If you don’t set up your claims approval process, all claims will immediately go to the Claim Reports section in SeaTalk for admin approval.

If you want certain managers to approve expenses before it reaches the Claim Reports section, you need to set up the claims approval process.

Permissions needed

• Claim Approval permission

Before you start

• Plan out who needs to approve claims (e.g., direct manager and the next level of manager) prior to the SeaTalk Admin.

Access your claim approval flow

• In the SeaTalk Admin Center, navigate to Application > Claim.
• In the left panel, click Claim Approval.
• If you’ve never created an approval flow, click Setup.
• If the approval chain already exists, you can view the existing approval flow. To make changes, click Edit in the upper right.

After you’ve accessed your claim approval flow, view and edit the approval flow and its advanced settings.

Set up your approval flow

In the Approval Flow tab, view the existing sequence of approvals. When a request is made, it starts from the top and goes through each step in the flow. The correction takes effect when the request reaches the end of the flow.

There are two types of steps:

• Approver: determines the employee with the power to approve the request at that step. 
• Condition: differentiates requests based on the applicant and claim, and sends the requests to the appropriate next step.

If the approver of a particular step approves the request, it goes down the flow to the next step. Once the request arrives at End (Pending Finance), it will appear in the Claim Reports section in SeaTalk for admin approval.

If the approver of a particular step rejects the request, it will exit the flow. The requestor will then receive a rejection notification.

Add or edit an approver step

When a request arrives at an approval step, the approver for that particular step will be alerted to approve the claim in their approval center.

To add or edit an approver step:

• To add a step, click the + icon where you want it, select Approver, and click the newly created approver step. To edit an existing step, click the approver step you want.
• In the right panel, select a role:
• Reporting Manager: select to have only one approver in this step. Click the Select approval level dropdown menu and select the manager to approve the request. Learn more about setting up your organization and its managers.
• Reporting Line: select to have a series of approvers in this step. Click the Approval up to dropdown menu and select the level of management the request will go to for approval. The claim will be sent sequentially from the most junior to the most senior manager selected.
• Department Lead: select to have the department lead approve in this step. Then, select the Approval Method. It will be applied when an employee is part of more than one department.
• Countersign: all approvers must approve the request before it moves to the next step. If one of the approvers rejects the request, it will be rejected.
• Pre-empt: the first approver will make the decision. If they approve the request, it will move to the next step. Otherwise, it will be rejected. The request will be removed from all other approvers once this occurs.

• White list: select to have specific employees approve the request in this step.
• In the Add person field, search and select employees. All these approvers will be alerted at the same time. Once done, select the Approval Method:
• Countersign: all approvers must approve the request before it moves to the next step. If one of the approvers rejects the request, it will be rejected.
• Pre-empt: the first approver will make the decision. If they approve the request, it will move to the next step. Otherwise, it will be rejected. The request will be removed from all other approvers once this occurs.
• To allow the step to be skipped when there’s no appropriate approver, select Skip approval step.
• Click Save. This approver will be added to the chain.

Add or edit a condition step

A condition step differentiates applicants and claims using certain criteria, and directs the request down the flow to the appropriate next step. 

If a request does not satisfy the Priority 1 condition, it is checked against subsequent conditions in order of priority, until it reaches Other conditions. When an applicant satisfies a condition, their request will be directed to a step down the approval flow.

To add or edit a condition step:

• To add a new condition step, click the + icon where you want and select Condition. Two conditions will be created and all existing steps that were after the + icon will be moved below the first condition. Click the condition that states Click to setup condition.
• To edit an existing condition step , click the specific condition step you want.

Please note: you cannot edit a condition step that states Other conditions. This condition step is required for all remaining requests by applicants that do not meet any set conditions.

• In the right panel:
• To set up criteria based on the applicant’s information, select Applicant Scope. 
• Department: select the departments that applicants need to be part of for their request to pass this condition step. To select any sub-departments, click the > icon next to the parent department.
• Office Location: select the office locations that applicants need to be stationed at for their request to pass this condition step. 
• Rank: select the rank that applicants need to have for their request to pass this condition step.
• To view the employees that fit the set criteria, click Check Selected Employee next to Applicant Scope.
• To set up criteria based on the claim category, select Claim Category and select the categories you want.
• To set up criteria based on the amount requested, select Claim Report Amount. Click the dropdown menu to select an operator and enter the amount in the field below.
• If you have more than two conditions, prioritize a condition by clicking the Priority dropdown in the upper right and selecting the priority. Requests will be checked against the Priority 1 condition first, then the Priority 2 condition, and so on so forth. 
• Click Save.
• To add another condition, click Add Condition above the existing conditions.

Delete a step

You can delete an approver step or a condition step. To delete a step:

• Hover over the step you want to delete.
• Click the bin icon.
• In the dialog box, click Delete. When you delete a condition step, all steps below the deleted condition step will also be deleted.

Please note: you cannot edit a condition step that states Other conditions. This condition step is required for all remaining requests by applicants that do not meet any set conditions.

Customize your advanced settings

In the Advanced Settings tab, customize when certain approvers will be skipped and if requests should trigger email notifications.

• Click the Advanced Settings tab.
• To immediately send an email notification to an approver’s email address when a request requires their approval, select Send approval reminder email to work email of approver.
• To skip an approver if they already approved the request in the previous step, select Skip successive repeated approver.
• To skip an approver if they are also the same employee who sent the request, select Skip approval step when approver is same as applicant.

Once you’ve completed customizing your advanced settings and setting up the approval chain, click Save in the upper right.

If you’ve made a mistake and want to reverse all changes, click Cancel in the upper right.