ApproveThis manages your UpKeep Integration approvals.

Why Your Maintenance Team Needs This Integration

Let's cut through the corporate speak: maintenance teams hate paperwork more than they hate broken HVAC systems. UpKeep already helps you manage work orders and keep equipment running. ApproveThis handles the bureaucratic sludge of getting purchase orders approved, budgets signed off, and vendor contracts rubber-stamped. Together? They're like giving your maintenance crew a hydraulic lift for cutting through red tape.

Here's the deal for companies between 50-5,000 employees: Every minute your maintenance manager spends chasing down signatures for a $5,000 compressor repair is a minute they're not optimizing preventive maintenance schedules or negotiating better parts pricing. This integration through Zapier creates a direct pipeline between maintenance action and financial approval – no more sticky notes on the CFO's monitor.

What Each Platform Brings to the Toolbox

UpKeep's Maintenance Muscle

UpKeep isn't just digital clipboards for work orders. Their mobile-first approach gives field techs real-time access to equipment histories, while managers get asset lifecycle insights that actually prevent "oh shit" moments at 2 AM. But let's be real – it's still just half the battle when every parts purchase needs three approvals.

ApproveThis' Approval Ammo

ApproveThis cuts through approval bottlenecks like a plasma cutter through rusted bolts. We're talking:

• Auto-escalating approvals when Karen from accounting's on vacation
• Instant rejections for requests that break budget thresholds
• Email approvals that even your least tech-savvy board member can handle

Best part? Approvers don't need UpKeep licenses. Perfect when you need a quick sign-off from external contractors or that exec who still thinks smartphones are a fad.

Real-World Workflows That Actually Work

The "Stop Wasting My Tech's Time" Purchase Order Flow

Scenario: Your HVAC tech finds a cracked heat exchanger during routine maintenance. In UpKeep, they create a purchase order for the $8,000 replacement. Normally, this triggers an email chain involving the facilities manager, CFO, and possibly a board member who summers in Nantucket.

With the integration:

1. UpKeep detects new PO → Zapier triggers ApproveThis
2. ApproveThis routes based on amount: Facilities Manager → CFO
3. CFO approves via email → Approved PO auto-updates in UpKeep

Field tech gets notified to proceed before they've even finished their next service call. No license needed for the CFO's approval – just a email they can OK from their golf cart.

The "Why Is This Light Fixture Still Broken?" Emergency Workaround

Hospital maintenance nightmare: ER lighting failure gets logged in UpKeep. Standard protocol requires infection control approval before any external contractors enter. Cue the integration:

• UpKeep work order → ApproveThis creates approval chain
• Infection control lead gets SMS approval request
• On approval, UpKeep auto-assigns to vendor with work instructions

Bonus: ApproveThis' audit trail covers compliance asses when Joint Commission comes sniffing.

Department-Specific Wins

Facilities Teams: Less Paper, More Wrench Time

Maintenance supervisors waste 11 hours/week on approval admin according to UpKeep's own data. This integration claws back 8 of those hours through:

• Auto-denials for requests exceeding quarterly budgets
• Delegated approvals when managers are OOO
• Real-time dashboards showing approval bottlenecks

Finance Teams: Budget Guardrails That Actually Work

ApproveThis' calculated fields automatically flag POs that exceed department allocations or violate vendor contract terms. Example: If your janitorial supplies hit 95% of Q3 budget, all new requests route to CFO instead of facilities manager. No more "I approved it because the system let me" excuses.

Operations Leaders: Visibility Without Micromanaging

ApproveThis' dashboard shows approval KPIs alongside UpKeep's maintenance metrics. Now you can spot correlations like "Approval delays cause 23% longer equipment downtime" – actual ammunition for process improvement talks with the C-suite.

Setting This Up Without Losing Your Mind

Zapier integration takes 12 minutes if you focus. Here's the cheat code:

Step 1: The UpKeep → ApproveThis Pipeline

Connect UpKeep's "New Purchase Order" trigger to ApproveThis' "Create Request" action. Map these fields:

• UpKeep PO Amount → ApproveThis Amount Field
• UpKeep Asset ID → ApproveThis Custom ID
• UpKeep Submitted By → ApproveThis Requester

Step 2: Approval Logic That Doesn't Suck

In ApproveThis, set rules like:

• ≤$2k: Auto-approve with manager notification
• $2k-$10k: Facilities Director + Finance Manager
• >$10k: Requires CFO eyes

Pro Tip: Use calculated fields to adjust thresholds based on remaining budget pulled from your accounting software.

Step 3: Closing the Loop Back to UpKeep

When ApproveThis approves/denies, Zapier updates UpKeep's PO status and notifies:

• Requester via UpKeep app
• Vendor via automated email
• Accounting via Slack

Test with a $1 PO first. Yes, you'll feel silly. Do it anyway.

Who Actually Benefits From This?

Manufacturing Plants

Prevent line shutdowns by accelerating spare parts approvals. Machine goes down? Tech submits UpKeep work order → ApproveThis pings plant manager's SMS → approval in 2 minutes → parts ordered. Downtime slashed from 4 hours to 45 minutes.

Property Management Firms

500-unit apartment complex gets 20 maintenance requests daily. Super integrates UpKeep work orders with ApproveThis to:

• Auto-approve routine requests under $500
• Route emergency electrical/Gas approvals to on-call managers
• Provide owners audit-ready approval trails

Hospital Systems

Compliance nightmare solved: Biomedical equipment repairs often need infection control + facilities + finance sign-offs. Integration ensures:

• Parallel approvals instead of sequential delays
• Auto-archiving for HIPAA audits
• Critical requests escalate after 2-hour timeout

Common "Yeah Buts" We Hear

"We Have Custom Approval Rules"

ApproveThis handles multi-tiered conditional logic better than your current email chain. Example: University maintenance needs different approvers for dorms vs research labs vs athletic facilities. Set rules once, stop playing approval roulette.

"Our Approvers Are Non-Techies"

Email approvals work exactly like regular email. Click approve, reject, or add a comment. No logins, no passwords, no "I never got the request" BS.

"What If Zapier Goes Down?"

Zapier's status page shows 99.9% uptime. But for mission-critical flows, ApproveThis can fall back to manual CSV imports/exports. Not ideal, but keeps your maintenance ops moving.

Bottom Line

If your maintenance team's approval process involves more than two emails and a spreadsheet, you're bleeding time and money. The ApproveThis + UpKeep integration via Zapier isn't just about faster approvals – it's about eliminating the administrative rust that slows down physical operations.

Ready to stop being the bottleneck? Register for ApproveThis or schedule a 12-minute demo. We'll even show you how to set up your first Zap while we're on the call.