Multi-Level Approval Engine

Install the module

Apps → search ks_approval_management_engine → Install. It depends on base and mail only, so nothing else has to be installed first, on Community or Enterprise.

Installation adds a top-level Approval Engine menu with Dashboard, Approval Requests, My Delegations, Configuration and Reporting, plus four background jobs that run every 15 minutes (SLA escalation, 50%/90% reminders, Time to Rot emails, and retention archiving).

Give people access

Settings → Users & Companies → Users. Only existing Administration/Settings users are granted access automatically on install — everyone else must be given a group explicitly, exactly like Sales or Purchase access.

Enable the document type

Approval Engine → Configuration → Approval Enabled Models → add the model you want to gate (Sales Order, Purchase Order, Journal Entry, Transfer, or any custom model).

This is what makes the no-code button picker and the on-record Approvals smart button appear for that document type. Without it the engine still works, but you would have to type the technical method name by hand in step 4.

Choose the button to gate

Two ways in — both end up creating the same rule:

Decide when the rule applies

Leave this whole section empty and every record needs approval. Narrow it with either or both:

• Domain Filter — an Odoo domain evaluated against the record, e.g. only a given customer, region or product category. Empty means always.
• Threshold Field + Threshold Operator + Threshold Amount — compare a numeric or monetary field on the record (amount_total, for instance) using >=, >, <=, < or =.
• Auto Approve Below — matching records at or under this amount clear with no human step, but are still recorded. Use it so small values never queue up.

Build the approval levels

On the rule's Levels tab, add a line per stage. Levels run top to bottom; each must clear before the next begins. Per level you set:

Two optional switches per level: Require Attachment blocks approval until a document is attached, and Exclusive Approval stops one person clearing two levels of the same request.

Add deadlines and escalation optional

Set Sla Hours on a level to put it on a clock (0 = no deadline). Reminders go out automatically at 50% and 90% of it. When the time runs out, Escalation Behavior decides what happens:

For requests that go badly stale, tick Rot Enabled on the rule and set Rot Hours. Once a level has already escalated and then sits that many hours longer, the request is flagged Rotten and every current approver gets a daily urgent-action email until it is decided.

Simulate, then activate

Press Simulate on the rule form. It reports whether the rule would match, and exactly who would be asked at each level — without creating a request or notifying anyone. Fix anything surprising, then tick Active.

From this point the gated button is enforced: pressing it on a matching record creates an approval request instead of running the action, and the action only runs once the chain is approved.

Where everyone works day to day

• Approval Engine → Dashboard — My Approvals, Delegated to Me, My Requests, and All Requests for admins. Approve or decline straight from a card.
• Approval Requests — the full list, with Approve, Reject, Withdraw, Resubmit and Emergency Approval, plus the complete decision history.
• My Delegations — hand your approvals to a colleague between two dates. You keep your own right to act throughout.
• Reporting — Approval Analysis for cycle time and SLA compliance, Approver Bottleneck for who is holding things up.
• The document itself — an Approvals smart button shows the pending and total count for that record.