Workflow Template

Expense Claim Workflow

Captures employee expense claims, routes them through manager approval, finance policy review, optional exception approval, and payment processing, with status updates and email notifications at each stage.

Organisations processing employee expense claims need a consistent, visible process that finance and management can rely on across departments and cost centres. This workflow captures each claim from a submitted form through manager approval, finance policy review, optional exception approval by a finance manager, and payment processing, updating the claim status and notifying the employee by email at every stage. Employees submit claims through a public request form without needing an account, while managers and finance team members handle assigned tasks within the workspace.

Business Outcomes

Helps standardise how expense claims move from submission through approval to payment across departments
Supports faster manager and finance decisions by assigning clear tasks at each stage
Reduces manual follow-up by keeping employees informed with automatic status emails
Makes policy exceptions visible through a dedicated finance manager review step
Provides a timeline of status changes and recorded decisions for each claim

Workflow Steps

Steps

1
Create Expense Claim Recordcreate record
Creates the expense claim record from the submitted form data.
2
Set Status to Submittedupdate record
Updates the claim status to Submitted.
3
Send Acknowledgement Emailsend email
Emails the employee an acknowledgement with their reference number.
4
Manager Approvalrequest approvalrequires approval
Manager reviews and approves or rejects the expense claim.
5
Route Manager Decision
Routes based on the manager's approval decision.
approval_status: "approved"→Set Status to Finance Review
approval_status: "rejected"→Set Status to Rejected
Default→End
6
Set Status to Rejectedupdate record
Updates the claim status to Rejected after manager rejection.
7
Email Manager Rejectionsend email
Emails the employee that the claim was not approved by their manager.
8
Set Status to Finance Reviewupdate record
Updates the claim status to Finance Review after manager approval.
9
Finance: Check Claim Against Policycreate task
Finance checks the claim against the expense policy and records the result and notes.
10
Save Policy Check Resultupdate record
Persists the finance policy check result and notes to the record.
11
Route Policy Check Result
Routes based on the finance policy check outcome.
policy_check_result: "Within policy"→Set Status to Approved for Payment
policy_check_result: "Policy exception"→Set Status to Exception Review
policy_check_result: "Not claimable"→Set Status to Rejected (Not Claimable)
Default→End
12
Set Status to Rejected (Not Claimable)update record
Updates the claim status to Rejected because it was found not claimable.
13
Email Not Claimable Noticesend email
Emails the employee the finance notes explaining why the claim is not claimable.
14
Set Status to Exception Reviewupdate record
Updates the claim status to Exception Review for finance manager approval.
15
Finance Manager Exception Approvalrequest approvalrequires approval
The finance manager approves or rejects the policy exception.
16
Route Exception Decision
Routes based on the finance manager's exception approval decision.
approval_status: "approved"→Set Status to Approved for Payment
approval_status: "rejected"→Set Status to Rejected (Exception Denied)
Default→End
17
Set Status to Rejected (Exception Denied)update record
Updates the claim status to Rejected because the policy exception was not approved.
18
Email Exception Rejectionsend email
Emails the employee that the policy exception was not approved.
19
Set Status to Approved for Paymentupdate record
Updates the claim status to Approved for Payment.
20
Finance: Pay Reimbursementcreate task
Finance processes the reimbursement payment and records the payment details.
21
Save Payment Detailsupdate record
Persists the payment date, amount paid and payment reference to the record.
22
Set Status to Reimbursedupdate record
Updates the claim status to Reimbursed.
23
Email Payment Confirmationsend email
Emails the employee confirming the reimbursement payment.

Fields

Show all 14 fields

FormEmployee Expense Claim Form

Employee Name*· Text
Employee Email*· Email
Department*· Text
Expense Date*· Date
Category*· Choice
Amount*· Number
Business Purpose*· Long text
Receipts· File upload

TaskFinance: Check Claim Against Policy

Policy Check Result*· Choice
Policy Check Notes*· Long text

TaskFinance: Pay Reimbursement

Payment Date*· Date
Amount Paid*· Number
Payment Reference*· Text

Other fields

Claim Status· Choice

Employee Name*
Employee Email*
Department*
Expense Date*
Category*
Amount*

Forms

Employee Expense Claim Form

8 fields

Data Views

Expense Claims

employee_name, category, amount, expense_date +1 more

Dashboard Widgets

Claims by Status

Recommended integrations

Setup the following integrations to extend workflow capability.

Send email in the workflow
AWS SES

expenseclaimreimbursementapprovalfinanceemployee

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FAQs

What does this workflow record at each stage of an expense claim?

The record tracks status changes such as Submitted, Finance Review, Exception Review, Approved for Payment and Reimbursed, alongside a timeline of what happened. Where the workflow waits for a task, such as the finance policy check or the reimbursement payment, the entered values are saved to the record, including Policy Check Result, Policy Check Notes, Payment Date, Amount Paid and Payment Reference.

Who is involved in approving and processing an expense claim?

The employee submits the claim through a public request form and receives email updates without needing an account. A manager is assigned the initial approval task, a finance team member performs the policy check, a finance manager handles exception approvals when needed, and finance processes the payment.

What happens if a manager rejects the expense claim?

When the manager's decision routes to rejected, the claim status is set to Rejected and the employee is emailed to let them know the claim was not approved by their manager. This decision and status change are captured in the record's timeline.

How does the finance policy check affect the outcome of a claim?

Finance records a Policy Check Result of Within policy, Policy exception, or Not claimable, along with notes, and the workflow routes accordingly. A result of Not claimable moves the claim to Rejected with an emailed explanation, Policy exception sends it to a finance manager for exception approval, and Within policy moves it toward payment.

What happens during the policy exception review?

When a claim is flagged as a policy exception, its status is set to Exception Review and a finance manager is assigned the task of approving or rejecting the exception. If rejected, the status becomes Rejected and the employee is emailed accordingly; if approved, the claim proceeds to payment processing.

How is the reimbursement payment recorded?

Once a claim is approved for payment, finance processes the reimbursement as a task the workflow waits for, entering the Payment Date, Amount Paid and Payment Reference. These details are saved to the record, the status is updated to Reimbursed, and the employee receives a payment confirmation email.

How do we change this workflow if our approval or policy steps differ?

A workspace can describe the desired change in plain English or edit the steps directly in the workflow editor, such as adjusting who approves exceptions or adding additional routing conditions. Earlier versions of the workflow are kept, so changes can be reviewed or reverted if needed.

What information does the employee provide when submitting a claim?

The public request form collects the employee's name and email, department, expense date, category, amount, business purpose and receipts. This information is used to create the expense claim record that moves through approval, review and payment.

How can a finance team monitor claims across the organisation?

Each expense claim is a record with a reference number, status and timeline, and table views and dashboards show records grouped by status such as Finance Review, Exception Review or Reimbursed. Workspace activity is logged, giving finance visibility into where each claim stands.

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