How do I customise how approvals are set up?

Approval threshold and turning off approvals

Within the approvals section in System Settings can you customise expenditure approvals in the following way:

• All purchases require approval by the primary category approver for each category (Default);
• All purchases over a certain threshold require approval by the primary category approver (to prevent the need to approve smaller purchases);
• Purchases require no approval (the approvals module is turned off - this is not recommended).

Allocating who approves purchases

Who approves each purchase (where approval is required - see above) is determined by which user has been assigned as the primary budget holder of the expenditure category. Primary and backup approvers for each category are set in the category setting screen.

1. When a Primary Approver enters a purchase against a category they are the approver of, the purchase will go to the backup approver of that category to be approved. If no backup approver is set up, this purchase will auto-approve, and bypass the approvals screen. We'd highly recommend that you set up backup approvers for each category in order to ensure every purchase is approved by someone.
2. To enable approvals to happen when primary approvers are unavailable, users with Finance Team access or users who have been given permission to approve on other's behalf can approve expenditure on behalf of the primary approver (as long as they are not the submitter).

Bulk Updating Category Approvers

To replace a budget approver, and assign all of the categories they are the approver of to someone else, click the 'Replace Approver' button at the top of the Income & Expenditure Categories screen.

You can either select just one fund or do this for all funds. When you click confirm, the new approver will replace the previously appointed approver. This action cannot be undone.

Alternatively, you can manually update the approver of a category by clicking on a category to edit it.

To help you better understand the Approvals module as a whole, please visit the module overview page here.