---
title: "Shipment approval for transfer orders"
slug: "shipment-approval-for-transfer-orders"
description: "Manage shipment approvals for transfer orders to support secure material transfers and compliant supply chain operations."
updated: 2026-06-25T10:24:11Z
published: 2026-06-25T10:24:11Z
canonical: "docs.staedean.com/shipment-approval-for-transfer-orders"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.staedean.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Shipment approval for transfer orders

For domestic and international transfers of materials between sites, warehouses, and locations within the company, a Qualified Person may be required to authorize the movement of a specific batch or sub batch. Life Sciences Supply Chain Management allows specifying whether selected transfer order lines require shipment approval from an authorized user and prevents material shipping before the shipment is approved.

Shipment approval for transfer orders can be activated at the item level by enabling the **Shipment approval > Transfer order** parameter in the **Item model groups** form (**Inventory management > Setup > Inventory > Item model groups**). The selected value is inherited by all items that belong to the item model group and, therefore, by all transfer order lines that include such products.

It is possible to view whether a transfer order line requires shipment approval by verifying the **Shipment approval** parameter in the **General** tab in the lines of the **Transfer orders** form (**Inventory management > Inbound orders > Transfer orders**). The default value, inherited from the item model group, can be manually overridden.

## Steps

Once the material to be transferred is available in the shipping location (that is, after material picking and eventual packing), authorized users can approve the related shipment by performing the following steps:

1. Select a transfer order and click **Ship > Operations > Shipment approval**. The displayed **Shipment approval** form will list the inventory dimensions (that is, batches or sub-batches) that have been picked and must therefore be transferred.
2. Select the lines for which the shipment is approved and click **Approve > Update selected**. To quickly approve all the lines, click **Approve > Update all**. The **Approval status** is automatically set to **Approved** for the selected lines.
3. Complete the transfer order shipment. A shipment approval journal is automatically generated and can be opened by clicking the **Ship > View > Shipment approval journal** button in the **Transfer orders** form.

Users can specify if the shipment approval process should be secured via electronic signature by enabling the **Signature required** parameter for the **Shipment approval** requirement in the **Electronic signature requirements** form (**Organization administration > Setup > Electronic signature > Electronic signature requirements**).