How do I review product applications submitted by committee members?
You can view all product applications submitted via the Student Dashboard within the Activities module.
For each product application you will be able to see:
- System ID
- Activity (Student Group)
- Name (of the product)
- Price
- Status
- Finance Status
- Created at (date/time)
If you need to search for a particular product application, you can use the filters available to find a specific application. You can filter by:
- System ID
- Activity (Student Group)
- Name (of the product)
- Status (1st stage of approval)
- Finance Status (2nd stage of approval)
Once you have found the relevant product application, you can select the 'View' button to view all details of the application for you to review, provide feedback and progress through the approval stages.
How many stages of approval do product applications have?
Product applications must be approved at 2 stages in order to be fully approved and to create the product that the Activity/Student Group has requested:
- 1st Stage of Approval - Approves the main details of the product application (this would typically be approved by your Activities team)
- 2nd (Finance) Stage of Approval - Approves the financial details of the product application and allows you to adjust the financial coding prior to approval if needed (this would typically be approved by your Finance team)
Both stages of approval are tied to permissions, so you can determine which users/teams can approve each stage, if you require this to be restricted to certain people.
Reviewing a Product Application
To view a product application, select the blue 'View' button.
When you first view a product application, you will see several sections that provide all of the details that the committee member has included within their application:
Basic Details
Below you can see an example of the basic details of a product application that has been submitted.
You can see:
- The name and ID of the member who submitted the application
- The Activity/Student Group the application has been submitted for
- Whether the product application has been submitted as part of an event application
- Product Category the committee member has selected (you can change this needed)
- Submitted date/time
- Start and end sale dates of the product
- Any extra capture fields that have been selected
- Booking Fee Override - this will confirm whether or not a booking fee has been applied by default, dependant on the setting you have enabled. If you need to change whether a booking fee is applied, simply check the box and use the dropdown to enable or disable the fee as required.
Please note: You can determine whether booking fees are applied to product applications by default via your Settings, held within System Configuration. Navigate to the Activities section and scroll down to the setting shown below to enable or disable booking fees against product applications.
You will also see the details of the approval of this application, including when and who approved each stage.
The approval details will be updated as the application progresses through each stage so users can keep track of when and who has actioned the application.
Product Details
Next, you will be able to view the details of the product that has been requested, such as the description, inventory and price.
Below you can see an example of the details of a product that has been requested.
You can see the:
- Name of the product
- Description
- Max. per transaction
- Max. per person
- Type (this will be listed as 'Subscription' if this is for i.e a membership product, or 'Normal' for any other products)
- Subscription expiry (if the product is a subscription type)
- Price
- Inventory
- Total (this will be the total value of the products based upon the price per product and the inventory)
Financial Coding
You will then be able to view the financial coding that the committee member has selected for their product:
- Department Code
- Nominal Code
- VAT Rate
The financial coding can be updated during the 2nd (finance) stage of approval if needed.
Product Sales
Within Product Sales you will be able to view the settings that the committee members has selected for how and who they want to sell their product to:
- Public Sales
- Group (Activity) Sales (this will restrict sales of the product to members of that Student Group/Activity only)
- Member Sales
- Associate Sales
- Guest Sales
- Online Sales
- Offline Sales
How can I submit feedback on a product application?
You can submit feedback on a product application by selecting the 'Feedback' option at the bottom of the page.
For example, you may need to ask them to expand on their product description, or ask them to change the price of their product.
- Click 'Feedback' and a box will appear for you to enter your feedback/questions
- Enter your feedback
- Click 'Save' to submit your feedback
A banner will then appear at the top of the page confirming that feedback has been submitted.
Submitting feedback will mark the application with a status of 'Information Required' on the student dashboard, prompting the committee member who submitted the application to review the feedback you have submitted.
The application will reopen, allowing the committee member to make any changes and resubmit their application for further review.
Once the application has been resubmitted via the Student Dashboard, the banner will update to confirm that the application has been resubmitted, but will retain the feedback that was provided as a record.
Please note: You can submit feedback and reopen an application as many times as required before you complete the first stage of approval - feedback cannot be submitted within the 2nd (finance) stage of approval.
1st Stage of Approval
Once you are happy with the application and have received a response to any feedback, you can click 'Approve' to approve the application at the first stage.
Once approved at this stage, a new 'Decision' section will appear, confirming when and who approved the application at the first stage.
The 'Feedback' option will also no longer be available for you to select.
If however you cannot accept the application at this stage, you can click 'Decline' to decline the application. This will mark the application as 'Declined' within the student dashboard, and the committee member will not be able to edit the application.
They will need to submit a new application if they would like to reapply for the product.
2nd (Finance) Stage of Approval
Once you have approved the application at the first stage, the application will then require final approval at the finance approval stage.
At the bottom of the page you will find dropdown menus that will allow you to change the following coding if needed:
- Finance Department
- Nominal
- VAT Department
Change any of these elements if needed, and click the 'Submit' button alongside each that you have amended to ensure these changes are saved.
You can then click 'Approve' to fully approve the product application and create the product based on the information within the application.
If however you cannot accept the application, you can click 'Decline' to decline the application entirely. This will mark the application as 'Declined' within the student dashboard, and the committee member will not be able to edit the application.
What will happen once I have fully approved a product application?
When a product application is approved at the 2nd (finance) stage, a pop-up will appear confirming the system ID of the new product that has been created.
The product can then be found within the relevant EPOS zone to make any amendments if required.
The product will go on sale during the sale dates set within the application, unless these are amended within EPOS after the application has been approved.
Please note: To ensure products created via an approved product application are held within the correct EPOS zone, take a look at our guidance here on how to do this.
Updated on 17th December 2024