How does the approval flow work?

Approval flows are triggered based on two important configurations that we need to set up before we get started:

• Policies - where we define when a certain booking requires approval or not
• Rule based approvals - where we define who approve certain bookings, and which bookings require custom / double approvals.
  
  

Requesting bookings (and reviewing them)

When a booking requires approval, a few people are typically involved:

1. A booker: the person making the booking, which can be the traveller or someone like a travel manager.
2. Traveller(s): the individuals travelling in this booking. A single booking can include multiple travellers (e.g., booking for 2 people).
3. The Approver(s): the person who can approve the booking for payment and ticketing, usually the manager of the group the bookers belong to, unless overridden by a super-admin.

Step 1: Booking
For trips out of policy, group approval is required before processing and charging the booking.

Step 2: Review Booking

Approvers will receive an email to review the booking, which now includes a notice that the request must be actioned within 48 hours. A reminder email will also be sent if the booking remains unapproved after 12 hours. Approvers can approve or reject the booking directly from the approvals page. Once approved, both the booker and traveller will be notified that processing has begun.

If the booking is not approved within 48 hours, it will be automatically rejected by the system, and both the booker and approver will be notified. This helps save time, keeps bookings accurate, and prevents last-minute issues with travel plans.

After an auto-rejection, the booker will need to re-book the itinerary. Expired or rejected bookings remain visible in the Approvals and Trips pages so both the booker and approver can still review the original selection.

Step 3: Ticket Issuance

After approval, our service providers will process the booking, which may take a few hours. Once done, booking confirmations will be sent to the travellers.

Note: If double approvals are enabled the booking will only be processed after the second (final) approval is done.

Understanding who the approvers are.

The approvers are always based on the traveller's group settings in the booking. For example if the traveller is part of a "Sales" group, the default approver of the "Sales" group will review the booking requests. 

Making a booking for yourself

Mikaela is making a flight booking for herself and requires approval. Cliff is Mikaela's manager so he will receive the request after which he can reject or approver her booking.

Making a booking for multiple other travellers (in different groups)

When making bookings for multiple travellers that are part of different groups, things can get a bit more complicated as people can have different policies, groups, or invoices profiles. When searching for a booking, the booker will have to decide,

1. The travel policy that applies (when does a booking require approval?)
2. Which group approval rule applies (which custom approval rules apply?)

Once selected, the correct policy and approval rule will apply to the booking request.

So who approves the booking for multiple travellers from different groups?

By default, all approversassigned to the travellers will be assigned to the booking, unless a custom approval rule applies. So for example:

Mick and Eva (travellers) are part of two separate groups "Sales" and "Marketing". There is only 1 travel policy: "general" and no custom approval rules are created.

David is the manager of the "Sales" group. Regina is the manager of the "Marketing" group.

1. Jesslyn (booker) makes a booking for Mick and Eva that requires approval, and selected the "Sales" group for approval rules. Because Mick and Eva are part of two different groups, and no custom approval rules apply, the approval request goes to both their managers (David and Regina).
2. David and Regina will receive an approval request, the first one to approve or reject will close the booking. So this means either person can take action.

After rejection or approval, an email goes to Jesslyn, Mick and Eva (booker & travellers).

Important: if in the example above, a custom approval rule would apply which would trigger a different approver, OR a double approval rule, the approvers will change. More about that in rule based approvals. 

Other useful articles:

• Changing approvers when making a booking
• Setting up rule based approvals in groups
• Setting up double approvals