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Configuring the Approval System

Find out how settings for Overtime and Expenses work in the Approval System module

Marie Claire Saliba avatar
Written by Marie Claire Saliba
Updated over a week ago

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Table of Contents

Approval System's Configuration for Overtime Requests

After creating the Rules you will be using for your Overtime Approvals, you will need to create new Shift Presets for Overtime and Entitlement or Time Off In Lieu (TOIL). Once your new Overtime Shift Preset is created and the Rewards have been assigned, you will be ready to use them in the Approval System's Overtime Settings.

🧠 Pro-tips

  • If you need variable rates for Overtime, you will still only need one Shift Preset and simply assign multiple Rewards to it to cater for the different rates.

  • The 'Timings' portion of a Shift Preset is unnecessary when using Overtime in Approvals, as the times in requests are registered by the system automatically.

Configuring Settings for Overtime Approvals

To configure your Overtime settings in the Approval System:

  1. Go to Approval System > Overtime > Settings.

  2. Click the ✏️ Edit icon in Overtime Shift Preset field and select a relevant shift preset from the resulting pop-up.
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  3. Repeat step 2 for (TOIL) Entitlement Shift Preset field.

  4. If you want to block requests that overlap with scheduled shifts, toggle the switch for Block requests overlapping with Scheduler. However, you can toggle:

    • Allow overlaps with 'OFF' schedules (overtime requests overlapping 'OFF' schedules can be submitted). And;

    • Allow overlaps with 'Flexi' schedule (overtime requests overlapping 'FLEXI' schedules can be submitted).

  5. Toggle on Allow selection of cost centre, to give the possibility to select a cost centre at the request submission.

  6. Enable Allow overtime requests to be submitted/approved after send to payroll to have requests submitted and approved in a period when send to payroll has already been performed.
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    ⚠️ Careful: Any requests submitted/approved for a locked period will NOT be automatically scheduled, calculated and sent to payroll. A manual intervention from payroll user will be needed to include Overtime in the respective payrolls. These overtime requests will still be available in the 'Overtime Requests' report.

  7. Click Save Settings.
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The next step 👇 is to configure the General Settings for Overtime.

Overtime General Settings


The General Settings button opens a drawer form on the right of the screen with several sets of options defining the Master Role, Actions to be taken when requests get stuck, and Notification settings.

Master Role

The Master Role gives a user the ability to amend or process anything anywhere in Approvals without restrictions, and should be used to handle blocked requests that are stuck for reasons outside of those covered by the Actions. Users under this role will be able to bypass any rules and approvers and have full control over Overtime requests.

🗒️ Note: This will ONLY apply to the current selected company.

Toggle the Show requests among team members / on behalf of switch on to allow users to view their team members requests or 'on behalf of' requests.

Actions

You can set the Approval System to take specific actions automatically when requests going through approval become blocked. Each Action has a tooltip explaining what the action handles to the right of the dropdown.

  • Default Action: this is the action the Indigo Approval System will take when no Overtime rules have been created or no existing rule applies to the specific request. You can choose from No Action, Auto Approve, and Auto Decline.

  • Intermediate Action: this is the action the Indigo Approval System will take when the approval cannot progress further due to a lack of available approvers meeting rule criteria. Choose from No Action, Skip Approver(s), and Auto Decline.
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  • Final Action: this is the action the Approval System will take when there are no valid approvers available that meet the rule criteria. Choose from No Action, Auto Approve, and Auto Decline.
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Notifications

You can choose to have the Approval System notify employees when requests move through the different stages of the Approval process. Notifications are available for the Portal, Email, and SMS.

With the Default Notification Group setting (in General Settings), you can have the Approval System notify set users when a request falls into a Blocked state and requires a manual intervention from someone other than the assigned approvers to proceed.

You can decide to make a Reason and a Remark mandatory. Enabling these features will force employees to provide a reason and a remark when requesting Overtime in the Indigo Approval System.
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There has to be at least one active reason to make reasons mandatory.

Once all of the above has been configured you can click on Save Settings at the bottom right of the drawer.

✅ Well done: Now that your Approval System is fully configured, you can go ahead and give access to your employees.

Approval System's Configuration for Expense Requests

Companies usually need to define who can claim certain expenses and who cannot. That’s exactly what the Expense Settings in the Approval System module are for.
But wait, have you created your expense pay items yet? If not, please do so. This is what makes them visible and ready to be set up in the Expense Settings screen.
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Create expense pay items

Once that’s done, you’ll find additional options in the General Settings drawer to help you further refine your overall expense approval process.

Keep reading to find out more. 👇
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Configuring Settings for Expense Approvals

Single Settings

  1. Go to Approval System > Expense > Settings.

  2. Click on the ✏️ Edit icon to the far right of a pay item's setting line.
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  3. The Expense Settings page will show.
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  4. Toggle the Active switch on to enable the setting and off to disable it.

    • 📋 Note: If the setting is inactive, no one will see the pay item when trying to submit expense requests.

  5. Go to the Applicable to section to start setting conditions.

    1. First, select an employee-related field, (e.g. Cost Centre, Department) from the Field dropdown. This forms the basis of the condition.

    2. Then, click on the ✏️ pencil icon or type in the Value field.

      1. A list will show in a right drawer. Tick the needed values and click on Select to confirm and get back to the previous screen.
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  6. Click on the circled plus ➕ to create another setting line.

    • This way you can build a more complex condition, and make the pay item available for different categories (e.g. Cost Centre A, B, and C, or Department X).
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  7. Tick the Applicable to all employees checkbox, if you want the pay item to be claimable by all the employees.
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  8. At the bottom right of the page, click on:

    • The Save Settings button to save the Expense settings. Or;

    • The Save and Set Rules link, to save the settings and be redirected to the Rules section to keep configuring your expenses.
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Bulk Settings

Using the Bulk Assign Settings button at the bottom-right corner, you can apply the above steps (3-8) to all the selected setting lines on the Expense Settings page.
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Once in the settings page, a yellow message at the bottom left corner informs you that 'These settings will only apply for the selected [x] pay items. Previously saved settings will be overwritten'.
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Expense General Settings

Once in the Expense Settings screen, click on the General Settings button at the top right of the page.
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A drawer form opens on the right. It contains settings identical to the one used in Overtime General Settings, but for expenses. Click 👉 here to check them out.

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