Expense Who approves what? Design a workflow that makes sense.
Raised, responsible and exceptions: a path to reduce the passages and comings in approvals.
Approving an expense takes context. Managers need to understand why it happened; finance needs the classification and details to process it. A clear workflow assigns each decision without asking everyone to review everything.
Set the responsibility for each step
Start with what each person needs to decide. The manager can evaluate the relationship with the activity of the area. The financier may provide the necessary data for processing. Separating these questions helps to avoid two approvals that do exactly the same verification.
Use criteria people can understand
Value, category and cost center can guide referral. The important thing is that the collaborator can understand why the request was for a certain person responsible. Avoid hard to maintain combinations or rules that depend on information that has not yet been filled in.
- Choose which conditions require a second approval.
- Set one responsible for each cost center.
- Document priority when more than one rule applies.
Plan absences and returns
A flow needs to work when someone's on vacation. Set replacements and who follows stopped requests. In return, ask for a specific orientation: “add legible proof” is more useful than “correct expense”. Preserve the reason with the request for the history to remain understandable.
Test before putting in use
Make a small matrix with common cases and exceptions. For each, register the expected person and the result. Include an expense at the very limit, one above it, one without cost center and the other with possible duplicity. Compare the configured path with the expected decision.
Follow the flow, not just the queue
Note which steps happen returns or recurring wait. Sometimes a substitute approveer is missing; in other cases, the information is incomplete. Adjust the cause before adding another step. A useful flow leaves each decision visible and allows the next person to continue with context.