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Expense Approval Groups

Expense Approval Groups allow you to set up the workflow for expense report approval, at both management and finance level.

You can decide how many levels of approver to include in the workflow and set the approval limit of each level (that is, the maximum value of an expense report that each level is authorised to approve). If an expense report exceeding the approval limit of the level one approver is submitted, then after being approved by the level one approver, instead of being sent to finance approval, it will instead be sent to the level two approver for further approval. If it also exceeds the level two approval limit, then after level two approval it will go to level three and so on. The same process is applied during finance approval for reports exceeding approval limits, before they are sent to COINS ERP+.

Creating an Expense Approval Group

Initial Setup

  1. Right-click an approval group, or left-click a group and click the menu icon , then click Add New. This opens the Approval Group Edit window.

  2. Select the company you wish to create a workflow for from the drop-down list.

  3. Enter a name for the approval group.

  4. Set the Effective Date for the workflow. This is the date on which the workflow will go into effect. By default, this is one day in the future, but you can move it forward or back if necessary.

Adding and Removing Approver Levels

For the workflow to be valid, there needs to be at least one level of approver and one level of finance approver. To prevent expense reports from getting stuck, the highest level of each type of approver always has an unlimited approval limit.

To add an approver/finance approver level:

  1. Right-click the empty space in the Approvers grid or the Finance Approvers grid and click Add New. This opens the Approver -Add window or the Finance Approver - Add window, respectively.

  2. Enter the level number of the level you wish to add. Level number “1” is the first approver level that expense reports will be sent to, level number “2” is the second approver level and so on.

  3. Select which list you would like to select the approver from. If you select User, the Approver drop-down will contain a list of Expenses users with the Approver user role. If you select Group, it will contain a list of Expenses user groups. If you select Organisational Hierarchy, it will contain the HR fields from ERP+ (Manager, Supervisor, Director, Reports To).

  4. Select the approver you wish to assign to this level from the Approver drop-down menu. If cross-company costing is enabled in Expense Parameters, you can select from all approvers within your organisation. If cross-company costing is disabled, you can only select from approvers within the company you selected in the initial setup.

  5. Enter the Approval Limit of the level. For the workflow to be functional, level two should have a higher approval limit than level one, level three higher than level two and so on.

  6. Click

    to add the level. It will now appear in the relevant grid.

To modify a level:

  1. Right-click the level you wish to modify, or left-click the level and click the menu icon , then click Modify. This opens the Approver – Edit window or the Finance Approver – Edit window.

  2. Edit the details as necessary.

  3. Click to save your changes.

To delete a level:

  1. Right-click the level you wish to delete, or left-click the level and click the menu icon , then click Delete.

  2. Alternatively, click the red cross in the Remove column on the level you wish to delete.

  3. The level will then be removed from the grid. If there are higher levels in the workflow than the one you deleted, they will all move down one level number to fill in the gap.

Modifying an Expense Approval Group

  1. Right-click the approval group you wish to modify, or left-click the group and click the menu icon , then click Modify.

  2. If the effective date of the current version of the approval group has not yet passed, move on to step 3. If the effective date has passed and the workflow is therefore already active, you must click the plus button to create a new version of the group. You can then set the effective date for the new version to come into effect.

  3. Edit the fields and/or approver levels as necessary.

  4. Click to save your changes.

Deleting an Expense Approval Group

An approval group can be deleted as long as there are no claimants who have already been assigned to it.

  1. Right-click the approval group you wish to delete, or left-click the group and click the menu icon , then click Delete. You will receive a popup message asking if you are sure.

  2. Click on the popup to confirm the deletion.

Adding/Removing Users from an Expense Approval Group

Users can be assigned to an approval group from their Manage Expenses User window (see Expenses Users). If you wish to quickly add or remove many users from an approval group, or if you wish to see a list of the users assigned to a group, you can do this from the Expense Approval Groups screen.

  1. Right-click the approval group for which you wish to add or remove users, or left-click the group and click the menu icon , then click Users. Alternatively, click the number in the Users column. This opens the Workflow Group Users screen.

  2. Switch between Linked Users and All by clicking the boxes at the top of the window. "Linked Users" shows the list of users currently assigned to this group. "All" shows the list of all registered users in your Expenses system.

  3. To add a user to the group, find the user in the All grid, then click the empty circle next to the user’s first name. The circle will turn green to indicate they have been added and if you switch back to Linked Users they will now be listed there.

  4. To remove a user from the group, find the user in either grid, then click the green circle next to the user’s first name. The circle will turn empty to indicate they have been removed and they will no longer be listed in the Linked Users grid.

  5. Your changes are saved instantly as you go. When you are done, click to close the window.

Super Approvers

The Super Approvers tab contains a list of every user in your Expenses system with the Approver user role. Within the grid, you can tick the boxes to make each approver a super approver and/or a super finance approver.

Super approvers and super finance approvers have the ability to approve or reject every expense item and expense report in the “awaiting approval” or “awaiting finance approval” stages respectively, regardless of who the reports are currently assigned to in the approval process. This includes expense items awaiting project manager approval. Having super approvers and super finance approvers can help to ensure the timely approval of expense reports which may otherwise have become stuck in the workflow.

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