Organizations can require multiple people to review and approve expense reports before reimbursement. Eloope supports configurable multi-level approval chains that route reports through the right people automatically.
How multi-level approvals work
Instead of a single manager approving a report, multi-level approval chains pass the report through a sequence of reviewers. For example:
Manager > Department Head > Finance
Each approver in the chain reviews the report and either approves it (forwarding it to the next level) or rejects it (sending it back to the submitter). The report only reaches finance for reimbursement after every level has approved.
The number of approval levels depends on your organization's configuration and plan.
Approve and forward
When you approve a report that has additional approval levels after yours:
- Open the report from your Approvals queue.
- Review the expenses.
- Click Approve.
- The report automatically forwards to the next approver in the chain.
The next approver receives a notification that a report is waiting for their review. You can track the report's progress from the report detail view.
Amount-based routing
Organizations can configure different approval chains based on expense report totals. This means low-value reports get approved faster while high-value reports receive additional scrutiny.
| Report total | Approval chain |
|---|---|
| Under $500 | Manager only |
| $500–$5,000 | Manager > Department Head |
| Over $5,000 | Manager > Department Head > Finance Director |
Note: Amount thresholds and approval chains are configured by your organization's admin. Contact your admin if you have questions about your approval routing rules.
Track approval progress
The report detail view shows the current status of each approval level:
- Completed: This level has approved the report
- Current: The report is waiting for review at this level
- Pending: This level has not yet received the report
Both the submitter and approvers can see where a report is in the approval chain at any time.
Auto-escalation
If an approver does not act on a report within the configured time window, Eloope can automatically escalate it. Your admin can configure escalation to do one or more of the following:
- Remind: Send a follow-up notification to the current approver
- Escalate: Forward the report to the next level in the chain
- Auto-approve: Approve the report automatically if no action is taken
Warning: Auto-approve should be used carefully. Your admin controls whether this option is enabled and what time threshold triggers it.
Rejection at any level
If any approver in the chain rejects the report, it goes back to the submitter. The submitter can correct the issues and resubmit. The report then starts the approval chain from the beginning.