Apply an approval flow to benefits and uploads

Attach an approval flow to a benefit, route an upload-expense category to its own flow, set the review path that applies when nothing is mapped, and unlock the custom approval toggle.

A flow you build under Approval Settings does nothing on its own. It only takes effect once you attach it to where employees submit: a benefit they buy, or an upload-expense category they claim against. This article covers both mappings, the review path CLVR uses when nothing is mapped, and how to unlock the custom approval toggle when it is greyed out.

Before you start

Custom approval reuses the flows you create under Approval Settings, so you need at least one flow there first. Until a flow exists, the custom approval controls stay switched off and disabled, with a tooltip that reads Set up approval flows before enabling custom approval. If you have not built a flow yet, create one first (see the related article on creating and managing approval flows), then come back here to map it.

Map a flow to a benefit

Every benefit already has a default review behaviour, but you can override it per benefit so that purchases of that benefit run through a flow you built yourself.

From that point on, whenever an employee buys that benefit, the purchase is routed through the flow you chose instead of the benefit's default behaviour.

To stop using a custom flow and return a benefit to its default behaviour, untick the Custom approval checkbox for that benefit and select Save Changes. The custom mapping is removed and the benefit goes back to its built-in default.

What happens if you leave custom approval off

If you do not turn on Custom approval, the benefit keeps its built-in default. CLVR shows you which one applies for each benefit in the tooltip on the Custom approval control:

• Default: auto-approved by HR. Purchases of this benefit are approved automatically, with no manual step.
• Default: manual review required in HR inbox. Purchases of this benefit wait for someone on your HR team to review them.

These defaults are set per benefit, so different benefits in the same category can behave differently.

Map a flow to an upload-expense category

When an employee uploads an expense report, CLVR decides who reviews it. By default every category follows the same path, but you can give one category its own approval flow so that, for example, gym receipts and travel receipts are reviewed by different people. You set this per category, and it only affects expenses employees upload, not benefits they buy in the Benefits Store.

In Benefit Settings, each category is a row you can expand. Open the category whose uploaded expense reports you want to route, and look at the Upload Expense Report section at the top of the panel.

From then on, whenever an employee uploads an expense report in this category, this flow runs and routes the report to the approvers it defines. To stop using a category-specific flow, open the category again, turn off Enable custom approval flow, and select Save Changes; the category then falls back to the default upload flow (or to standard approvers if no default is set).

The review path when nothing is mapped

Every uploaded expense report needs a review path, and CLVR works one out for you even before you configure anything. The line of text under the Enable custom approval flow toggle tells you the review path uploads in this category will follow right now:

• Default: approved by standard approvers. No approval flow is mapped, so CLVR uses the standard approvers (the employee's manager plus your standard reviewers).
• Default: auto-approved (Flow name). A flow set to Auto approve, or a flow with no groups, is in effect, so reports clear immediately.
• Default: Flow name approval process (Manager, HR, ...). An approval process is in effect, listing the groups it routes through in order.

CLVR resolves the flow for an uploaded expense report in this order:

• The category's own flow, if you mapped one here, runs first and takes priority.
• The default upload flow, if no category-specific flow is set, acts as a catch-all so you do not have to configure every category by hand.
• Standard approvers, if neither is set.

So a category-specific flow always wins over the default for that one category, while every other category keeps following the default. There is no separate "default flow" switch to set first: you choose the review path one category at a time by mapping a flow to it. To apply the same review path everywhere, map the same flow to each category you offer for uploads. A benefit purchase never uses this lookup; it stays tied to the flow mapped on the benefit, or that benefit's built-in default.

Troubleshooting

• The custom approval toggle is greyed out. No approval flows exist yet. A custom approval mapping has to reference a flow that actually exists, so until you create your first flow there is nothing for the toggle to switch to. The tooltip explains this with Set up approval flows before enabling custom approval. Go to Approval Settings (at /hr/settings/approvals), give a flow a Flow name, choose its behavior and groups, and select Create Flow. Creating a single flow is enough to unlock the toggle.
• The toggle is still greyed out after I created a flow. Reload Benefit Settings so it picks up the new flow, then hover the toggle again. If the tooltip about setting up flows is gone, it is ready to switch on.
• The toggle turns on but the dropdown is empty. That points to no saved flows on the Approval Flows page. Open Approval Settings and confirm your flow was created (it should appear in the flows list, not just in an unsaved form).
• I ticked the box but cannot save. A flow must be selected when custom approval is on. Choose a flow from the dropdown, then Save Changes.
• The benefit I want is not in the list. Expand the right category, or check that the benefit is enabled for your company. If it is missing entirely, contact your HR contact at CLVR.
• I saved but nothing changed for old reports. A flow applies to expense reports uploaded after you save. Reports already submitted keep the path they started on.
• An upload was approved with no reviewer. The flow mapped to that category is set to Auto approve, or it has no groups, or none of its groups resolved to a real person. Open the flow in Approval Settings and add a group with members if you wanted a review.
• I want one rule for everything but only see per-category settings. That is expected: map the same flow to each category. A category you leave unmapped keeps the standard-approver fallback.