You can set up a travel approval process for a specific cost object approver. This means that whenever an employee chooses a specific cost object, the trip must be approved by the cost object approver. 

Before you can set up the approval process, you'll need to configure the travel cost objects and add the approver. Once you've done this, you can create the approval process and select the approver, Cost Object Approver. 

Set up travel cost objects

To use cost object approvers in approval processes, each cost object must be configured with the correct usage and approver.

1. Go to Account settings > Cost management > Cost Objects.
2. Create or edit a cost object.
3. Under Usage, select Travel. This ensures the cost object becomes available during the booking checkout.

4. In the Approver field, select the approver for the cost object.

   

Create or edit the approval process

Once your cost objects are correctly configured, you can create an approval process where the approver is set to Cost Object Approver.

1. Go to Account Settings > Travel management > Approval Processes.
2. Create or edit an approval process.
3. Under Who should approve their trips?, click select approver and type or select Cost Object Approver.
   
   
    
4. Click select setting and choose which types of bookings require approval. In-policy and out-of-policy rules depend on your travel policies. 
5. Hover over select setting, click + when, and select the cost object.
   
   
    
6. Click Create approval process or Save. 

Any approval requests that include the selected cost object will be sent to the cost object's approver. 

Checkout process

When someone books a trip that requires approval, if they select a cost object:

• The selected cost object determines which approver will receive the approval request. 
• Their approval rules are applied as expected.

If they don't select a cost object, the cost object approval process won't be applied. 

Tip: It is recommended to set up cost object approvers for all travel cost objects to ensure approval processes work as expected. You can also make cost objects mandatory for all travel bookings.