SMS approvals

What SMS approvals are

SMS is one of four approval channels available in Navigator. Each participant (and each nominated contact) has a preferred channel stored on their record:

• Text message — the approver receives an SMS and replies to action it
• Email — the approver receives an email with approve/reject links
• Kismet App — the approver taps a push notification in the mobile app
• Phone — your team calls the approver to capture a verbal approval

When an approval request is sent, Navigator uses whichever channel is configured on the approver's record. A customer and their contacts can be on different channels — if both are set up as approvers, each receives the request via their own channel.

Setup requirements

For SMS approvals to work, three things need to be in place:

1. A sender number on the account. Configured in Settings — this is the number your account sends SMS from. Without it, SMS requests can't be sent and Navigator will fall back to email where possible.
2. A valid Australian mobile number on the approver. Navigator validates the number before sending. Landlines, international numbers without the correct prefix, or numbers with typos will be rejected during the send.
3. SMS selected as the preferred channel on the customer or contact record.

Sending an approval request

SMS approvals are sent the same way as any other approval. See Sending an approval request for the full workflow. The short version:

1. Open the invoice in Navigator.
2. Click Send for approval.
3. The modal shows each eligible approver and the channel configured on their record. A warning appears next to anyone whose channel isn't set up correctly (for example, SMS selected but no mobile number saved).
4. Confirm and send. The invoice status changes to Pending approval.

If you see the warning "User nominated SMS as preferred channel, but has no valid mobile phone number", fix the phone number on the customer or contact record before sending, or switch their channel to email.

The message the approver receives

This is the exact text sent to the approver:

Each message includes:

• Participant name and supplier name so the approver knows what they're being asked to approve
• Invoice total and issue date
• A short link to the approval page (valid for 7 days). Tapping the link opens a simple web page where they can tap Approve or Reject without typing anything
• A 4-character approval code (derived from the invoice ID) so replies can be matched back to the right invoice
• The auto-approval notice — only shown if the invoice qualifies for auto-approval

The message content is generated by Navigator and can't be customised per account. The only account-specific part is the sender number.

How the approver accepts or rejects

The approver has two options:

Option 1 — tap the link

The Approve or reject link opens a minimal web page with two buttons. They don't need a Navigator account or password — the link carries a short-lived token that authorises them. Tokens expire after 7 days.

Option 2 — reply by text

They can reply with any of these formats. Capitalisation doesn't matter.

Example of a typical exchange:

How replies are handled

When the approver sends a reply, the SMS provider forwards the message to Navigator. Navigator then:

1. Looks up recent message history from that phone number in the last 30 days to figure out which account and which person it belongs to.
2. Parses the reply for a YES or NO followed optionally by a 4-character code.
3. Matches it to an invoice using the approval code. If no code was provided and there's only one pending invoice for that approver, it matches that one.
4. Actions the invoice — either approving or rejecting it, logging an event, and creating a task tagged SMS for audit.

The approver isn't sent a confirmation SMS. Your team will see the approval or rejection reflected on the invoice status within seconds, and the task record captures the reply.

Unrecognised or ambiguous replies

Real-world replies aren't always clean. Navigator handles the edge cases:

• Reply doesn't start with YES or NO (for example, "Who is this?" or "I approve it") — the message is stored but no action is taken. It appears as an incoming text on the customer or contact's record. Your team may need to follow up manually.
• YES or NO with no code, and the approver has multiple pending invoices — Navigator can't tell which one they meant. A task is created for your team to review and action manually.
• Reply from a phone number with no recent history (more than 30 days since their last Navigator message) — the reply can't be associated to a customer. It's logged for review.
• The same number is linked to more than one account — Navigator won't guess. A task is created for review.
• STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, or similar opt-out words — Australian carriers enforce opt-outs at the network level. Once a number has opted out, further SMS sends to that number will fail silently. Switch that approver's channel to email.

Auto-approval and reminders

SMS approval requests are sent once — Navigator does not automatically resend or follow up by SMS. If the approver doesn't reply:

• If the invoice qualifies for auto-approval (total under the customer's auto-approval limit), it will be automatically approved after the configured delay (typically 2 business days). The SMS tells the approver this will happen.
• If the invoice doesn't qualify for auto-approval, it stays in Pending approval until someone responds or your team resends the request manually.

See Auto-approval for how the delay is configured.

Troubleshooting

When an SMS approval doesn't behave as expected — the approver didn't receive it, a reply wasn't actioned, or the wrong invoice was approved — see Troubleshooting SMS approvals for step-by-step diagnosis.