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Approval Rules

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Overview

The Approval Rules system is used to automate the order review and approval process. Approval rules can be applied to orders as they are imported from a shopping cart. As order volume increases, it becomes more time consuming to review each order to determine if it can be shipped immediately or not. By creating approval rules, the Order Manager can apply these rules at the time of order import and automatically approve, un-approve, or cancel orders. The system can also change shipping methods or apply an order state such as "on hold".

Understanding the Add a New Rule Screen

The form consists of three sections, If, Then and Action for Group. The If section has four sub-sections, Test Fields, Test Comparison Expressions, Value or comma delimited list, and Require. The first two sub-sections are not labeled in the actual form but are shown here in red text for instructional purposes. Refer to Figure1, below.

If... Section:

  1. The list box labeled Test Fields shows the fields whose contents can be interrogated for specific values as defined in the remaining selections of the If... section of the form.

  1. The Test Comparison Expressions box contains a list of expressions that can be used to conduct the comparison or "testing" of the data in the selected field. The possibilities are:

Note: Every test field will not have all of these choices, and each comparison expression will have different choices in the Require: section.

  1. The data that will be the object of the test should be entered in the Value or comma delimited list. Multiple values can be entered and should be separated by commas, using no spaces between the items in the list.

  1. Choose one of the selections in the Require: sub-section of the form. The possible choices are:

Note: All of these choices are not necessarily available for all comparison expressions. Some comparisons do not have any option in the Require: sub-section.

Then... Section:

  1. The Then... section has four sub-sections, the first and third containing check boxes for the actions that can be taken by the program. The choices are:

  1. The second sub-section is only pertinent to the Set the Shipping Method to: action and the list of shipping methods will become active when that box is checked.

  1. The fourth sub-section is only pertinent to the Set the order state to: action and the list of orders states will become active when that box is checked.

Figure 1: Add a New Rule screen

[Action for Group] Section

Creating Single Test Approval Rules

Single Test Approval Rules allow the user to "test" a single field with one or more criteria, and if the criteria are met (the test is evaluated as True), perform the designated action. For example, a merchant might want to cancel any orders that require shipment outside of the US or cancel any orders with a Fraud Score that is too high.

The following example demonstrates how to set up a single-test approval rule that cancels any orders that require shipment outside of the US.

  1. To access the Approval Rule system, go to Main Menu > Maintenance Menu icon > Setup Functions tab > and select [Approval Rules] from the list of activities.

Figure 2: Order Approval Rules screen

  1. Click the [Add a New Rule] button. This will open the Add a New Rule screen.

Figure 3: Add a New Rule screen

  1. Select [Destination Country] from the list of fields and conditions in the If... box.

  2. Select [Doesn’t Equal] from the list of available comparison expressions in the middle box.

  3. In the [Value or comma delimited list] text box, type in one or more choices for the US, such as "US," "United States," and "USA", etc. When entering more than one value, separate them by commas, no leading spaces. Enter the country code or codes as they are passed from the shopping cart or carts that are being used.

Note: When entering dollar values, do not include a dollar sign ($), likewise for weights, do not include the unit abbreviation.

  1. Select the [Any of List] radio button to have any of the values entered constitute a match.

  2. In the Then... list box:

    1. check the [Cancel the Order] box, or if you prefer not to cancel, but instead want to force a manual review of the order, check the [Do not approve the Order] check box

    2. check [Set the shipping method to:] box and select a shipping method in the list box below

    3. check [Set the order state to:] box, and select an order state in the option list box.

  3. Click [Save New Rule] to add the new Approval Rule.

Figure 4: Add a New screen - showing examples of comparison expressions for Test Field, Destination Country

  1. The new rule will be displayed in the Order Approval Rules screen.

Figure 5: Order Approval Rules screen - displaying new rule   

  1. Click [Close] to exit the Add a New Rule dialog.

  2. To delete an approval rule, click in the appropriate row under the list of Current Rules and click the [Delete] button.

  3. To change the order in which the approval rules are applied to new orders, click on the up and down arrows to the right of the Current Rules table.

  4. To exit the Order Approval Rules screen, click [Close].

Notes:

Creating Multiple Approval Rules with Different Criteria that Apply the Same Action...

If multiple rules are created that apply the same action based on different fields and criteria, the system assumes an implied "OR" when evaluating the list of approval rules.

For example, it is possible to have an approval rule that un-approves orders requiring shipment outside the US, another rule that un-approves order totals exceeding $500, and another rule that un-approves orders if the fraud scores are greater than or equal to a set of values. If any one of these tests are true, the order will be unapproved.

Figure 6: Order Approval Rules screen - showing the list of Current Rules for the previous example

Creating Approval Rule Groups

The 5.803 Beta version of the Order Manager introduced the concept of a compound rule, which is referred to as an "approval rule group". An approval rule group allows the merchant to test multiple fields for different criteria using an implied "AND", so that the action is applied only if ALL criteria are True.

This example demonstrates how to set up an approval rule group that will cancel an order if it must be shipped outside of the US, AND the product total is greater than $500, AND the fraud score exceeds a certain value.

  1. Go to the Main Menu > Maintenance Menu icon > Setup Functions tab > and select [Approval Rules] from the list of activities to open the Order Approval Rules screen.

Figure 7: Order Approval Rules screen before rules have been defined

  1. Click the [Add a New Rule] button which will open the Add a New Rule screen.

Figure 8: Add a New Rule screen before a rule has been created

  1. Select [Destination Country] from the list of fields and conditions in the If... box.

  2. Select [Doesn’t Equal] from the list of available comparison expressions in the middle box.

  3. In the [Value or comma delimited list] text box, type in one or more choices for the US, such as "US," "USA," "U.S.A," and "United States." When entering more than one value, separate them by commas with no spaces. Enter the country code or codes as they are passed from the shopping cart or carts that are being used.

Note: When entering dollar values, do not include a dollar sign ($), likewise, when entering weights do not include the unit abbreviation (lb, oz)

  1. Select the [Any of List] radio button.

  2. In the Then... list box, check the [Cancel the Order] check box.

Figure 9: Add a New Rule screen - reflecting the current example

  1. Click [Create Rule Group]. Once this button is clicked, the criteria that was entered will appear at the bottom of the window, where Action for Group is displayed. The Create Rule Group button will no longer be visible and the Add Criteria button will become visible, allowing additional tests to added to the rule group.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep in mind that once a rule group is created, the Action taken by this group cannot be modified; test criteria can only be added or removed. If it is necessary to modify the action, delete the approval rule group and start over.

  1. To add criteria to the approval rule group, select a new Field (e.g. MaxMind Fraud Score), comparative test (e.g., Is Greater Than or Equal To), and value (e.g., 5), and then click the [Add Criteria] button. Each new test added will appear at the bottom of the screen. If an incorrect test is added accidentally, select the errant entry at the bottom of the screen and click on the [Remove Rule] button.

Figure 10: Add a New Rule screen - reflecting the current example

  1. When finished building the approval rule group, click the [Save] button to preserve the changes. Clicking the [Cancel] button will nullify any changes that have been made.

  2. Click the [Close] button to close the Add a Rule screen and return to the Order Approval Rules screen.

Note: A Rule Group MUST have a minimum of one criteria test before the system will allow it to be saved. Also note that the name "Rule Group" appears in the first column (If this data) identifying this rule as a compound rule.

 

Figure 11: Order Approval Rules - showing 3 single approval rules and one rule group definition

  1. To view the criteria entries for this approval rule group, click on the + sign to the left of Rule Group. This action will expand the criteria set assigned to the rule group.

Figure 12: Order Approval Rules screen - showing expanded Rule Group

Editing Approval Rules

The 5.9 version of the Order Manager introduced the ability to edit existing rules instead of having to delete a rule and then re-create it to make a change. Single-test rules can be edited directly and saved, while compound test rules (rule groups) can only be edited to the extent of removing and re-defining individual sets of criteria that are part of the group, rather than having to delete and re-define the entire rule group.

Keep in mind that an existing single-test rule cannot be converted to an approval rule group and approval rule groups cannot be converted to single-test rules, although an approval rule group can only have a single criterion.

The following example demonstrates how to edit an existing approval rule. In this example an approval rule that canceled orders with a product total of  $500 or more, is changed so that it will cancel orders that have a product total $400 or more:

  1. Go to the Main Menu > Maintenance Menu icon > Setup Functions tab > and select [Approval Rules] from the list of activities.

  1. On the Order Approval Rules screen, select the [Product Total] rule and click [Edit Rule].

Figure 13: Order Approval Rules - Product Total rule is selected

  1. If the approval rule is a single test rule, the criteria will automatically reload on screen. Make the necessary changes then click on the [Save New Rule] button. In the figure below, the value of the order has been changed from 500 to 400.

Figure 14: Edit a Rule screen - Product Total changed from 500 to 400

  1. The modifications will be made to the existing approval rule.

Figure 15: Order Approval Rules screen - reflecting changes made to Product Total rule

  1. If the approval rule is a compound rule (rule group), the criteria will be displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Figure 16: Edit a Rule screen - when a Rule Group has been selected for editing

  1. To change the rule group's criteria, select the row of the criteria to be modified (at the bottom of the screen) and click the [Remove Rule] button.

Figure 17: Edit a Rule screen - Product Total criteria has been selected for deletion

  1. To add the revised criteria, select the appropriate test field, comparison expression, and enter the new value. Click the [Add Criteria] button.

Figure 18: Edit a Rule screen - Product Total criteria has been deleted and will be re-added

  1. When finished, click the [Save] button to preserve the changes. Click the [Close] button to exit the Add a New Rule screen and return to the Order Approval Rules screen.

  2. To verify the changes that were made, click on the [+] sign next to the Rule Group to expand it and see the individual criteria tests.

Figure 19: Order Approval screen - displaying the change that was made to one of the criteria of a Rule Group

 

The column labeled "SPECIFICS", in Figure 19, contains rule detail data when Shipping Methods or Order States are the targets of an approval rule.

Created: 2/28/11

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