What an approval flow is and how it works
An approval flow is the list of steps an expense passes through before it is approved. Learn what a step is, who can approve, how benefit purchases and uploaded expenses find their flow, and what happens when no flow is picked.
An approval flow decides who reviews an employee's expense before it is approved and sent to payroll. That covers both an uploaded expense report (for example a wellness receipt) and a benefit bought in the store. A flow is a list of steps, run from top to bottom, and each step is a group of people, or several groups asked at the same time. You build flows under Approval settings, and a flow does nothing until a benefit or a category uses it. This article explains the parts of a flow, who can approve, how purchases and uploads find their flow, and what happens when no flow is picked.
The parts of a flow
Every flow has:
- A name, so you can recognise it when you pick it in Benefit settings, for example "Manager then Finance".
- Steps in order. The expense goes through them from top to bottom, and each step has to approve before the next one starts.
- A rule for each step, which decides how many people in the step have to approve: any one of them, all of them, or at least a number you choose. In a step with several groups, each group has its own rule, and the step also says whether all the groups must approve or any one of them is enough.
Once a step's rule is met, the people in that step who have not answered are skipped and the expense moves on. One decline at any step declines the whole expense.
Who can approve a step
Each step uses one group, or several groups that are asked at the same time and can approve in any order, such as HR and Finance together. The groups are:
- Manager: the submitting employee's own manager, looked up for each employee. If an employee has no manager, the people in HR are asked instead.
- HR: everyone with the HR role at your company, which CLVR sets.
- Your groups: fixed sets of people you create, such as Salary or Finance.
You see and change these on the Approvers tab of Approval settings. The same tab shows the Standard approvers, who are not a step in any flow. They review uploaded expenses that no flow covers.
How a flow becomes active
Creating a flow changes nothing on its own. It takes effect once you pick it for a benefit or a category in Benefit settings. One flow can be used by many benefits and categories. When you change the flow, the change applies everywhere it is used. On the Flows tab, the Used by line at the bottom of each flow lists the categories that use it, for their uploads, their purchases or one of their benefits.
Benefit purchases and uploaded expense reports find their flow in different ways.
How a benefit purchase finds its flow
A benefit purchase uses the first of these that exists:
The benefit's own flow. In Benefit settings, on the Benefit Store tab of the benefit's category, each benefit has an Approval flow column. A flow picked there is the benefit's own.
The category's default for purchases. On the same tab, Defaults for all benefits has an Approval flow list. A flow picked there is used for every benefit in the category without a flow of its own.
The benefit's built-in rule. Depending on the benefit, purchases are either approved automatically or wait for HR approval on the Expenses page. A benefit's Approval flow column shows which one as Default (Automatic) or Default (Standard).
Benefits that are approved automatically stay automatic and don't take the category's default. A benefit listed in a second category follows the default of its own category.
How an uploaded expense report finds its flow
An uploaded expense report uses the first of these that exists:
The category's own flow. In Benefit settings, each category has an Upload expense report tab with Approval flow under Approval. If a flow is picked there, it runs for uploads in that category.
Your company's default flow for uploads, if you have one. On the Flows tab, its Used by line lists the categories that have no flow of their own for uploads.
The standard approvers. Every standard approver is asked to review the expense, and each of them has to approve. If none are marked, the people in HR are asked instead. If HR is empty too, the expense waits until someone is added as its approver. It is never approved automatically.
Flows that approve automatically
Some companies have a flow that approves expenses as soon as they are submitted, with no one reviewing them. On the Flows tab it is marked Built in and shows Approved straight away. Use it only where you are comfortable skipping a check, and keep an eye on which benefits and categories use it.
A flow saved with no steps also approves everything automatically, and so does a flow where none of the steps has anyone in it when an expense arrives. The Flows tab marks those flows with a red dot.
Troubleshooting
- I created a flow but nothing changed. A flow does nothing until a benefit or a category uses it. Pick it in Benefit settings.
- A purchase did not use the flow I picked for its category. Check that you picked it under Defaults for all benefits on the Benefit Store tab. The flow on the Upload expense report tab is for uploads only. If the benefit has a flow of its own, shown in purple in its Approval flow column, that flow wins. A benefit that is approved automatically, shown as Default (Automatic), stays automatic.
- An upload skipped the category's flow. Check that a flow is picked in Approval flow on the category's Upload expense report tab in Benefit settings, and that you saved.
- An expense was approved with no review. The flow approves automatically, has no steps, or its groups had nobody in them. Check the flow on the Flows tab.
- I can't open Approval settings. Only people with HR access can.