Establishment of approval routes is a two step process.

1. Creation of approval routes
2. Assignment of approval routes to buyers

Step 1: Creation of Approval Routes

Approval routes indicate:

• Who must approve and the sequence
• When, and
• Under what conditions.

Who will Approve:  There may be up to 5 levels of approvals.  For instance, here is a route with 3 levels of approvers,

1. Program manager John approves Henry's solicitation. 
2. Division administrator Keith approves after John approves.
3. PHAO Susy approves after division administrator Keith approves.

When Approvals may Occur: Approval routes may be established at two different points:

1. Prior to the release of the solicitation to the internet; and/or
2. Prior to sending the notice of award to the vendor.

Conditions: You can establish approval routes that will occur based on:

• dollar amount, or
  (for instance all quotes over $20,000)
• commodity codes
  (for instance, a commodity code ior purchases of computer equipment may have one approval route, while all other purchases have another approval route.)

Step 2: Assignment of Approval Route to a Buyer

Once an approval route has been established, it must be assigned to the appropriate buyer(s).  Each buyer may have a different approval route.  Many buyers can have the same approval route.  Approval routes are assigned individually.

Note:

• Approval routes in HePS are optional.  It is up to each department/jurisdiction to decide whether to have approval routes.
• Approval routes will not suddenly appear because somone attends approval training.  The routes must be established by your department or jurisdiction system administrator.
• It is possible to have an approval route prior to solicitation but not prior to award or vice versa. It is also possible to have different approval routes prior to solicitation and prior to issuing the notice of award.
• Although you may have up to 5 levels of approvals, it is not generally recommended to have that many.  Too many approval routes tend to slow the process down, particularly if an approver is frequently out of the office or does not check e-mail. 
• HePS system administrators may run a number of reports at the click of a button which may satisfy the oversight needs of some administrators and/or supervisors.
• There is also a type of path that can be established, where an individual only receives aan e-mail notice.  The solicitation or award will proceed but the individual receives an e-mail notification.  This can be helpful for managers who want to keep abreast on a day by day basis but do not wish to slow the process down when away from the opffice, unable to check e-mails or approve.