Setting up conditional approval rules

Conditional timesheet approval rules allow customers to base timesheet approval workflows on complex conditions. We offer a few default conditional approval rules. If these don't meet your requirements, we can create custom rules for you. Contact Replicon Support for more information.

About the default rules

The rules listed in the tables below are available out of the box.

Timesheet rules

Rule name	Description
Escalated to next supervisor after elapsed time	The timesheet owner's assigned supervisor will be sent the timesheet. If they don't approve it in the time period defined in the rule, the timesheet will be sent to the supervisor's supervisor. This escalation will continue: Until the timesheet is approved, or Through the number of hierarchical levels you specify Or, if no limit is specified: Until it reaches the top of the organization's supervisory hierarchy You can also choose to have the timesheet auto-approved if the elapsed time value passes at the highest approval level.
Supervisor approves if above 40 hours(1)	The timesheet owner's assigned supervisor will only be sent timesheets that include more than a number of hours you choose. 40 hours is the default, but you can change the number of hours by editing the rule.
Second level supervisor approves	The timesheet owner's supervisor's supervisor will be sent the timesheet automatically
Project manager approves time	This new rule should be used when project managers need to approve time for their projects or tasks that was recorded via time punches

Time off rules

Rule name

Description

Escalated to next approver after elapsed time

The time off booking's owner's assigned supervisor will be sent the booking. If they don't approve it in the time period you define in the rule, the timesheet will be sent to the supervisor's supervisor.

This escalation will continue:

Until the timesheet is approved, or
Through the number of hierarchical levels you specify

Or, if no limit is specified:

Until it reaches the top of the organization's supervisory hierarchy

You can also choose to have the booking auto-approved if the elapsed time value passes at the highest approval level.

Supervisor approves if over a specific duration

If the booking is for less than or equal to the duration you set, it will be automatically approved by the system. If it's greater, it will be sent to the approver defined in the user's time off approver path.

You specify which time off types this rule applies to when setting up the rule.

Enable the Overdraw Requires Approval check box if you want all bookings that will result in an overdraw, regardless of their duration, to be sent to the approver.

Second level supervisor approves

Time off bookings will automatically be sent to the supervisor of the booking’s owner’s supervisor for approval

Expense rules

Rule name

Description

Escalated to next approver after elapsed time

The expense sheet owner's assigned supervisor will be sent the expense sheet. If they don't approve it in the time period defined in the rule, the expense sheet will be sent to the supervisor's supervisor.

This escalation will continue:

Until the expense sheet is approved, or
Through the number of hierarchical levels you specify

Or, if no limit is specified:

Until it reaches the top of the organization's supervisory hierarchy

You can also choose to have the timesheet auto-approved if the elapsed time value passes at the highest approval level.

Supervisor approves expenses over a certain amount

Expense sheets that include an expense greater than a value you choose will be sent to the user's supervisor for approval; sheets with expenses less than or equal to the value will be system approved.

The Expense Amount parameter uses your system's base currency.

Enable the Include Total Reimbursement parameter to also send expense sheets with a reimbursable total that exceeds the threshold to the supervisor. That is, expense sheets with no single value that exceeds the threshold, but whose total does, will also be sent.

Setting up a conditional approval rule

To set up rules:

Go to Administration > Employees and Organization > Permission Sets.
In your Administrator permission set, ensure you have permission to use conditional approval rules. These are the relevant permissions:

- Timesheet Conditional Approver Rules
- Time Off Conditional Approver Rules
- Expense Conditional Approver Rules

Log out of Polaris and then log back in again to ensure the permission change takes effect.

Go to the setup page for the type of approval rules you want to assign:

- Administration > Timesheets > Timesheet Conditional Approver Rules
- Administration > Time Off > Time Off Conditional Approver Rules
- Administration > Expenses > Expense Conditional Approver Rules

Select the rule you want to use.

Ensure the rule is enabled.

Edit parameters of the default rule, if needed.

For example, in the Supervisor approves if above 40 hours rule, you can change the 40 hours value to something else.

Include conditional rules in approval paths.

Help Administrators