Order approval in the B2B customer portal: Accurately reflecting roles, permissions, and approvals
Why a Well-Thought-Out Permissions Concept Determines the Success of Your B2B Shop
In B2B purchasing, it's rare for orders to be placed by individuals. Typically, several employees work together, often across locations, with budgets, limits, and approvals. If roles and permissions in the customer portal aren't clearly defined, chaos ensues: incorrect orders, inquiries, internal conflicts, and, in the worst case, access to sensitive prices or documents.
In this article, we demonstrate how to effectively implement order approvals in a B2B shop, identify the roles you need, and outline a permissions concept in the customer portal that works in practice.
Briefly explained: Order approval ensures that orders in the B2B customer portal are only triggered after approval. This protects budgets, prevents incorrect orders, and makes purchasing processes traceable.
Why Roles and Permissions Are Crucial in B2B Purchasing
A B2B customer portal is a shared workspace account. Procurement, accounting, and sometimes technical departments access the same information. For this to function smoothly, a clear permission concept is essential: Who can order, who can approve, who can view documents, and who manages users.
In practice, it almost always shows:
Multiple users in a company account are standard, not the exception
Locations and departments need separate access rights
Documents and prices are sensitive, not every employee should see everything
Approval processes protect budgets and ensure clear responsibilities
Before defining workflows, you should clearly establish the typical roles in purchasing.
Typical Roles in Purchasing: Practical Examples
Administrator
The administrator manages users, roles, locations, and delivery addresses. Often, they are the main contact on the customer side. This role should be clearly defined to prevent the portal from becoming a support hotspot.
Purchaser
Purchasers create shopping carts, prepare orders, and need access to products, prices, and availability. However, they shouldn't necessarily view all company details and documents.
For purchasers, it's especially important alongside approvals to quickly place orders, often using item numbers or lists: Quick Order and Order Lists in the B2B Customer Portal.
Approver
Approvers authorize orders based on rules, amounts, product groups, or budget lines. They need an overview of orders, budget status, and history to ensure decisions remain understandable.
Accounting or Invoice Recipient
This role accesses invoices, delivery notes, and credit notes without needing ordering rights. They focus on documents, payments, and proofs.
Many portals fail because these roles aren't clearly separated. Users end up with either too many permissions or too few. Both lead to reverting back to working via email.
Mapping Order Approval: Workflows, Levels, Rules
An order approval is effective when it reflects the reality of your customers. Not too complicated, but clear enough so nothing slips through.
Single-Level Approval
A purchaser places an order, one person approves it. Ideal for smaller customers or straightforward budgets.
Multi-Level Approval
For example, team management approves up to an amount X, beyond that, executive management approves. Useful for larger shopping carts or clear competency boundaries.
Approval Based on Shopping Cart Value
A classic in B2B. Rules like approval needed from €1,500, second approval from €10,000 provide clear structures and cost control.
Practical Tip: Plan for proxy regulations and escalations. Otherwise, purchasing stalls if the approver is on vacation. A good approval workflow can forward approvals after defined periods or represent substitutions.
Budgets, Contingents, and Order Limits per User or Role
Many manufacturers and wholesalers prefer not to approve every order individually. Instead, customers work with budget frameworks, contingents, or order limits per employee, department, or location.
Proven Examples:
Monthly budget per location
Order limit per role, for instance, purchaser up to €2,000 without approval
Contingents for defined product groups
Budget approval when exceeded
Budgets only work if they are traceable: Who ordered what when, what is pending, what is approved. A clear dashboard for approvers and administrators ensures that the approval process in the webshop is actually used in daily practice.
RBAC Explained Simply: Role-Based Access Control
RBAC stands for role-based access control. Access rights are assigned via roles, not individually per user. This makes user management in the B2B shop much simpler, as new employees are assigned a role and immediately have the correct rights.
A Practical Example:
Role Purchaser: can order, can see prices, cannot manage users
Role Approver: can approve, sees order overview, sees budgets
Role Accounting: sees documents, cannot order
RBAC is fundamental to prevent a portal with 20, 50, or 200 user accounts from becoming a management problem. It simplifies onboarding, reduces errors, and ensures consistent permission structures.
Common Mistakes in Role Distribution and How to Avoid Them
All or Nothing Permissions
Solution: Clearly separate roles, at least four roles as described above.
No Location Separation
Solution: Represent locations as separate entities in the company account, including delivery addresses and responsibilities.
Approvals Only Manually via Email
Solution: Implement approval workflow directly in the portal. If approvals happen outside the system, the customer portal loses much of its value.
No Admin Responsibility on the Customer Side
Solution: Clearly name and document the admin role, including tasks such as user maintenance and role assignment.
No Permissions for Documents
Solution: Link document access to roles and separately account for accounting, ensuring sensitive documents aren't automatically visible to all users.
Checklist for Your Customer Portal: Roles, Rights, Approvals
Use this checklist to review your permissions concept:
We have a clear role model for customer accounts
There is an admin role per customer
Locations and departments can be represented
Order approvals are regulated, including proxy regulations
Budgets and order limits are defined
Documents are visible based on roles
Rights are documented: who can do what and why
If these points are not clearly resolved, the purchasing process often reverts to emails and phone calls, regardless of how technically advanced the portal looks.
Your Customers Will Thank You
A well-thought-out permissions concept with clear roles and approval processes builds trust and security. It allows your B2B customers to map their internal processes efficiently while maintaining control over spending.
Since 1999, we at Commerce Partner B.V. have been helping manufacturers and wholesalers build B2B customer portals that not only work technically but also reflect the purchasing reality within a company. Our experience shows that a clear role and permission concept is often the factor that decides acceptance or rejection.
If you want an overview of which portal functions are generally important, also read: B2B Customer Portal: Functions, Benefits, and Project Workflow.
Customer Portal Check in 15 Minutes
We will review together what roles, rights, and order approvals you need and how this interacts with documents, order history, and ERP data.
Request a Customer Portal Check Now.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about Roles and Rights in the B2B Shop
What is an order approval in the B2B Shop?
An order approval is a process where orders must be approved by authorized personnel before being finalized. This serves cost control and adherence to internal procurement policies.
How does an approval process work in the webshop?
The purchaser creates a shopping cart and submits it for approval. The approver receives a notification, reviews the order, and approves or declines it. Upon approval, the order is automatically issued.
How do I manage multiple users in a company account?
Through user management and roles. An administrator in the customer account sets up users and assigns them roles, granting employees exactly the rights they need.
What roles are needed for B2B purchasing in the customer portal?
At least four basic roles are advisable: Admin for user management, Purchaser for shopping carts and orders, Approver for approvals, and Accounting for document access.
What does RBAC mean and why is it useful?
RBAC means that access rights are assigned through roles. This simplifies management because new employees can be easily assigned to a role and immediately have the correct rights.
How can budgets and order limits be mapped per employee?
Through budgets per period and order limits per role or user. Exceeding these can automatically trigger an approval workflow, aligning control with flexibility.
