Configure your program
Your program rules live in Config. You change them by describing what you want in plain language, or by filling in a form. Either way, nothing takes effect until a Program Admin reviews the proposed change and applies it.
On this page
Who can do this
Only a Program Admin can draft, apply or discard a change. Other staff roles can view the program rules but can't change them. If anyone other than a Program Admin opens a proposal page, it shows as not found.
What your program rules cover
Your program rules are kept together as one set of settings. They cover:
- Job codes, sites and rate cards. A rate card names a job code, a site, a rate and a currency, and can name a supplier.
- Approval chains, either for the whole workspace or for one org unit, with spend bands that decide which approval steps a request goes through.
- Timesheet rules: how long each timesheet covers (weekly, every two weeks, twice a month or monthly), when overtime starts and what it pays, rounding, the first day of the week, time zone, grace days and pay codes.
- Invoice rules: how invoices are grouped and numbered, whether a zero-amount invoice is produced, and whether every invoice line needs a supplier.
- The onboarding and offboarding checklist.
- The report library, which decides which figures and breakdowns people can ask about in Reports.
Describe a change in plain language
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Open Config
Select Config in the nav rail.
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Type the change
In Describe the change, write what should change. For example: "Add a second approval step above $50k in Berlin" or "Set up weekly timesheets with overtime over 40 hours".
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Send it
Press Enter or select Draft change. Shift+Enter starts a new line instead.
You get one of three results:
- A proposal. You land on the proposal page to review it.
- A question. The label changes to Your answer and the conversation so far appears above the box. Answer it, and VendOrca keeps your earlier request in mind. If you'd rather stop answering, select Draft with your best guess and review what it drafts.
- A refusal or an error. The reason appears under the box.
A link from a report can fill in the box for you. When that happens the page reads Prefilled from a report — review and edit before drafting. Treat the text as a starting point and edit it before you send it.
Use the forms
If you'd rather not write it out, expand one of the forms below the describe box:
- Or edit as a form · Approval chains: chain name, the org unit it Applies to, and the spend bands with their approval steps, in order.
- Onboarding & offboarding template: the checklist used on Onboarding.
- Invoice rules: Invoice grouping (consolidated, per org unit or per worker), Zero-amount groups and Supplier requirement.
- Report library: which figures and breakdowns Reports may use.
Each form opens with that whole section filled in as it stands today, and sending it replaces the whole section. Anything you leave untouched stays as it is. Sending a form creates a proposal, which you review and apply in the same way as a described change.
Spend bands
The lowest band starts at 0, each band runs up to where the next one starts, and the highest band has no upper limit, so every amount falls in a band. Approval chains decide how timesheets are routed for approval. If no chain covers a timesheet, it can't be submitted, and VendOrca never approves it automatically. That can happen, for example, when an org unit has no chain of its own and there's no workspace-wide chain either. Keep a workspace-wide chain in place so every timesheet has a route.
Review a proposal
Open Config → Proposals awaiting review and select a proposal. The list shows open proposals, marked Pending. Proposals that have been applied, discarded or have expired drop off the list. The proposal page has three sections:
- Proposed change: exactly what would change, compared with your current rules
- Validation: whether the change passes VendOrca's checks
- Preview (dry run): a try-out that shows, among other things, how sample requests would be routed through the proposed approval chains, without changing anything
VendOrca checks the proposal against the rules that are in effect now, not the ones it was drafted from. Apply is turned off if someone has applied another change since this one was drafted, if the proposal no longer passes the checks, or if it has expired. To go ahead with an expired proposal, describe the change again.
Apply or discard
On the proposal page, select Apply to put the change into effect, or Discard to drop it. VendOrca checks the proposal again when you select it, so one that looked fine earlier can still be refused. The reason appears under the buttons.
Applying saves your rules as a new numbered version, puts that version into effect and returns you to Config. The Live environment card shows the Version in effect, counts of approval chains, job codes, sites and rate cards, and which areas are switched on: Approvals, Time capture and Invoicing.
How versions work
Each time you apply a change, VendOrca saves a new numbered version of your rules and keeps every earlier one. Work already under way stays on the rules it started under. An assignment created last month keeps last month's rate, and an approval already under way keeps the chain that applied when it started. That means you can apply a change in the middle of a period.
Undo a change
To go back, describe the opposite change and apply it:
- Note the current Version on the Live environment card.
- In Describe the change, say what you want back. For example: "Remove the second approval step above $50k in Berlin".
- Review the proposal and apply it.
Going back creates another new version, and it goes through the same checks as any other change. If the older setup refers to something that has since been removed, the checks tell you. Going back doesn't change the rates of existing assignments or the route of approvals already under way, because those keep the rules they started under.
Common questions
What does a new workspace show?
The Live environment card reads No configuration applied yet. Describe your program in the box to get a first proposal.
Can I set invoice formats by uploading a sample invoice?
Invoice formats come from your invoice rules rather than a sample file. The rules cover grouping, numbering, zero-amount invoices and the supplier requirement. Set them with the describe box or the Invoice rules form. To change numbering, use the describe box.
Can the Ask VendOrca bar change my program rules?
The assistant only reads, so it points you to Config for changes.