Select your platform and then browse by platform category

Who are you and what section are you in?

Configure my organization's expense workflows

Available for the following plans: Employment Plus, Employment Unlimited 
Available for the following user access level: Admin

An expense workflow allows an organization to set up a process for recording and managing expenses. This typically involves gathering, categorizing, auditing, and approving expenses to ensure accuracy and accountability. You can use Expense workflows to automate this process. Also, this feature follows a "when-if-then" sequence. To learn more about this, please refer to the When-If-Then sequence and scenarios tab in the Further information section of this article.

Visualize the expense workflow

Default expense workflow

Getting started

Walkthrough: Add an expense workflow
Add an expense workflow
  1. Click the WorkFlows on the left-side menu.
  2. Click the Create New button.
  3. Select the Expenses template and click the Create New button.
  4. Click the WHEN button.
  5. Select from the following:
    • Expense created.
    • Expense approved.
    • Expense declined.
  6. Click the Save button.
  7. Click the IF button.
  8. Complete the following fields:
    • Field.
    • Condition.
    • Value.
  9. Click the Save button.
  10. Click the THEN field.
  11. Click the Add Action button.
  12. Complete the following fields:
    • Then:
      • Request approval:
        • Approver.
        • Backup approver
      • Automatically approve:
        • Approver.
      • Automatically decline:
        • Decline reason.
        • Decliner.
      • Send email notification:
        • Type of recipients.
        • Subject.
        • Content.
  13. Click the Save button.

    Helpful Hint

    To add an additional step, click the   button below the last step.

  14. Click the Save and Publish button.

    Important

    You need to publish this workflow for it to become active.

Add parallel manager approvals

To add two managers providing expense approval to an expense workflow, you can add a parallel expense approval, meaning two managers can approval or decline an expense approval independently of each other.

  1. Click the WorkFlows on the left-side menu.
  2. Click the Manage Workflows tab.
  3. Click Expense button.
  4. Click on the workflow in which you want to add parallel expense approval (three dots, then edit).
  5. In the THEN step, request approval. 
  6. On the side pop-up modal, under the THEN heading, select the action you want to take. 
  7. Next, select the staff member that you would like to approve the expense. 
  8. Add each manager for parallel approval by clicking on + Add Action.

    Helpful Hint

    Each approving manager must be added in the same THEN step of the workflow to effectuate a parallel approval.

  9. Tick Require all approvals to ensure both managers approve an expense request. 
  10. Click on Save. 
     

Daily activities

Unpublish an expense workflow

The option to unpublish the default workflow template is available to organizations on Platinum and Employment Unlimited plans.

This feature allows you to customise expense approvals to suit your organization's needs. By unpublishing the default workflow, you can then create your own expense workflow that aligns with your approval hierarchies.

  1.  
    1. Click the WorkFlows on the left-side menu.
    2. Click the Manage Workflows tab.
    3. Click the ellipsis on the General Expense Workflow.
    4. Click Unpublish.
       

      Important

      If the Default workflow for the Expense Workflow is unpublished, Managers and Admins will be unable to approve and decline expense claim requests. Those options will be greyed out. However, admins will still be able to approve and decline expense claim requests.

      For Expense approvals, we recommend you either keep the Default workflow active or ensure another workflow is in place to allow these actions to proceed.

    5. A confirmation box will pop up. All workflow instances running or scheduled will be stopped.
    6. Click Unpublish.
Publish an expense workflow
  1. Click the WorkFlows on the left-side menu.
  2. Click the Manage Workflows tab.
  3. Click the Expenses button.
  4. Click the ellipsis button for the workflow you need to publish.
  5. Click the Publish button.
     

Editing data

Edit an expense ‌workflow

Important

You cannot edit a published workflow. You have to unpublish it first before editing.

  1. Click the WorkFlows on the left-side menu.
  2. Click the Manage Workflows tab.
  3. Click the Expenses button.
  4. Click the button for the workflow you need to edit.
  5. Click the Edit button.
  6. Edit the workflow as needed.
     

Deleting data

Delete an expense workflow

Important

You cannot delete a published workflow. You have to unpublish it first before deleting.

  1. Click the WorkFlows on the left-side menu.
  2. Click the Manage Workflows tab.
  3. Click the Expenses button.
  4. Click the  button for the workflow you need to delete.
  5. Click the Delete button.
     

Further information

The When-If-Then sequence and scenarios

The Expense WorkFlows feature lets you create a set of steps that the HR platform will take regarding expense claims. Each step follows the When-If-Then sequence, which is like this:

  • When this happens -> If this condition is met -> Then do this.
    • "When" is the situation that will trigger the workflow.
    • "If" is the condition that decides what action should be taken.
    • "Then" is the action that the platform will take.

To visualise this better, please see the examples below. "X" and "Y" in these scenarios refer to values you can pick and enter on the HR platform.

  1. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If the expense claim amount is more than "X", Then the request will be sent to the executive leadership team for approval.
  2. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If the expense claim category is "X", Then the request will be automatically declined.
  3. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If the expense claim currency is "X", Then the request will be automatically approved.
  4. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If purchase start date is after "X" AND end date is before "Y", Then the request will be automatically approved.
"And condition" and "Or condition" in the "IF" field

When you click the "IF" field when creating a workflow, the "Add conditions" panel will slide out. There, you will have to fill in the following: Field, Condition, and Value.

 

Below those is the Add condition button, which lets you set up an additional condition to come with the first one. When you click this button, you will be asked to choose between:

  • And condition - This means the platform will take action only if BOTH the original and additional conditions are met.
  • Or condition - This means the platform will take action if EITHER the original or additional condition is met.

To demonstrate this, here are some examples:

And condition:

For the image below, the platform will act only if the expense claim amount is over 5,000 AND has a category of Miscellaneous. The platform will not take the specified action in the "THEN" field if both are not met, even if one of the conditions is followed.

 

Or condition:

For the image below, the platform will take action if the expense claim amount is over 5,000 OR has a category of Meal Allowance. There just needs to be at least one condition met for the platform to act. So, the workflow will still function if two, three, or more conditions were met.

For our example, this means the workflow will act if the expense claim amount is over 5,000, even if it falls under a different expense category. The platform will also function if the request is under the Meal Allowance category, even if the amount is less than 5,000.

 

Request Approval notifications
  • If request approval is selected, the platform will generate a to-do list item for the approver when the expense workflow has run.
  • When an employee submits an expense claim for approval, only their Primary Manager will receive the notification. If the Primary Manager is on time off, the notification will automatically be sent to the Secondary Manager instead.

Explore related content

Was this article helpful?
0 out of 0 found this helpful