Locked Approval Workflow - Overview

A Locked Approval Workflow routes each expense report through a defined approval path. The workflow can use approvers assigned to each user, optional company-wide second-level approval rules, and conditional approval rules based on expense allocations. This article explains the available approval options and how an administrator configures them.

Prerequisites

• You have administrator permissions in Emburse Professional.

Enable a Locked Approval Workflow

1. On the Emburse Professional home page, select Settings.

   

2. Under Travel and Expense Policy, select View and Edit Policy.

   

3. From the approval workflow dropdown menu, select Locked Approval Workflow.

4. At the bottom of the page, select Save.

   

5. Select Configure Locked Approval Workflow.

First-Level Approval

The first-level approver is the first person who receives an expense report for approval. This person is typically the employee's direct manager or supervisor.

Configure First-Level Approval

By default, all expense reports route to the first-level approver, regardless of policy violations. You can configure the workflow to skip first-level review in specific situations.

• Always Obtain First Level Approval (Default): Expense reports are always sent to the report submitter's first approver. You can configure first-level approvers for each employee on the Manage Users page.
• Auto Approve If No Policy Violations: Expense reports without policy violations are automatically approved at the first level. Reports then route to additional approvers, if applicable, or to the employee's assigned Accountant for processing.
• Auto Approve All Expense Reports: All expense reports are automatically approved at the first level. Reports then route to additional approvers, if applicable, or to the employee's assigned Accountant for processing.

Assign a First-Level Approver

As an administrator, you assign approvers in each employee's profile on the Manage Users page.

1. On the Emburse Professional home page, select Settings.

   

2. Under User Accounts and Billing, select Manage Users.

   

3. Use the search box and filters to locate the user.

4. Select the More Actions button, and then select Edit User.

   

5. In the drawer, scroll to the Approvals section.

   

6. Select the first approver, second approver if applicable, and Accountant for the employee.

Update Approvers in Bulk

Use the bulk update tool to change approver assignments for multiple employees.

1. Return to the Settings page.

   

2. Under Bulk Update Tools, select Update Approvers.

   

3. In the text box, paste a tab-separated or comma-separated list that contains the following values for each employee who requires a new approver:
   • User Email: The email address of the user record that you want to update.
   • First Approver: The email address of the user's first-level approver.
   • Second Approver: The email address of the user's second-level approver, if applicable.

   • Accountant: The email address of the user's assigned Accountant.

     

4. Select Next to preview your changes.

Second-Level Approval

Second-level approval is optional. Expense reports route to a second-level approver only when a configured second-level approval rule applies.

Emburse Professional administrators can configure second-level approval for expense reports based on policy violations, approval limits, or departments. You must also assign a second-level approver to each user, or at the company level, to ensure the reports route to the correct individuals for approval.

For configuration instructions, see Configure Second-Level Approvers.

Conditional Approval

Emburse Professional administrators can configure conditional approval levels that apply when an expense is allocated to a specific department, cost center, expense category, client, project, entity, subsidiary, or other custom field.

You can configure conditional approval for the following fields:

• Departments
• Employee General Ledger Dimensions
• Expense General Ledger Dimensions
• Expense Categories

For more information, see Configure Conditional Levels of Approval.

Ad Hoc Approval

Ad hoc approval allows a report submitter or approver to add an extra approver to a specific expense report. When this functionality is enabled, any report submitter or approver can add an extra approver to a report.

Enable Ad Hoc Approval

1. On the Emburse Professional home page, select Settings.

   

2. Under Travel and Expense Policy, select View and Edit Policy.

   

3. Select Configure Locked Approval Workflow.

   

4. Select Allow Ad Hoc Approvers.

   

5. At the bottom of the page, select Save.

   

Report submitters and approvers can now add an additional approver from the report submission page.

Accountant Approval

Accountants complete the final processing stage of the approval workflow. After processing, expense reports can be exported to external systems.

Enable Fast Track Processing

Fast Track Processing is an optional configuration which will bypass the Accountant approval step for in-policy expense reports. Organizations can use Fast Track Processing to automatically process in-policy expense reports after all previous approval levels are complete. This allows the finance and accounting team to focus on reports that contain policy violations.

1. On the Emburse Professional home page, select Settings.

   

2. Under Travel and Expense Policy, select View and Edit Policy.

   

3. Select Configure Locked Approval Workflow.

   

4. Select Enable Fast Track Processing.

   

5. Select Save.

   

Accountants now review and process only expense reports that contain policy violations. In-policy expense reports are automatically processed after all required first-level, second-level, and conditional approvers approve the report.

Assign an Accountant

As an administrator, you assign Accountants in each employee's profile on the Manage Users page.

1. On the Emburse Professional home page, select Settings.

   

2. Under User Accounts and Billing, select Manage Users.

   

3. Use the search box and filters to locate the user.

4. Select the More Actions button, and then select Edit User.

   

5. In the drawer, scroll to the Approvals section.

   

6. Select an Accountant for the employee.

Update Accountants in Bulk

Use the bulk update tool to change Accountant assignments for multiple employees.

1. Return to the Settings page.

   

2. Under Bulk Update Tools, select Update Approvers.

   

3. In the text box, paste a tab-separated or comma-separated list that contains the following values for each employee who requires a new Accountant:
   • User Email: The email address of the user record that you want to update.
   • First Approver: The email address of the user's first-level approver.
   • Second Approver: The email address of the user's second-level approver, if applicable.

   • Accountant: The email address of the user's assigned Accountant.

     

4. Select Next to preview your changes.

Treasurer Approval

Organizations that use Emburse Pay to reimburse employees through ACH have an additional approval step after expense reports are processed. Users with the Treasurer permission can release reports to Emburse payment providers and start the reimbursement process.

Use the following articles to assign Treasurer permissions and release reports for payment:

• Assign the Treasurer Permission
• Reimburse Expense Reports and Invoices Through Emburse Pay