Nembl
Examples
Vendor Approval

Example: Vendor Approval

A common Finance / Procurement process: someone wants to engage a new vendor → procurement reviews fit and pricing → finance approves → contract is signed via DocuSign → vendor is added to your accounting system.

You'll build: Service Vendor Management → Offering New Vendor Request → Form (10 fields) → Workflow with sequential approvals + DocuSign automation. Time: ~25 min.

The shape

Submit → Procurement Review → Finance Approval → Send Contract (DocuSign) → Add to QuickBooks → ✅ Active Vendor
            │                       │                                                    
            └─→ Returned for revision (loops back to Submit)                            
                                    └─→ Rejected (✗ End)

Two decision points (Procurement and Finance) can each return to the submitter for revision instead of approving outright. This is the realistic version of "approval workflow" — most enterprise approvals are conversations, not binary gates.

What you'll need

  • Company account
  • A DocuSign account (or skip the auto-send step and do it manually)
  • A QuickBooks / Xero / NetSuite account (or skip the accounting integration and do it manually)
  • A Connector configured for each — see Connectors

Step 1 — Service & Offering

Service

Admin → Services → New Service.

  • Name: Vendor Management
  • Description: Onboard, evaluate, and manage external vendors

Offering

  • Name: New Vendor Request
  • Description: Submit when you want to start working with a new vendor

Step 2 — Form

FieldTypeRequiredNotes
Vendor Legal NameText✓
Vendor WebsiteURL✓
Primary Contact NameText✓
Primary Contact EmailEmail✓DocuSign signer email
Service DescriptionTextarea✓What will this vendor provide?
Estimated Annual Spend (USD)Number✓Drives finance approval threshold
Contract Length (months)Number✓
JustificationTextarea✓Why this vendor over alternatives?
Risk ConsiderationsTextarea–Data access, single source, etc.
AttachmentsFile upload–Quotes, vendor materials

Step 3 — Workflow

Drag phases

  1. Start
  2. Approval — Procurement Review
  3. Decision — Spend Threshold Check (auto-routes based on Estimated Annual Spend)
  4. Approval — Finance Approval (only reached if spend ≥ $10K)
  5. Process — Send Contract (auto via DocuSign connector)
  6. Process — Wait for Signature (auto, polls DocuSign)
  7. Process — Add to Accounting System (auto via QuickBooks/Xero connector)
  8. End — Active Vendor
  9. End — Rejected (off to the side)

Connect

  • Start → Procurement Review
  • Procurement Review (Approve) → Spend Threshold Check
  • Procurement Review (Reject) → Rejected
  • Procurement Review (Return for revision) → Start (loops the form back to the submitter)
  • Spend Threshold Check: condition {{estimatedAnnualSpend}} >= 10000 → Finance Approval; else → Send Contract
  • Finance Approval (Approve) → Send Contract
  • Finance Approval (Reject) → Rejected
  • Finance Approval (Return for revision) → Procurement Review
  • Send Contract → Wait for Signature → Add to Accounting System → Active Vendor

Configure Decision phase

Spend Threshold Check:

  • Condition: {{estimatedAnnualSpend}} >= 10000
  • True branch label: High spend → Finance review
  • False branch label: Auto-approved spend

Configure Send Contract (Automated, API_CALL)

  • Use Connector: DocuSign — Send Envelope
  • Body params: signer email = {{primaryContactEmail}}, signer name = {{primaryContactName}}, template id = your contract template
  • Output Variable: envelopeId

Configure Wait for Signature (Automated, API_CALL with polling)

  • Use a Timer phase that loops back to "Check Signature Status" every hour
  • "Check Signature Status" calls DocuSign — Get Envelope Status with {{envelopeId}}
  • A Decision phase: if status == "completed" → exit loop; else → loop back to Timer

(Or simpler: skip polling and use a DocuSign webhook that calls your Nembl webhook endpoint when signed.)

Configure Add to Accounting System (Automated, API_CALL)

  • Use Connector: QuickBooks — Create Vendor (or your equivalent)
  • Body: name = {{vendorLegalName}}, email = {{primaryContactEmail}}, etc.

Publish

Step 4 — Responsibilities

PhaseResponsible
Procurement ReviewProcurement Team
Finance ApprovalFinance Team
Send Contract(auto)
Wait for Signature(auto)
Add to Accounting System(auto)

Step 5 — Test

Submit a small-spend vendor (under $10K)

Should auto-skip Finance Approval — Decision routes directly to Send Contract.

Submit a large-spend vendor ($50K)

Should require both Procurement and Finance approval before contract goes out.

Test Return-for-revision

Reject one as Procurement with "Return for revision". Original submitter sees it back in their queue with the comment.

Test the contract path

Approve through. DocuSign envelope is sent. Sign it (you can use a test envelope). The instance auto-advances to "Add to Accounting System" and creates the vendor row.

What you can adapt

  • Multi-tier finance approval: spend > $100K requires CFO approval too. Add a second Decision phase.
  • Risk review for data access: if the form's "Risk Considerations" is non-empty, add a Security Review phase before Finance.
  • Vendor due-diligence pack: add a DATA enrich phase that pulls company data from Clearbit/ZoomInfo APIs to enrich the request before Procurement reviews.
  • Auto-flag duplicates: a Decision phase that checks if {{vendorLegalName}} already exists in your accounting system; route to "Use Existing Vendor" if yes.

Related

Employee OnboardingCustomer Refund