Keep risky work behind approvals
Reorders, large transfers, and threshold changes can require named approvers. Nothing leaves the system or moves the ledger until a human signs off.
Feature
AI approvals and activity history
Who approved that reorder? When? What did the agent's original draft look like before it was edited? The activity log answers all three from a single search. Every draft, edit, approval, scan, transfer, and integration sync writes to one read-only stream. The entries can never be modified, only added.
What you get
Three outcomes operators can see
Give every action a clear record
The activity log captures agent drafts, human edits, approvals, scans, transfers, and integration events in one stream. Audit questions become a search, not an investigation.
Let automation help without taking over
Agents prepare drafts; people approve them. The split keeps the speed of automation and the accountability of a human-run shop, instead of trading one for the other.
How it works
From action to record
- 01
Choose what AI can suggest
Decide which agents are on for which workspaces, locations, or vendors. Agents disabled here do not produce drafts at all.
- 02
Set approval rules and owners
Configure who approves what: per vendor, per dollar threshold, per location. Add a second approver for high-value drafts where it matters.
- 03
Review drafts before anything changes
Drafts open with the rationale, the affected items, and the math. Edit lines, leave notes, or dismiss with a reason. The original draft is preserved alongside your edits.
- 04
Keep a clean activity history
Every step lands in the log: draft created, edited by user, approved by user, sent to vendor, received, reconciled. The thread tells the whole story.
How it works
How approvals and activity history work
Order3 agents explain records, recommend actions, and draft work (purchase orders, invoices, reconciliation steps, threshold updates) for a human to approve. Drafts wait in an approval queue routed to a named owner per the rules you configure. Approving the draft commits the action through normal workflows. Editing produces a new version with the change tracked. Dismissing requires a reason and closes the draft. Every step writes to the activity log along with scans, transfers, counts, integration syncs, and admin changes.
In your day
Where it fits in your day
Construction and electrical contractors use approvals on draft reorders for high-value parts, with a senior owner approving anything above a threshold. Medical and dental practices use the activity log to answer regulatory and audit questions about lot-sensitive supplies: when did this lot enter the room, who counted it, who approved its disposal. Manufacturing teams route raw-material reorders through approvals so a single agent draft cannot commit a six-figure PO without a human. The activity log is the single thread that ties scans on the floor, drafts in the queue, and approvals in the office to one operating story.
Controls
What you keep in control
You decide which agents are on, what they can draft, who approves what. Spending caps, vendor allowlists, and item exclusions are set up front and enforced on every draft. Multi-step approvals are supported for high-value or high-risk actions. Disabling an agent or pausing approvals does not delete the underlying inventory rules or history. The activity log is read-only by design: entries cannot be edited, only added. That is what makes it useful for audit. If a draft was a mistake, the dismissal is a separate event, not a rewrite of history.
AI approvals and activity history FAQ
Who can approve agent drafts?
Approvers are configured per workspace, per location, per vendor, or per dollar threshold. A workspace admin sets the rules; a draft routes to the matching approver when it's ready. Multi-step approvals can be required for high-value drafts, for example a senior owner plus a finance lead. If the assigned approver does not act within a configurable window, the draft can escalate. All of this is per-workspace; we don't assume one universal approval model fits every SMB.
Do I get an audit log of every change?
Yes. The activity log captures agent drafts, human edits, approvals, dismissals, scans, transfers, counts, integration syncs, and admin changes in one stream. Each entry shows the user (or agent), the timestamp, the affected records, and the action. The log is read-only: entries cannot be edited or deleted, only added. That property is what makes it audit-grade. You can filter by user, item, location, action, or date, and export to CSV with the filter applied.
What happens if I edit a draft before approving?
Edits are tracked. The original draft, the agent's rationale, and your edits are preserved as separate versions of the same record. Approving commits the edited version; the activity log shows both who drafted and who edited. This matters because a few months later, when someone asks why the PO was for 18 cases instead of 24, the answer is in the log rather than in someone's memory. It also gives the agents better feedback over time about where their suggestions need adjustment.
Can I require multiple approvers?
Yes, for actions where it matters. Multi-step approvals are configured per rule. For example, drafts above a dollar threshold require both an operations approver and a finance approver. The approval order can be sequential or parallel. Each step lands in the activity log with its own timestamp and approver. For lower-value or routine drafts, a single approver is usually plenty. Better to have a few important things behind two approvals than every action behind a slow gauntlet.
Will agents ever execute actions without approval in the future?
Execution without approval is roadmap work, not part of v1. If it ships, it will be opt-in per workspace and per action type, with explicit policy controls and a continuous activity log of everything executed. Broad autonomous operation is out of scope. The framing is consistent: drafts for approval today, controlled execution later, never an opaque autopilot.
Does Order3 replace QuickBooks or Xero?
No. Accounting stays in the accounting system. Order3 handles the floor and the inventory operating record: counts, receiving, transfers, reorder drafts, approvals, and the activity log. The approval and audit trail here covers inventory and purchasing work, and it sits alongside the books rather than replacing them.
Try AI approvals and activity history in Order3.
Start with one recurring inventory problem. Add the SKUs, locations, and counts that matter first, then bring in expert help when the rollout gets complex.