Subject: SAP-Concur
Industry Focus: Travel and Expense Management
Efficient approval workflows are critical in ensuring compliance, control, and transparency in corporate travel and expense management. SAP Concur offers a robust, flexible approval workflow system that automates and streamlines the review and authorization process for travel requests, expense reports, and invoices.
This article dives into the fundamentals of the approval workflow in SAP Concur, explaining how it works, its components, and how businesses can customize it to align with their policies and operational needs.
The approval workflow is the predefined process through which travel requests, expense reports, and invoices are routed to designated approvers for review and authorization before final processing or payment. It ensures that expenses adhere to company policies, budgets, and compliance standards.
In SAP Concur, this workflow is fully configurable, allowing organizations to define approval chains, conditional routing, escalation rules, and integration with other SAP modules.
Initiation
The workflow begins when an employee submits a travel request, expense report, or invoice for approval. Submission can happen via the web portal or mobile app.
Routing Rules
Based on criteria such as department, cost center, amount thresholds, or project codes, SAP Concur automatically routes the request to the appropriate approvers. Routing logic can be simple (single approver) or complex (multiple tiers and parallel approvals).
Approval Actions
Approvers can approve, reject, or send back the request for additional information or corrections. Notifications and reminders help keep the process timely.
Escalations and Delegations
If an approver is unavailable or does not respond within a configured timeframe, the workflow escalates the request to alternate approvers or managers. Delegation allows temporary reassignment of approval rights during absences.
Audit Trail and Compliance
Every approval decision and action is logged with timestamps, creating a transparent audit trail essential for compliance and internal controls.
SAP Concur’s approval workflow is highly adaptable. Businesses can:
Understanding and optimizing the approval workflow in SAP Concur is vital for organizations aiming to maintain control over travel and expense spending while improving operational efficiency. By leveraging SAP Concur’s flexible and automated approval processes, businesses can ensure policy compliance, reduce processing times, and gain full transparency into their spend management lifecycle.