Configure my organisation's expense workflows

Available for the following HR Plan: Platinum
Available for the following User Access levels: Admin   

An expense workflow allows an organisation to set up a process for recording and managing expenses. This typically involves gathering, categorising, auditing, and approving expenses to ensure accuracy and accountability. You can use Expense workflows to automate this process. Also, this feature follows a "when-if-then" sequence. To learn more about this, please refer to The When-If-Then sequence and scenarios tab in the Further information section of this article.

Visualise the expense workflow

Default expense workflow

Getting started

Add an expense workflow
  1. Click the WorkFlows menu.
  2. Click the Create New button.
    Create 1.jpg
  3. Select the Expenses template and click the Create New button.
    Create 2.jpg
  4. Click the WHEN button.
    Create 3.jpg
  5. Select from the following:
    • Expense created.
    • Expense approved.
    • Expense declined.
  6. Click the Save button.
    Create 4.jpg
  7. Click the IF button.
    Create 5.jpg
  8. Complete the following fields:
    • Field.
    • Condition.
    • Value.
  9. Click the Save button.
    IF 1.jpg
  10. Click the THEN field.
    Then1.jpg
  11. Click the Add Action button. Create 6.jpg
  12. Complete the following fields:
    • Then:
      • Request approval:
        • Approver.
        • Backup approver
      • Automatically approve:
        • Approver.
      • Automatically decline:
        • Decline reason.
        • Decliner.
      • Send email notification:
        • Type of recipients.
        • Subject.
        • Content.
  13. Click the Save button.

    Helpful Hint

    To add an additional step, click the   button below the last step.

    Create 7.jpg
  14. Click the Save and Publish button.

    Important

    You need to publish this workflow for it to become active.

    Pub 1.jpg

Daily activities

Unpublish an expense workflow

The option to unpublish the default workflow template is available to organisations on Platinum and Employment Unlimited plans.

This feature allows you to customise expense approvals to suit your organisation's needs. By unpublishing the default workflow, you can then create your own expense workflow that aligns with your approval hierarchies.

    1. Go to the Workflows section
    2. Click Manage Workflows
    3. Click the ellipsis on the General Expense Workflow
    4. Click Unpublish
      Unpublish expense workflow
      A confirmation box will pop up. It is important to note that all workflow instances running or scheduled will be stopped.
    5. Click Unpublish.
Publish an expense workflow
  1. Click the WorkFlows menu.
  2. Click the Manage Workflows tab.
  3. Click the Expenses button.
  4. Click the ellipsis button for the workflow you need to publish.
  5. Click the Publish button.
    Publish expense

Editing data

Edit an expense ‌workflow

Important

You cannot edit a published workflow. You have to unpublish it first before editing.

  1. Click the WorkFlows menu.
  2. Click the Manage Workflows tab.
  3. Click the Expenses button.
  4. Click the  button for the workflow you need to edit.
  5. Click the Edit button.
  6. Edit the workflow as needed.
    Edit 1.jpg

Deleting data

Delete an expense workflow

Important

You cannot delete a published workflow. You have to unpublish it first before deleting.

  1. Click the WorkFlows menu.
  2. Click the Manage Workflows tab.
  3. Click the Expenses button.
  4. Click the  button for the workflow you need to delete.
  5. Click the Delete button.
    Delete 1.jpg

Further information

The When-If-Then sequence and scenarios

The Expense WorkFlows feature lets you create a set of steps that the HR platform will take regarding expense claims. Each step follows the When-If-Then sequence, which is like this:

  • When this happens -> If this condition is met -> Then do this.
    • "When" is the situation that will trigger the workflow.
    • "If" is the condition that decides what action should be taken.
    • "Then" is the action that the platform will take.

To visualise this better, please see the examples below. "X" and "Y" in these scenarios refer to values you can pick and enter on the HR platform.

  1. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If the expense claim amount is more than "X", Then the request will be sent to the executive leadership team for approval.
  2. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If the expense claim category is "X", Then the request will be automatically declined.
  3. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If the expense claim currency is "X", Then the request will be automatically approved.
  4. When an employee submits an expense claim request, If purchase start date is after "X" AND end date is before "Y", Then the request will be automatically approved.
"And condition" and "Or condition" in the "IF" field

When you click the "IF" field when creating a workflow, the "Add conditions" panel will slide out. There, you will have to fill in the following: Field, Condition, and Value.

screenshot of the add conditions panel, highlighting the add condition button

Below those is the Add condition button, which lets you set up an additional condition to come with the first one. When you click this button, you will be asked to choose between:

  • And condition - This means the platform will take action only if BOTH the original and additional conditions are met.
  • Or condition - This means the platform will take action if EITHER the original or additional condition is met.

To demonstrate this, here are some examples:

And condition:

For the image below, the platform will act only if the expense claim amount is over 5,000 AND has a category of Miscellaneous. The platform will not take the specified action in the "THEN" field if both are not met, even if one of the conditions is followed.

screenshot of the add conditions panel, showing an example of the and condition

Or condition:

For the image below, the platform will take action if the expense claim amount is over 5,000 OR has a category of Meal Allowance. There just needs to be at least one condition met for the platform to act. So, the workflow will still function if two, three, or more conditions were met.

For our example, this means the workflow will act if the expense claim amount is over 5,000, even if it falls under a different expense category. The platform will also function if the request is under the Meal Allowance category, even if the amount is less than 5,000.

screenshot of the add conditions panel, showing an example of the or condition

  Don't have access to this feature? Contact our friendly sales team here if you’d like to upgrade your account to gain access to ‌expense workflows with Employment Hero today.

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Comments

4 comments
Date Votes
  • How can we set up expense claim approvals to go to the correct employees manager? 

    -1
  • Hi Manager Demo

    Thanks for reaching out. An expense claim will go to the primary manager for the employee. 

    1
  • I want to set a rule that goes to the employees primary manager then another manager for second approval but I can't seem to get the workflow to work... where can I find help for this?

    0
  • Hi Sarah Martin - thanks for your comment.

    I've raised this with our support team, and they will get in touch with you shortly to help you with this. For reference, your ticket number is #1168710.

    0

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