ApproveThis manages your Harvest Integration approvals.

When Time Tracking Meets Approval Power

Let’s be real: most companies between 50-5,000 employees aren’t lacking tools. They’re drowning in them. Harvest handles your time tracking and invoices. ApproveThis wrangles approvals. But when you connect them through Zapier? That’s when the magic happens for project-driven teams.

Think about it – Harvest knows exactly when clients pay invoices or when new projects start. ApproveThis knows who needs to sign off on what, and when. Combine them, and you’ve got a system that automatically kicks off approvals when Harvest data changes, then feeds decisions back into your time tracking workflows. No more chasing down managers for sign-offs or wondering if that urgent project got the green light.

Why This Combo Works for Mid-Sized Companies

Approval bottlenecks aren’t just annoying – they’re expensive. For agencies, consultancies, and any team billing by the hour, delays in approvals directly hit revenue. Here’s where pairing Harvest’s granular time data with ApproveThis’ structured workflows changes the game:

Three Problems Solved

1. Finance Teams: No more invoice black holes. When Harvest marks an invoice paid, ApproveThis can auto-route confirmation requests to accounting. No license needed for external clients to approve – huge for agencies working with 50+ vendors.

2. Project Managers: New project approval in ApproveThis? Instantly spin up a Harvest project with budget thresholds. If hours tracked exceed estimates, ApproveThis auto-escalates to execs using calculated fields.

3. Operations: New Harvest client added? Auto-trigger onboarding approvals for IT, legal, and resourcing – all before the kickoff meeting.

Real-World Use Cases (No Fluff)

1. Invoice Approvals That Don’t Slow Down Cash Flow

Picture this: A 200-person marketing agency uses Harvest for client billing. Their old process? Finance would manually check paid invoices, then email department heads for spend approval. Now:

• Harvest triggers ApproveThis when invoice status changes to “paid”
• ApproveThis routes to CFO + account lead via email (no Harvest login required)
• Approval thresholds auto-approve invoices under $5k if both parties don’t respond in 48h

Result: Finance closes books 3 days faster monthly. Account leads approve directly from Gmail without hunting down invoice details.

2. Projects That Start When They Should (Not When Someone Remembers)

A 850-employee IT consultancy approves 50+ projects monthly. Before integrating ApproveThis + Harvest:

• Sales would get verbal approval, then forget to create Harvest project
• PMs lost billable hours manually entering approved budgets

Now, every ApprovedThis sign-off auto-creates a Harvest project with:

• Client rate cards from approval form data
• Budget alerts at 75%/90% of estimated hours
• Auto-assigned team leads based on project type

Result: 22% fewer budget overruns last quarter. PMs reclaimed 11 hours/month on admin.

3. Client Onboarding That Doesn’t Require Heroics

Law firms, SaaS companies – anyone adding new clients in Harvest can auto-trigger cross-departmental approvals:

New Harvest client → ApproveThis checks:

• Legal approves NDAs/contracts
• IT provisions access
• Finance sets up billing codes

All before the sales team schedules the kickoff. Vacation delegation in ApproveThis means no approvals get stuck if a department head is OOO.

Features You’ll Actually Use

ApproveThis isn’t just another approval tool. These features matter when connected to Harvest:

Email-Based Approvals

Harvest users (clients included) can approve from their inbox. No new logins. Critical for external stakeholders.

Calculated Fields

Auto-calculate billable hours vs. approved budgets pulled from Harvest. If a project hits 90% of hours, ApproveThis auto-flags it for review.

Approval Thresholds

Example: Auto-approve client expense reimbursements under $500 if Harvest shows their account is in good standing. Escalate larger amounts to accounting.

Setup That Takes Minutes, Not Days

Zapier does the heavy lifting. For the “Invoice Paid → Approval” workflow:

1. Connect Harvest to Zapier
2. Choose “Invoice Paid” trigger
3. Map Harvest fields to ApproveThis request form
4. Set approvers (individuals or groups)
5. Test with a $0.01 invoice

Pro Tip: Use ApproveThis’ conditional logic to route high-value invoices to different approvers than small ones.

Who Benefits Most (Besides Your Sanity)

Finance Teams

Auto-approve recurring invoices under certain amounts. Get alerts when Harvest data shows a client’s payment history warrants extra scrutiny.

Project Managers

See real-time approval status in ApproveThis dashboard. If a Harvest project is stalled, check if sign-offs are pending before nagging execs.

Operations

Track approval bottlenecks by department. If legal always delays new client approvals, maybe they need more delegated approvers.

Common Questions (Answered Briefly)

Q: Do approvers need Harvest access?
A: Nope. ApproveThis sends emails with key data. Approvers just click approve/reject.

Q: Can we set dollar limits per approver?
A: Yes. i.e., Team leads can approve up to $10k, then it escalates to VP.

Q: What if Harvest and ApproveThis disagree on data?
A: ApproveThis shows a snapshot at time of request. Audit trails keep everyone honest.

Bottom Line

If your company uses Harvest, you’re already tracking the time and money. Connecting it to ApproveThis through Zapier means you’re also tracking – and accelerating – the decisions that make those numbers matter.

Harvest tells you where the hours went. ApproveThis ensures the right people agreed on where they should go next.

Ready to stop herding cats for sign-offs? Register for ApproveThis or book a 10-minute demo. We’ll show how to connect your existing Harvest account in real time.