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Table of Contents
Introduction
Expense requests are a valuable tool in the Approval System for both HR and employees. You can use them to claim business-related costs, such as fuel and travel expenses, or even overtime worked outside the Attendance module. (More on this last one in 👉 this article.)
While HR gains better control over budgets and compliance with company policies, employees benefit from a hassle-free way to submit claims and receive reimbursements through payroll.
With little to no paperwork and reduced waiting times, expense requests are a win-win, making your workplace more organised and efficient. 😌
⚠️ Warning: To submit and process expense requests successfully, make sure the Approval System is set up correctly.
An incorrect setup may prevent employees from submitting requests or make pay items unavailable for claiming.
Prerequisites
Make sure that all employees involved in the expense processes (both approvers and requesters) have the right permissions assigned for the access level you want to grant them.
Ensure you have subordinates set in the Organisation Chart.
Make sure you properly set up your expense pay items in Payroll & Leave > Pay Items.
In the Expense Requests section (only visible to the Payroll User role), tick Is available for expense requests for the pay item to show when creating an expense request.
Fill in the other fields as needed.
🗒️ Note
If you enter zero as a value, the pay item will be unlimited.
If you exceed the limit set in the pay item (e.g. maximum per request) Indigo will still let you submit the request, while showing a warning message. Approvers will also get a warning message but they can still approve the request, even though it exceeds the limit set for the pay item.
More on expense Pay Items 👉 here.
Submitting an Expense Request
To submit an expense request for yourself, go to Approval System > Expense > Requests. Once there:
Click the ➕ Request Expense button in the top right of the page.
When the side drawer slides open, select the Pay Item and enter a Claim Date.
Insert the amount in the Claim amount field.
Add a Remark, a Reason and the Receipt Number if needed.
The Reason dropdown can be set as mandatory in Approval System > Expense > Settings > General Settings.
The Reason dropdown will show only if you've created at least a reason.
The Receipt Number can be mandatory for the selected pay item.
If the selected pay item requires a file upload, you won't be allowed to submit the request without one.
Once the file (e.g. receipt) is uploaded, the Submit button will become selectable. Click it to confirm the request submission.
👂 Psst, did you know that, with the right permissions, you can manage requests directly from the Employee Portal?
Go to Dashboard > Employee Portal and use the Expenses widget to select:
Approve to approve expense requests waiting for your direct approval.
Apply to submit an expense request for yourself.
Apply On Behalf Of to submit a request on behalf of someone.
Cancel Request to choose a request to cancel.
Submitting an Expense Request on Behalf of Someone
Submitting an Expense Request on Behalf of Someone
You can submit an expense request on behalf of someone too!
Go to Approval Systems > Expense > Requests > On Behalf Of tab.
Click ➕ Request Expense.
The Submit Expense Claim drawer will slide open. Here:
Select the person to apply for.
The employees' full name is displayed in the top left of the form, along with the company they belong to and their occupation.
To go back to the previous screen, click on the blue icon at the far right of the employee's name.
Fill in the form as you would for a self request.
Finally, click on Submit.
📋 Note: If you need to submit expense requests on behalf of other employees (such as managers and team leaders) you'll also need the permission HR_ApplyForExpensesOnBehalfOf.
Options after Submission
Once the requests are submitted, you can go to the All tab in the Requests screen, and from the grid:
Click on the Resubmit Request button to resend the request (only if the state is Declined, Cancelled or Approved). Locked requests can't be resubmitted as they've already been sent to a payroll.
The Resubmit Expense Claim drawer will open. Modify the details to your liking and resubmit the request.
Select the Cancel Request button to revoke the request. The request's state will change to Cancelled.
🗒️ Please note that Indigo is flexible enough to let you submit 👥 duplicate expense requests.
If the user claims more than once for the same value and on the same date for the same pay item, the system will simply warn ⚠️ you about it.
Don't worry though, the submission and approval processes won't be affected in any way.
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