Rules: what gets flagged and who must approve

Rules write down the checks your team already makes, such as “anything over 5,000 gets a second look” or “Jane approves large totals”. SlipInbox applies them to every receipt as it is read, and again whenever the receipt changes, until someone approves or rejects it.

A rule does one of two things to a receipt it matches:

• Flag it for review: everyone sees the flag. Approving or rejecting the receipt is how you acknowledge it.
• Needs approval from…: only the member you name, or an admin, can approve the receipt. Anyone who may approve can still reject it.

Admins set up rules. They come with every plan.

1. Open SettingsRules and press Add rule.

2. Give it a short Name; reviewers see it on the receipt. Add a Note if reviewers should know what to do, such as “Attach the manager’s approval email.”

   NameLarge totalNoteAttach the manager’s approval email.

3. Under When all of these are true, choose a field, how to compare it, and a value. Press Add condition for another.

4. Under Then, choose Flag it for review or Needs approval from… and the member who approves.

5. Press Save rule. The rule applies at once to every receipt waiting for a decision.

Until you have a rule, the Rules page offers common checks to start from:

• Large total
• Old receipt
• Missing tax ID

Pressing one opens the form filled in. Change any part of it before you save, such as the amount.

A rule matches only when all of its conditions are true. To flag receipts when either of two things is true, make two rules.

A rule has up to 8 conditions, and an organization up to 50 rules.

• On the receipt and in the review queue, a Your rules flagged this notice names each rule and its note, and for approval rules who must approve.
• In the receipts list, a Flagged badge beside the status, and a Flagged choice in the status filter.
• On the dashboard, Flagged and, for the member named by an approval rule, Waiting for you under Needs a look.

A receipt can also need review for reasons of its own, such as a total SlipInbox could not read. That is separate; see Why a receipt needs review.

While a receipt waits for a named member, other accountants see Approve greyed out with “Needs Jane Banda’s approval first.” The named member approves it as usual. An admin can always approve it: their approval counts for everyone the rules named, and the receipt shows who approved it.

When several approval rules match one receipt, every member they name must approve. Each one’s approval is recorded (“Your approval is recorded. Waiting for Bob Phiri.”), and the last one approves the receipt.

If the named member leaves or can no longer approve, the rule acts as a plain flag, and the rules table shows Choose a new approver on it.

Open the menu on a rule’s row. Turn off stops it for now and Turn on brings it back; Edit changes it; Remove deletes it.