Approvals for claims and advances

In one minute

Every expense claim and every advance request goes through an approval before money moves. You press Submit for Approval. Winlium picks an approval template, creates a task for each approver, and waits. When the last approver approves, a claim is approved and its first ledger entries post by themselves. An advance is approved and waits for Finance to disburse it.

The one way to skip approval is the Auto-Approve Below setting, and it applies to claims only. It does not apply to advances.

For the general idea of templates, steps and approvers, read Workflows and approvals. For how an approver works the inbox, read Working with approvals. This page covers what is specific to Expense.

What goes through approval

Document	Approval document type	Template used when none matches	Setting that holds that template
Expense claim of any type (Claim, Advance Clearance, Corporate Card, Petty Cash) for an employee	Expense	The Default Claim Workflow	Default Claim Workflow in Expense Settings > Approval Settings
Expense claim for an external payee (for example a contractor from a public submission)	Expense	The external-payee template	External-Payee Workflow (fallback) in Expense Settings > Public Submission
Advance request	Advance Request	The Default Advance Workflow	Default Advance Workflow in Expense Settings > Approval Settings

All four claim types use the same approval type, "Expense". An administrator can still make a template apply to one kind of claim only, because a template can test the claim's total amount, its type, whether the payee is an employee or an external payee, its department and its branch. For an advance request a template can test the amount and the department.

How Winlium picks the template

1. Winlium looks at every active template for that approval type in your company, oldest first. The first template whose conditions are true wins. A template with no conditions always matches, so an old catch-all template hides every newer, more specific one.
2. If no template matches, Winlium tries the default template from Expense Settings (the table above). It uses that template only if it is active, belongs to your company and is built for the same approval type.
3. If there is still no template, the submission is refused. Nothing posts and the status does not change.

A claim or advance with no template never goes straight through. You see one of these messages and your administrator must set up a template or a default:

• No approval workflow matches this expense and no default workflow is configured. Please contact your administrator. Shown when you select Submit for Approval on a claim for an employee. Cause: No template matched and Default Claim Workflow is empty. An administrator sets Default Claim Workflow in Expense Settings, or creates a template that matches.

• No approval workflow matches this external-payee claim and no external-payee workflow is configured. Please contact your administrator. Shown when you select Submit for Approval on a claim for an external payee. Cause: No template matched and External-Payee Workflow (fallback) is empty. The external-payee claim never uses Default Claim Workflow. An administrator sets External-Payee Workflow (fallback) in Expense Settings.

• No approval workflow matches this advance request and no default workflow is configured. Please contact your administrator. Shown when you select Submit for Approval on an advance request. Cause: No template matched and Default Advance Workflow is empty. An administrator sets Default Advance Workflow in Expense Settings.

If a default template is set but cannot be used (it is switched off or built for another document type) you see the same message with "the configured default workflow could not be used" instead of "no default workflow is configured".

Automatic approval for small claims

If an administrator fills in Auto-Approve Below in Expense Settings, Winlium checks it first, before looking for any template. A claim whose total (all lines, tax included) is equal to or lower than that amount is approved at once:

• No approval task is created and no approver sees the claim.
• The first ledger entries post immediately (see Ledger impact).
• A claim of type Claim shows Approved. A claim of any other type goes straight to Paid, because those types need no payment step.
• If posting fails (for example an account is not set in Expense Settings) the claim stays as it was and you see the error.

The screen's help text says "below", but the rule is "equal to or lower". Leave the field empty to make every claim go through approval.

What you see while you wait

While a claim is Awaiting Approval the claim form shows an amber banner with the name of the current approval step and says the claim is locked until it is approved or recalled. A step bar shows which step the claim has reached.

An advance request moves the same way, but its list shows the statuses Pending Approval (while it waits), Rejected, and Awaiting Disbursement once it is approved. After approval nothing posts. Finance then disburses it from Disburse Advances. The advance form itself shows the raw status codes, for example PENDING_APPROVAL.

1. Step 1Submit for ApprovalClaimantClaim becomes Awaiting Approval and is locked.Does not post
2. Step 2Approval tasksApproversEach approver finds the task in My Approvals.Does not post
3. Step 3ApproveLast approverClaim becomes Approved. Other types become Paid.Posts stage 1
4. Step 4Process ReimbursementFinanceClaim of type Claim becomes Paid.Posts stage 2

What the approver does

Approvers do not use the Expense menu. They open My Approvals in the Approvals area. Every signed-in user can see My Approvals, and no Expense permission is needed to approve. Winlium decides by checking whether the task was assigned to you. See Working with approvals for the inbox itself.

On each task an approver can:

• Approve the claim. A comment is optional.
• Reject it. A comment is required. The comment becomes the reason shown to the claimant. If a step is set up to need no comments, the comment is optional.
• Request Clarification. A comment is required: it is the question. The task stays with the approver and the claim stays Awaiting Approval.
• Delegate the task to someone else.

The approval panel for an expense or an advance request is the generic panel. It does not show the claim lines. The approver opens the claim from the task to see the details.

If the approver asks a question

1. The claimant receives a notification and an e-mail with the approver's question.
2. The claim form shows "The approver has requested clarification:" with the question. It checks for a new question about every 15 seconds.
3. The claimant types an answer in the box and selects Send Response. The approver can also see a Submit Clarification button on the approval task, which is the same step done from the approvals side.
4. The approver is notified and the task is back with them.

The claim stays Awaiting Approval the whole time. Only the person who submitted the claim can answer.

If the approver rejects

The claim becomes Rejected. The claim form shows a red banner "Rejected:" followed by the approver's reason. The claim is unlocked. The claimant edits it and selects Submit for Approval again, or submits it as it is. Saving any edit turns a rejected claim back into Draft. A new approval starts on each submission.

The e-mail Winlium sends on rejection says the document "has been returned to Draft". For a claim the status shown is Rejected until you edit it.

Recall

The person who submitted a claim can pull it back while it is Awaiting Approval by selecting Recall on the claim form. The claim returns to Draft, and the approvers' tasks are cancelled and each approver gets an in-app notice "Recalled". Recall has no confirmation box.

Recall is refused when:

• An approver has already acted on the claim: "Cannot recall — an approver has already actioned this document".
• The approver has asked for clarification: "Only pending workflows can be recalled (current: RETURNED_FOR_CLARIFICATION)". Answer the question instead.
• You are not the person who submitted the claim: "Only the submitter can recall this document".

Advance requests have no Recall button.

Can I approve my own claim?

No. For both claims and advance requests, Winlium never lets the person who submitted a document approve it. If you try, you see "You cannot approve a document you submitted". When a step would have you as its only approver, Winlium skips you for that step.

Who is notified

Winlium sends approval notices from the approvals system, as a bell notification and an e-mail. The Expense module itself sends no e-mails.

When	Who is told	Bell	E-mail
A task is assigned or delegated to you	The approver	"Approval required"	"Action Required: Expense <number> awaits your approval"
The claim is fully approved	The claimant	"Approved"	"<number> has been approved"
The claim is rejected	The claimant	"Rejected", with the reason	"<number> has been rejected"
An approver asks a question	The claimant	"Clarification requested", with the question	"Clarification needed", with a Provide Clarification button
The claimant answers	The approver	"Clarification provided"	"Clarification provided"
A task waits too long	The approver, and the escalation target if one is set	"Reminder: approval pending", "Escalated approval"	"Reminder", "Escalated to you"
The claimant recalls	The approvers with pending tasks	"Recalled"	None
One step of several is approved	The claimant	"Approval progress"	"Step approved" (off unless an administrator turns it on)

Reminders go out after 8 hours without action and escalation after the hours set on the step, checked every 15 minutes. An administrator can switch each e-mail on or off in Administration > Notification Settings.

Winlium does not notify anyone when a claim is paid, when an advance is approved or disbursed, or when a petty cash fund is replenished. Overdue-advance reminders appear in the bell only, with no e-mail.

Voiding and reversing

Expense has no void and no automatic reversal. Once a claim is approved, its entries are in the ledger and Winlium does not post an opposite entry when the claim is rejected, recalled or changed later. Recall only works before the first approval. A paid claim, a disbursed advance and a replenishment cannot be undone from Expense.