Invoice and contract approval without paper or e-mail chains

Short answer: approving invoices and contracts without paper or e-mail means a document follows a predefined workflow: every step has a decision-maker, a deadline and an outcome, and the decision is recorded against the exact version the decision-maker saw. In NG DMS an administrator sets the workflow on screen — with conditions by amount, deputies for absences and deadlines in working days — and the document's whole path remains as proof of who approved what, and when.

Why doesn't approval by e-mail or on paper work?

An invoice printed and left on a desk, or forwarded by e-mail with “is this OK?”, has the same weaknesses:

• no deadline — the invoice waits until someone remembers it, and the supplier calls about payment;
• no version — an “OK” reply does not say which attachment it refers to, especially when the contract changed in the meantime;
• no deputy — when the decision-maker is on holiday, everything stops;
• no proof — the answer to “who approved this?” is scattered across inboxes and binders;
• no overview — nobody sees where things are stuck until they ask.

What is an approval workflow?

An approval workflow is a predefined sequence of steps a document goes through on its way to a decision: who decides, in what order, under which condition and by when. It is set once per document type, and every later document of that type gets it automatically. In NG DMS a workflow is started by an automation rule, by a user or by an event in another system, such as NG One or NG CRM.

How to design a workflow: six decisions before the first document

1. Which documents go into the workflow

Start with the documents that wait the longest: incoming invoices, contracts and annexes. For each type, decide what starts the workflow — the arrival of a document of that type, such as an e-invoice from SEF (Serbia's e-invoicing system), or a manual start.

2. Who approves what: the approval matrix

An approval matrix, sometimes called a delegation of authority, is a table that says, for each kind of document and range of amounts, who decides and by when. An example — your organization sets the amounts, roles and deadlines:

In NG DMS conditions are set by document type, amount or organizational unit, and participants by role or unit — when the person in a role changes, the workflow does not have to.

3. Order: sequential or parallel

Parallel steps shorten the path, but only when they truly do not depend on each other.

4. Deadlines, reminders and escalation

A deadline without consequences is just a wish. In NG DMS a step's deadline is counted in working days, on a calendar with Serbian holidays, a reminder arrives before it runs out, and an overdue task is escalated to the manager or a deputy. Working days mean an invoice received just before a holiday does not “expire” while everyone is out of the office.

5. Deputies and delegation

During an absence, tasks go to a deputy by rule, and the trail shows who decided and on whose behalf. Set deputies in advance for every approving role — not when the first invoice is already waiting.

6. What may change at which step

A policy sets what is visible and editable in each status: a contract awaiting signature cannot be changed along the way. The decision is tied to a version — if the document changes, the step goes back for a new decision, so nothing is ever approved that nobody looked at.

What does an incoming invoice workflow look like, from SEF to booking?

1. Receipt. The e-invoice arrives from SEF, becomes a DMS document and is entered into the received-invoices book automatically, with the supplier as correspondent. An invoice sent by e-mail comes in through the mailbox's intake rules.
2. Start. A rule recognises the type and supplier and starts the “Invoice approval” workflow; above the set threshold, the director's approval is added.
3. Review. The budget holder gets a task with a deadline. NG Copilot adds a short summary of the invoice and flags deviations from the contract, and the invoice can be linked to the contract and its annex, so they are one click away.
4. Decision. Approve, return with a comment or reject. The decision is signed with an internal signature and tied to the version the decision-maker saw.
5. Booking. The approved invoice gets its status and goes to NG One for booking; any other ERP is notified of the approval by webhooks and fetches the data through the public API.

Booking and payment stay in the ERP; NG DMS keeps, registers and approves the document that passes through that process. The connections are described on the Integrations page, and the received-invoices book on the Registry and archive page. How the rest of incoming mail is registered and assigned is covered in The electronic registry office.

What does a contract workflow look like, from draft to signature?

1. Draft. The contract is created from a template, with fields from metadata and the organization's letterhead, as a new document in the workflow.
2. Review. Legal and finance review in parallel. A note with an @mention brings in the right person when something needs clarifying.
3. Changes. Every change is a new version with a comparison; NG Copilot summarises the differences between two versions and the key obligations, and a step whose version changed goes back for a new decision.
4. Director's decision. The director sees the summary, the latest version and the history of earlier decisions in one place.
5. Signature and archive. The finished document gets an internal integrity seal; when the law requires a qualified seal and timestamp, NG DMS obtains them from a qualified trust service provider. Annexes and invoices are linked to the contract later.

What remains as proof?

For every step the record shows who decided, when, on which version, with what comment and, for a deputy, on whose behalf. The record is append-only, with a hash chain per organization, so a later change shows up when the chain is checked. For an audit, that means the answer to “who approved this invoice?” comes from the document's history, not from an e-mail archive.

Common mistakes in workflow design

• Too many steps “just in case”. Every step adds waiting; keep the ones where a real decision is made.
• The same path for every amount. A small invoice does not need the director; an amount threshold saves everyone time.
• The approver is a person, not a role. When that person changes jobs, the workflow stalls.
• No deputy. The first summer holiday stops payments.
• Deadlines in calendar days. Weekends and holidays create false delays.
• Changing the workflow mid-flight. In NG DMS a change applies to new documents, while workflows already running finish under the rules they started with.

Can approvals be done from a phone?

Yes. Every participant has one view of tasks, deadlines and mentions — “My work” — with notifications in the app and by e-mail. The mobile web app shows the task, the document in the viewer and the decision buttons, with the same trail as on a computer, so an approval does not wait for someone to get back to the office.

How do you get started?

Existing workflows from Excel or e-mail are moved over as a few templates, which the administrator then refines alone — without a developer. All capabilities are on the Workflows and approvals page, and how NG Copilot helps the decision-maker on the NG Copilot and MCP page. To see your own incoming invoice travel from SEF to booking, book a demo.