are already setup otherwise you will not be able to add them to approval chains. 

For example, when an Invoice has a purchase order attached, the Invoice will use that Purchase Order approval group.  

If the Purchase Order approvers are not the same as the Invoice approvers, then you must set the Invoice approvers in the PO approval groups. 

Here’s what you can do: 

• Duplicate or copy existing groups to save time 

• Bulk replace an approver if someone is out of office 

• Create alternate approval paths for special scenarios 

• Allow for parallel or sequential approvals depending on your workflow needs 

To find out more, go to TPH Customer Support: DPF Admin > Approval Group Setup 

https://tphglobal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TPHCS/pages/1731067923/Approval+Group+Setup

Step 3: Day-to-Day Approvals – POs, Expenses & Invoices 

Once your groups are in place, users can begin sending documents for approval. Approvers are notified via email and can review, comment, or approve with one click. 

Modules that support approvals: 

• Purchase Orders 

• Expenses 

• Invoices 

• Timecards 

• Documents 

Each record keeps a full audit trail, and you can configure emails to include comments or file attachments to help approvers make informed decisions faster. 

To approve/comment: Go to Dashboard > Approvals Tab > Select Document > Click Approve or Comment 

For more information on approvals, visit https://tphglobal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TPHCS/pages/1708359973/Approvals 

Step 4: Keep Things Moving – Skip, Resend, or Reassign Approvers 

Sometimes delays are unavoidable, but DPF gives you tools to keep things moving. 

Here’s how: 

• Skip an Approver: If someone is unavailable, skip them and move to the next approver without losing your approval history. 

• Resend Approval Emails: If someone missed their email, you can resend approval requests for any module. 

• Reassign or Bulk Replace: Temporarily hand over approvals to another user or permanently reassign across multiple groups. 

To find out more, go to TPH Customer Support: 

• Approvals – Moving Records Between Previous and Next Approver 
  https://tphglobal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TPHCS/pages/1899528228/Approvals+-+Moving+Records+between+Previous+and+Next+Approver 

• DPF Admin > Bulk Replace an Approver in Multiple Approval Groups 
  https://tphglobal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TPHCS/pages/1969193109/Bulk+Replace+an+Approver+in+Multiple+Approval+Groups 

Bonus Tips: Pro-Level Approval Shortcuts 

• Include Comments in Approval Emails: Give context to decisions directly in the email—no login needed to read the backstory. 

• Set Primary Attachments for Signature Stamps: Ensure the right document is front-and-centre during the sign-off process. 

• Use the Audit Log to track any changes or investigate delays. 

These shortcuts can be setup at Settings > Email Options 

To find out more, go to TPH Customer Support: DPF Admin > Audit Logs 
https://tphglobal.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TPHCS/pages/2005696531/DPF+Admin+-+Audit+Logs 

Wrapping Up: Approvals That Work for You (Not Against You) 

In a fast-paced production environment, clarity and speed are everything, and the approval process should never be a bottleneck. With Digital Paper Flow, you’re not just digitising paperwork – you’re designing a smarter way to work. 

By setting up intelligent Approval Groups, empowering your team with flexible workflows, and using admin tools like skip/resend/replace, you’ll turn approvals from a chore into a competitive advantage. 

Ready to Optimise Your DPF Workflow? 

If you’re not yet using these features, talk to your system admin or reach out to the TPH Global support team to walk through your setup. We’re production accountants too, so we’ve built DPF to work the way real productions do.