Approval chains
Every approval in SmartMy Hostel goes through a chain. That covers leave and out-passes, room change requests, final settlements, club events and club joining, and changes to fixed assets. With no set-up the usual people decide; you add levels, such as the chief warden after the warden, without code.
PLANSEvery plan
The problem it solves
- A student goes home for the weekend on a phone call, and the parent later says they never agreed.
- A refund goes out at check-out before the manager has seen the deductions.
- The owner wants to see room changes in the AC block, and the software knows only one approver.
- Months later nobody can say who approved a leave, or why a room change was refused.
How it works
- Each kind of request has a chain per Entity, made the first time it is needed. With no set-up it does what the hostel always did: for a room change, the front desk and managers of the hostel decide.
- To add people in order, open Hostel > Configuration > General > Approval Chains and add levels, such as the warden, then the chief warden. Any one approver of a level decides.
- Make a second chain with Only For to cover some requests only, such as one leave type or one resident category. Tick Approved at Once for requests that need no approval.
- The buttons stay where people use them: guardians on the portal's Leave page and in the app. Wardens and the desk use their own lists, and everyone has My approvals. Each answer decides the level the request waits at.
- When the last level approves, the hostel does its part. The leave is approved and the resident may go, the move can be made, the settlement can be settled.
Everything it does
What goes through a chain, and who decides with no set-up
- Hostel leave (leave and out-passes): the starting chain is the warden. Starting Only For chains send students, Night Out and Home Leave to the guardian, then the warden. Working professionals, staff and Vacation are Approved at Once and the warden is informed
- When a stay has no guardian, the guardian level is skipped; a hostel manager may decide in the guardian's place
- Room change request: the front desk and managers of the hostel; Move approves, and the move happens after the last level
- Final settlement: the hostel managers of the hostel; the desk's Approve sends the prepared settlement to them, and Reject cancels it
- Event proposal from a club: the wardens and managers of the event's hostels
- Request to join a club set to By approval: the club's organisers, or the staff of its hostel
- Asset change: revaluing, impairing, changing the life of, selling or scrapping a fixed asset: the asset managers
Which kinds you have
- Room change requests: every plan
- Leave: the chain from Growth; on Starter every leave goes to the guardian, then the warden (the warden alone when there is no guardian)
- Final settlement: with billing (Growth)
- Event proposals and club joining: with the community (Scale)
- Asset change: with fixed assets (Scale); its chain is under Approvals > Configuration > Approval Chains, not the Hostel menu
Who approves a level you add
- Named users, a group, or the usual approvers of the request, such as Hostel wardens and managers
- A step of the leave, Guardian or Warden, as a level of its own
- A guardian or resident who uses only the portal or app can be a named user and decides under My approvals
- If a level has nobody: the request cannot be submitted (the choice for a new level), the level is skipped, or the usual approvers decide. Otherwise names people who decide then
- Any one approver of a level decides; for two signatures, add two levels
Rules
- The person a request is about never decides it: a resident cannot approve their own leave, room change or settlement
- Requester May Approve: on for every Hostel chain as the system makes it. Whoever raised a request, such as a desk clerk, may decide a level they approve
- Only For: a chain for some requests only, tried from the top; keep one chain with an empty Only For
- A change to a chain applies to requests sent after it; requests already waiting keep their levels
- Starting chains you do not want are archived, not deleted: a deleted starting chain comes back when the product is updated
Record
- An Approvals tab on each request: level, approver, status, decided by, date and reason
- Approvers of room changes, settlements and asset changes get a to-do in the back office
- Changes to the chains are recorded; a new Entity copies the chains of its parent
Who uses it
GuardianApproves or rejects leave on the portal's Leave page or in the SmartMy Hostel app.
WardenDecides leave after the guardian, and club events, in Daily Life or under My approvals.
Front deskDecides room change requests with Move or Reject, and prepares settlements for approval.
Hostel managerApproves final settlements, decides leave in the guardian's place, and sets levels under Approval Chains.
Owner or chief wardenApproves at a level you add, such as room changes in one block or every refund.
Where you use it
- Web: Hostel > Configuration > General > Approval Chains (hostel managers); Approvals > Configuration > Approval Chains for an Approvals Administrator, with every chain
- Web: the hostel's own lists: Daily Life > Leave / Out-pass (To Approve), Residents > Room Change Requests (To Decide). Also Billing > Final Settlements, Community > Events and Clubs
- Web: Approvals > Requests > To Approve, and Invoicing > Fixed Assets > Asset Requests
- Resident portal: the Leave page for guardians, and the Approvals page for anyone named on a level
- The SmartMy Hostel app and the SmartMy Hostel Staff app: My approvals in the Menu. The app is built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- Not built for Hostel chains: reminders or stand-ins when a request waits; put two people on a level, or fill in Otherwise
What you control
Settings
- Levels and their approvers, per kind and Entity: the usual approvers to start with
- Starting Only For chains for leave: Students, Night Out and Home Leave (guardian, then warden); Working professionals, Staff and Vacation (Approved at Once)
- If a level has nobody: cannot submit (new level), skip, or usual approvers; the guardian level skips when there is no guardian
- Requester May Approve (on), Only For conditions, Approved at Once
Notifications
- Hostel Leave to Approve: to whoever decides next (the guardians, the wardens, or the people of the chain's level). At once, at any hour, in the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS come from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- Hostel Event Proposed: to the wardens; in the app and by email, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- Hostel Club: a request to join, to the organisers; in the app and by email, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- Request Waits for Your Approval: to the approvers of room changes, settlements and asset changes, and to people named on a level you add. In the app and by email, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- Each of these goes out at once; a person can switch off a channel, never the message, and in-app notices always arrive
Questions
Can the chief warden approve after the warden?
Yes, from Growth. Add a second level to the leave chain with the chief warden. Use Only For if only Home Leave needs it.Do working professionals in a PG need approval for leave?
Not with the starting chains: their leave is Approved at Once and the warden is informed. Remove that Only For chain if you want the warden to decide. On Starter every leave goes to the guardian, then the warden.Can the desk approve a refund it prepared?
No. The desk's Approve sends the settlement to the hostel managers. A desk clerk who is also a manager may decide it, because Requester May Approve is on; turn it off to stop that.What if a parent cannot be reached?
A hostel manager can decide in the guardian's place. The decision and who made it stay on the leave's Approvals tab.Do approvers get reminders if a request waits?
No. Approvers are told when a request reaches them and find it in their lists, To Approve and My approvals. Put two people on a level so one can decide when the other is away.Related features
DAILY LIFELeave and out-passes with guardian approvalResidents ask for leave or an out-pass on the portal or in the app. The guardian, the warden or both approve it. Going out and coming back are recorded, and guardians and wardens hear when someone is not back.STAYSRoom change with history and prorated rentMove a resident to another bed from any date. The old bed is free from that day and every move stays in the history. With billing, rent is corrected by the day.CHECK-OUT AND SETTLEMENTFinal settlement of the depositWhen a resident leaves, one screen sets the deposit held against the last rent, unpaid bills and any deductions such as damage. A hostel manager approves it, and settling it leaves the exact refund, or what is still due, on record.MORE IN THE PRODUCTEvents, clubs and a residents' marketplacePublish hostel events with seats, a waiting list and an optional fee per head. Residents form clubs that post announcements and propose events. They also buy, sell, give away and report lost and found, inside the hostel only.ASSETSFixed assets: register and depreciationEvery bed, mattress, AC, geyser and washing machine your hostels own sits in one register with its cost, depreciation and book value. Depreciation posts to your books each month, and selling or scrapping an asset goes through your approval chain first.ACROSS SMARTMY HOSTELNotificationsSmartMy Hostel tells the right person the moment something happens. That can be a bed booked, a leave to approve, a resident not back, an absence at roll call, an invoice, a notice, an emergency. Each event has its own recipients: the resident, the guardians, the wardens or the payer. Messages go in the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS come from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores.
See it with your own blocks and classes.
Tell us how many hostels and students you have. We will show you an allotment, a leave request approved by a parent and a night roll call, set up the way your hostel works.