There are several different approver profiles in Perk depending on your company’s specific setup:
Approver profile 1: Line manager
If your company follows a Line manager approval strategy, all expense reports require approval by the respective line manager of an employee unless an auto-approval threshold is defined.
A line manager can perform the following actions in Perk:
| Task | Web app | Mobile app |
|---|---|---|
| Approve expenses | Under Spend > Approvals > Approvals list (or under My tasks > Approvals), a line manager can approve both single and trip expenses. | Single and trip expenses can also be approved via the mobile app by tapping Spend > Approval. |
| View expenses | Under Spend > Approvals > Search in the web app, a line manager can view historical and current expenses of their direct reports. By using the Company and Employee filters on the top of the page, a line manager can filter the expense reports according to the company entity and employee. | This action can only be performed in the web app. |
| Activate auto-approval | Depending on the company policies, a line manager can define an auto-approval threshold under Profile > Preferences. This means that, for example, if an auto-approval threshold of CHF 50 is defined, all expense reports up to this amount and without warnings are automatically approved by the system and do not require manual approval by the line manager. | This action can only be performed in the web app. |
| Set an expense delegate | Under Profile > Preferences, a line manager can choose a person to whom they want to temporarily delegate their approval rights. | Under Profile > Expense settings, a line manager can choose a person to whom delegate approval rights. |
Approver profile 2: Line manager delegate
A line manager expense delegate is a person to whom a line manager temporarily delegated their approval rights.
| Task | Web app | Mobile app |
|---|---|---|
| Approve expenses | Under Spend > Approvals > Approvals list (or under My tasks > Approvals), a line manager delegate can approve expenses submitted to the line manager (the approval threshold of the line manager is relevant). A delegate can only view current approval requests. | This action can be performed under Spend > Approvals. |
Approver profile 3: Cost object manager
If your company follows a Cost object approval strategy, cost object owners are required to approve all expenses submitted to the cost centers they are responsible for unless an auto-approval threshold is defined.
A cost object manager can perform the following actions in Perk:
| Task | Web app | Mobile app |
|---|---|---|
| Approve expenses | Under Spend > Approvals > Approvals list (or under My Tasks > Approvals), a cost object manager can approve both single and trip expenses. | Single and trip expenses can also be approved via the mobile app by tapping on Spend > Approval. |
| View expenses | Under Spend > Approvals > Search in the web app, a cost object manager can view historical and current expenses of their cost objects. By using the Company and Cost object filters on the top of the page, a cost object manager can filter the expense reports according to the company entity and cost object. | This action can only be performed in the web app. |
| Activate auto-approval | Under Spend > Approvals > Cost object approvals in the web app, a cost object manager can click on a specific cost object and set an auto-approval threshold for it. This means that, for example, if an auto-approval threshold of CHF 50 is defined, all expense reports up to this amount and without warnings are automatically approved by the system and don’t require manual approval by the cost object manager. | This action can only be performed in the web app. |
| Define delegate and delegate expiry | Under Spend > Approvals > Cost object approvals in the web app, a cost object manager can define a delegate and an expiry date of the delegation for a specific cost object. | This action can only be performed in the web app. |
Approver profile 4: Cost object manager delegate
A cost object manager delegate is a person to whom a cost object manager (temporarily) delegated his/her cost object approval rights.
| Task | Web app | Mobile app |
|---|---|---|
| Approve expenses | Under Spend > Approvals > Approvals list (or under My tasks > Approvals), a cost object manager delegate can approve expenses submitted to the cost object manager (the approval threshold of the cost object is taken into account). A delegate can only view current approval requests. | This action can be performed under Spend > Approvals. |
Multiple profiles: Line manager and cost object manager
When switching from a Cost object approval to a Line manager approval strategy, under Spend > Approvals > Search in the web app, the new line manager who used to be a cost object manager before can search for historical or current expense reports by using both the Cost object and Employee filters. The cost object view is still available to the former cost object manager since this person remains a cost object owner (if not explicitly changed).
Note: This action can only be performed in the web app.
In addition, if a company follows a custom approval strategy set up using the workflow designer, which includes a mix of a line manager and cost object approval strategy, some managers may be able to access both line manager and cost object approvals due to their multiple approver profiles in Perk.