Configure approval policies

Create approval rules, choose reviewers, and check how invoices will be routed.

Understand the policy matrix

Open Settings > Company > Approval policies. Separate tabs manage invoice approval, invoice review, email review, and the fallback reviewer. Policies are evaluated in the order shown.

Create or edit a policy

Select the correct tab. Choose the job you intend to route before selecting Create policy.
Name the policy and add conditions. Choose fields through the field picker and express only the business conditions needed for the policy. Use exceptions when a condition should apply to most values except a defined set. An exception (is not or is none of) also matches invoices where the field is empty; add is not empty on the same field to leave those out.
Add approval stages. Select employees or groups and set the required stage behavior. Put sequential decisions in separate stages.
Choose how matching policies combine. An additive policy can contribute stages alongside other matches. An exclusive policy stops lower-priority policies once it matches. Review the order whenever you use an exclusive policy.
Save and check a new invoice. Policy changes apply when Clerked calculates a new route. They do not rewrite approval stages already in progress on an invoice.

If no one on a stage can sign in to approve, Clerked still saves the policy and shows Policy saved with warnings. The stage shows No approver on this step can sign in and lists who can’t sign in. Select Done, then edit the policy to add an approver with an active account so invoices routed there don’t wait.

Choose the fallback reviewer

The fallback reviewer gets the work no policy routes: invoices that no review or approval policy matches, invoices whose checks fail under an auto-approve policy, invoices that hit a processing error, and emails that need a review.

Open the Fallback reviewer tab. Only people who can manage company settings see it.
Choose one person or one group. Choose a group to share this work: everyone in it sees it in Tasks, and any one of them can complete it. The picker shows how many people in each group can act.
Select Save fallback reviewer.

The reviewer must be able to act: a person needs an active account in this company, and a group needs at least one such person. While a person or group is the fallback reviewer, Clerked won’t archive that person or delete or deactivate that group. Someone who manages company settings has to choose another fallback reviewer first. A change applies to work routed from then on; work already waiting keeps its reviewer.

Pause or remove a policy

Use the power control to deactivate a policy without deleting it. Delete only when the rule is no longer needed and its history has been reviewed.