Multiple Approvals
In addition to the basic process of submitting an expense report to one manager for approval, the system provides the following additional management approval options:
Hierarchical management approval
Alternate approval routing.
Change management.
You can set up a distribution list with a management hierarchy to require different levels of approval based on the expense amount. You can define thresholds for higher-level management approvals. You can permit a manager to approve expense reports up to a certain amount, but require the next-level manager to approve the expense report as well if the expense amount is higher than the approval threshold value specified for the first manager. For example, if a manager has approval authority for amounts up to 500 USD, any expense report with higher reimbursement requests is automatically routed first to this manager, but then also to a manager with a higher approval limit.
You can also set up alternate approval routings. An expense report is sent through this alternate routing to expedite approvals if a manager is not available. For example, if a specified amount of time passes and the expense report has not been moved on through the approval process, it is sent automatically to the appropriate manager in the alternate routing. You set up the time limit escalation for each manager when you set up the distribution list.
Change management enables you to respond to organizational changes, for example when an employee's manager changes or is temporarily or permanently unavailable. In this case, a different manager has to be substituted for the manager that you set up as the original approver.
To enable workflow processing for multiple approvers, you must set up a distribution list that includes the individuals submitting expense reports as well as groups of managers with different levels of approval authority. You associate the distribution list for expense report approvals with individual employees by entering a structure type on the employee profile that links the employee with the appropriate distribution list.