Approval Workflow

Step-by-step guide to customer proposal approval and digital signatures

Approval Workflow

Once you send a proposal, the customer reviews and approves it on a secure proposal page. The customer signs by typing their name or drawing a signature. If you ask for a down payment, the customer pays it after approving.

Quick Start: How Approval Works

Customer receives proposal email
Customer clicks secure link to view proposal
Customer reviews line items and totals
Customer signs and approves, then pays the down payment if you asked for one
You receive instant approval notification

Customer Portal Experience

What Customers See

When customers click the proposal link, they access a secure portal showing:

Section	Contents
Header	Your company logo and contact info
Project Details	Location, well type, and project description
Line Items	Complete breakdown with descriptions and pricing
Totals	Subtotal, tax, deposit required, and grand total
Terms	Your terms and conditions
Signature	Digital signature capture field

Mobile-Responsive Design

The portal works on all devices:

Desktop: Full layout with sidebar navigation
Tablet: Optimized touch interface
Phone: Single-column scrolling layout

Customers can review and approve from anywhere.

Step-by-Step: Customer Approval Process

Step 1: Customer Opens Email

Customer receives email with subject line containing project details
Email displays your custom message
Customer clicks the Review & Approve Proposal button

The link is unique to this proposal. Anyone who has the link can open the proposal, so tell your customer not to forward the email.

Step 2: Customer Reviews Proposal

Customer sees your company branding
Line items display with descriptions and pricing
Totals show subtotal, any taxes, and deposit amount
Terms and conditions are visible for review

Step 3: Customer Signs Digitally

To approve, the customer:

Scrolls to the Sign to approve section near the bottom of the proposal.
Types their full name under Type your full name to sign. To draw a signature instead, they click Draw.
Enters their initials under Terms initials, if your terms ask for them.
Ticks the box that says they approve the proposal and agree to the terms.
Clicks Approve proposal. When you require a down payment, the button says Approve & Pay Deposit.

Step 4: Payment Processing (If Required)

What happens next depends on the down payment you set when you sent the proposal.

Required down payment

The customer clicks Approve & Pay Deposit. The approval is saved first.
The payment page opens and shows the deposit due.
The customer pays online, or clicks Approve and pay by check.

Optional down payment

The customer clicks Approve proposal.
The payment page opens and shows the optional down payment.
The customer pays now, clicks Approve without payment, or clicks Approve and pay by check.

No down payment

The customer clicks Approve proposal. The proposal is approved.
No payment page opens.

Down Payment Integration

Configuring Down Payment

You set the down payment each time you send a proposal, in the Send Proposal window:

Find Down payment.
Choose None, Optional or Required. It starts at None.
For Optional or Required, choose Fixed or Percentage and enter the amount.

Choice	What the customer sees
Required	The button says Approve & Pay Deposit, and the payment page opens after approval
Optional	The payment page opens after approval, with a choice to pay now or approve without payment
None	No payment page

Payment Methods Supported

Online payments go through Stripe. The payment page shows the methods your Stripe account has turned on, such as:

Card
Bank transfer (ACH): takes 1 to 3 business days to clear
Apple Pay, Google Pay or Link: shown above the payment form when the customer's device and browser support them

The customer can also click Approve and pay by check. If you have no Stripe account connected, the page shows pay-by-check instructions instead of an online form.

Payment Security

All payments are processed through Stripe's PCI-compliant infrastructure:

Card numbers never touch your server
Bank-level encryption
Fraud detection built-in

Approval Notifications

Instant Alerts

When a customer approves, you receive:

Notification Type	Where
Email	Project manager's inbox
Push Notification	Mobile app
In-App Alert	Bell icon in header
Dashboard Update	Project card updates

Notification Contents

Approval notifications include:

Customer name
Project ID and location
Approval timestamp
Payment status (if applicable)
Link to view project

After Approval

Converting to Open Job

Once approved, advance the project status:

Open the approved project
Click Convert to Open Job or advance status manually
Project moves to scheduling queue
Triggers downstream workflows

Your company can do this step for you

If an admin turns on Move the project to Open Job when a proposal is accepted in Settings > Notifications, an accepted proposal moves the project to Open Job on its own and you can skip the step above. It works the same whether the customer signs in the portal or someone in the office records an acceptance that came by phone or on paper. It applies only to proposals, and only while the project is still a Proposal. The switch is off until someone turns it on, so the manual step above is what happens by default.

What Happens Next

Action	When It Occurs
Status Update	Immediately
Scheduling Queue	Immediately
Invoice Created	If configured
Crew Notification	After assignment

Tracking Approval History

What Is Recorded

When a customer approves a proposal, DrillerDB saves:

Data Point	What is saved
Signature	The name the customer typed, or the signature they drew (saved as an image)
Signer name	The typed name. If the customer drew their signature without typing a name, the customer name on the proposal
Initials	The customer's initials, when your terms ask for them
Date and time	When the customer approved
IP address	The internet address the approval came from
Choices	The options the customer picked and the total they approved, if the proposal has options

Viewing Approval Details

Open the project and click the Proposal tab. On a pump/service job, open the work order's proposal tab.
Find the proposal in the Sent Documents table. An approved proposal shows an Approved badge with the date and time under it. When the customer signed, Signed by and the signer's name sit under that.
Click the eye icon (View sent snapshot).
Find Approval record at the bottom of the window. For a proposal the customer signed, it lists Signed by, Signed on, Terms initialed, IP address, and Sent to.

If someone on your team approved the proposal in DrillerDB, the record says Approved manually in DrillerDB (no customer signature) and gives the date. If no signature was saved, it gives the approval date and says No signature was recorded. A change order shows only its Approved date.

To see the page the customer signed, click the Open customer-facing page icon on the approved proposal in the Sent Documents table. The page opens in a new tab and shows the signature, who signed, when, and the initials if your terms asked for them. Opening an approved proposal this way does not change its open count.

Legal Protection

The saved approval gives you:

Proof that the customer agreed
The date and time of the agreement
The terms they accepted, with their initials when your terms ask for them
Their signature, typed or drawn

Voiding and Revising Proposals

When to Void

Customer requests changes after viewing
Pricing needs correction
Scope changed before approval
Error discovered after sending

How to Void a Proposal

Open the project and click the Proposal tab.
In the Sent Documents table, open the actions menu on the proposal's row.
Click Void Proposal.
In the window that opens, click Yes, void it.

Voided proposals cannot be restored. The customer can no longer approve the voided version.

Sending a Revised Proposal

After voiding:

Make necessary changes on Proposal tab
Review all line items
Click Send Proposal
Include message explaining revisions
New proposal replaces voided version

Best Practices for Revisions

Always contact customer before voiding
Explain changes clearly in new email
Highlight what changed from original
Set new response deadline if needed

Troubleshooting

Customer can't find signature field?

The Sign to approve section is near the bottom of the proposal
Ask the customer to scroll down
Mobile users may need to scroll further

Approval not showing in system?

Open the Proposal tab and check the Sent Documents table. An approved proposal shows an Approved badge.
The proposal is approved only after the customer clicks the approve button. A required down payment does not hold the approval back: the approval is saved before the payment page opens.
Refresh the project page

Customer approved but payment failed?

The approval is already saved. The proposal shows the deposit as due.
Contact the customer about the payment.
The customer can open the same link and pay again, or choose to pay by check.

Wrong person signed the proposal?

Void the proposal
Update customer contact if needed
Resend to correct person
Document in activity notes

Customer wants to change after approval?

Approved proposals are legally binding
Click Create Change Order on the project's Proposal tab for modifications
To replace the scope with a new proposal instead, choose Proposal under Document type in the same send dialog
Document all changes in writing
Both parties must agree to changes

Sending Proposals - Email delivery
Customer Portal - Portal features
Project Statuses - Status workflow
Stripe Connect - Payment setup