Create and manage approval flows

Build an approval flow, edit it, delete it, set it to auto-approve, route it through several approver groups in sequence, and choose who sits in each group.

An approval flow decides who reviews a submission and in what order, so you can route an expense report or a benefit purchase to the right people before it reaches payroll. You build a flow once in your settings, then point benefits and expense categories at it. This article covers the whole lifecycle: creating a flow, editing it, deleting it, setting it to auto-approve, routing it through several groups in sequence, and choosing who belongs to each approver group.

Open Approval Settings

In the webapp, open the Settings section of the HR sidebar and select Approval Settings. The page opens with two sections: Approval Flows, where you build and manage flows, and Group Members, where you decide who belongs to each approver group. Open the Approval Flows section to see the create form.

Create the flow

What each group means

• Manager resolves to each employee's own manager at review time, so one flow works for everyone without naming individuals.
• HR, Salary, and Finance are fixed lists of people. You choose who sits in each one under the Group Members section on the same page. A flow that uses HR, Salary, or Finance only works once those groups have members.

Choose who belongs to each group

Your flows route each submission to a group of people. The Group Members section on the same page is where you decide who belongs to HR, Salary, and Finance, so you control exactly who gets asked to review.

Expand the Group Members section, described as "Assign approvers for HR, Salary, and Finance groups." It shows one searchable, multi-select picker for each group:

• HR
• Salary
• Finance

Changes save the moment you adjust a picker. A green Updated notification confirms each save, naming the group (for example, "HR group saved"). There is no separate save button for this section.

Group members are used in two places: as reviewers whenever a flow step targets their group, and as the Manager fallback. When a flow step targets the Manager group but the employee has no manager set, CLVR falls back to the people in your HR group instead, so a submission is never left without a reviewer. Because of that fallback, it is worth keeping at least one person in the HR group at all times. The Manager group itself needs no list here, because it follows each employee's own manager.

Set a flow to auto-approve

An auto-approve flow marks a matching submission as approved the instant it is sent, with no one to review it first. It is the right choice for low-risk categories where a human check adds delay but no value, for example routine wellness (friskvård) receipts.

To build one, give the flow a Flow name, open the Behavior dropdown and choose Auto approve instead of Approval process, leave Groups (in order) empty (no one reviews it), and select Create Flow. The new flow appears in the table with Auto approve in the Behavior column.

When a submission matches an auto-approve flow, CLVR does not create any approvers and does not send a review request. Instead it sets the submission to Approved straight away and stamps a completion date, so it is cleared for reimbursement through payroll within seconds. On the employee side this shows up clearly: an uploaded expense report lands as Auto-approved rather than Pending, with "This expense was automatically approved", and a benefit purchase confirms with "Your purchase has been automatically approved".

Set up sequential multi-step approval

A sequential multi-step flow sends a submission through two or more approver groups one after another, instead of a single review or an instant auto-approval. You set the order once, and CLVR activates each step only after the one before it is approved.

To build one, set the Behavior to Approval process (so it routes to people instead of clearing instantly), then in Groups (in order) select two or more of Manager, HR, Salary, and Finance. The order you click them in is the step order: the first group is step 1, the next is step 2, and so on. Name it something you will recognise, for example "Manager then HR then Finance", and select Create Flow.

When a matching submission arrives, CLVR walks your groups in order and assigns the first step that resolves to at least one real person as the reviewers, stopping there. When an approver on the active step approves, CLVR closes that step and moves to the next group that has someone to review; any other reviewers still waiting on that same step are skipped. The flow continues group by group until the last step is approved, at which point the submission is fully approved and the employee is notified. A decline at any step declines the whole submission immediately, and later steps do not run. If a later group turns out to have nobody to review, CLVR skips it and continues; if no remaining step resolves anyone, the submission is approved rather than left stuck.

While a multi-step submission runs, it shows a connected Expense Status timeline, one bullet per step in order, with each group label and its reviewers. Steps that have not started yet still show their expected reviewers, worked out from each group's members (and, for Manager, the submitter's own manager). Each reviewer is told when their step becomes active, with an in-app Please review notification and an email; reviewers on later steps are notified only when their step starts.

Edit an approval flow

A flow is not locked once you create it. In the Approval Flows table, find the flow (each row shows its Flow name, Behavior, and Groups in order) and select Edit in the Actions column. The flow's current values load into the form, and the button changes from Create Flow to Update Flow so you know you are editing rather than creating.

With the flow loaded, adjust any of the three fields, the Flow name, the Behavior, or the Groups (in order), then select Update Flow to save or Cancel to discard (which clears the form and goes back to creating a new flow, leaving the existing flow untouched). A green Approval flow saved notification confirms the update.

A couple of points are worth knowing before you save:

• Steps are rebuilt from your current selection. Saving replaces the flow's existing steps with the groups currently in the form, in the order shown. This is why reordering or removing a group takes effect immediately. Always re-check the Groups (in order) field before you select Update Flow.
• Existing mappings stay attached. Any benefits or upload expense categories already mapped to this flow remain mapped to it. You do not need to remap them after an edit.
• New behavior applies to future submissions. Submissions already in progress keep the flow they started with. A change to the flow's behavior or groups takes effect for submissions made after you save.

Delete an approval flow

When a flow is no longer needed, find its row in the Approval Flows table and select the red Delete button in the Actions column. The flow disappears from the table right away, and an orange Approval flow deleted confirmation appears.

Deleting a flow removes more than the single row:

• The flow and all its steps. Every ordered group in the flow (for example Manager, HR, Finance) is removed along with the flow.
• Its mappings. Any benefit or upload-expense category that routed through this flow loses that mapping. Those benefits and categories fall back to your default upload flow, or to standard approvers if no default is set.

So before deleting, check whether the flow is still in use. If a benefit or category should keep a custom review path, point it at a different flow first so it does not quietly fall back to the default. Submissions already in progress are not affected: expense reports and benefit purchases that already started under this flow keep the reviewers they were assigned, and can still be approved or declined as normal. Deleting the flow only changes how future submissions are routed. There is no undo, so if you delete the wrong flow you have to re-create it with the same name, behavior, and group order, then re-map any benefits or categories that should use it.

Troubleshooting

• My flow is not in the dropdown when mapping a benefit or category. Confirm you selected Create Flow and saw the Approval flow saved message. The flow must exist in the Approval Flows table before it appears in any mapping dropdown.
• Submissions are not reaching reviewers. Check the flow's behavior. Auto approve clears submissions without review. If you meant to route them, edit the flow and switch it to Approval process.
• A group never gets the submission. Open Group Members and make sure HR, Salary, or Finance has at least one person assigned. The Manager group needs no setup here, because it follows each employee's own manager.
• The groups review in the wrong order. The order is set by the order you click groups in Groups (in order). Edit the flow, clear the selection, and re-pick the groups in the order you want, then Update Flow.
• Only one group ever reviews. Confirm the Behavior is Approval process and that you selected more than one group under Groups (in order). A single-group flow is one step by design.
• A step was skipped. That group resolved to nobody. Open Group Members and confirm HR, Salary, or Finance has people assigned, and that submitters have a manager set if the flow uses Manager.
• Submissions are not clearing automatically. Confirm the flow's Behavior reads Auto approve in the table, and confirm you actually mapped it to the benefit or category. A flow that sits unmapped does nothing.
• The form still says Create Flow. You have not loaded a flow yet. Select Edit on the row you want to change first, then the button switches to Update Flow.
• I deleted the wrong flow. There is no undo. Re-create the flow with the same name, behavior, and group order, then re-map any benefits or categories that should use it.