Reviewing and Approving Requests

Now that we have reviewed the different tools you can use within the Request Processor to find the requests you are interested in and control the data displayed, let's talk about the most important feature of all: reviewing and approving requests.

Request Processors can see all requests that have been submitted (except the ones they submitted), so it's important to run a query that only shows those requests pending the processor approval. The delivered query, Requests Ready for Processing, does exactly this. Most users who act in this role prefer to define this as their default query in their preferences. Refer back to the Creating and Running Queries and Setting Your Preferences lessons to refresh your memory on how to run this query and make it your default.

As you can see in our example below, we have three requests pending our review. You can select a request to open it and review the details. Let's start by selecting the first request in the list.

Once you have a request open, there are a number of areas that you can review. SAP Concur recommends reviewing all of these areas before approving to ensure you make an informed approval decision.

1. Expected Expenses: This area lists all segments and expenses included in the request. You can select an expense to view the complete details of that item. Depending on your configuration, you may be able to make changes to the details of an expense.
2. Request Details: This dropdown lists several areas that contain high-level information about the request. The areas listed will vary based on your configuration and the options the user chose during the creation of their request.
3. Print/Share: This dropdown lets the processor print a paper copy of the request or send a PDF copy of the request to other stakeholders, including those outside of the organization. Depending on the configuration, there may be multiple reports that can be printed, each containing different data related to that request.
4. Attachments: This dropdown allows processors to view any documents that have already been attached as well as add more attachments as needed. Within an expense report, attachments are generally receipts. Within a request, examples of attachments are authorizations sent to the user outside of the SAP Concur infrastructure, such as in an e-mail or screenshots from travel booking sites, to be used as evidence of cost estimates. If there's an attachment linked to this request, a special icon will appear.
5. Manage Travel Allowances: This dropdown appears if the user is subject to travel allowances and has added them to the request. You'll have options to view the travel allowances and the adjustments made to those allowances.
6. Navigation Buttons: If there are multiple requests pending processor approval, the navigation buttons allow you to browse through all of them.
7. Approval Options: Once you have reviewed all of the information on the request, you can decide what action you want to take on it. The actions available to you will vary based on your configuration. The option to approve has its own button on the right side of the screen. Other options appear in the More Actions button.

The next several sections will go into more detail for each of these areas.

The Expected Expenses area of an open request only shows very basic details of each expense. You can select an expense to open it and review the details.

Once the expense is open, you can see more details. The view to each expense type may be different based on the configuration and the details the user added to that expense. For example, you can see in the image below that the expense has links to view Attendees and Allocations. This means that the user allocated that expense but also added Attendees to it. Additional links may appear depending on the configuration.

If there's more than one expense on the request, the navigation buttons appear so you can navigate through all of its expenses.

Depending on the configuration, you may be able to make changes to the expense.

The Request Details dropdown lists several areas that contain high-level information about the request. The areas listed will vary based on your configuration and the options the user chose during the creation of their request. Here, we'll review some of the more common options.

Edit Request Header

This option allows the processor to review the header for this request. Depending on the configuration, the processor may be able to make changes to this data.

Request Timeline

This area allows processors to see what approvals have already taken place and where this request goes if approved. Unlike approvers, processors are ALWAYS able to edit the workflow by adding or removing approval steps for this request.

Audit Trail

This screen shows all past approvals plus any broken audit rules. This information may help the processor in their decision of whether to approve the request.

The Print/Share menu displays the reports that can be printed based on the open request. For most customers, there will only be one option to print, but you could have more based on your configuration. You can select one of the options to open it.

With a report open, you can use the buttons to print it, save it as a PDF, or e-mail it to other stakeholders, including those outside of your organization, such as to a customer, vendor, or partner.

The Attachments dropdown allows processors to view any documents that have already been attached as well as add more attachments as needed. Within an expense report, attachments are generally receipts. Within a request, examples of attachments are authorizations sent to the user outside of the SAP Concur infrastructure, such as in an e-mail or screenshots from travel booking sites to be used as evidence of cost estimates. As you can see in the following image, if the request has an attachment, a special icon appears.

You can use the View Documents option to view all attachments for this request and the Attach Documents option to add additional attachments.

Below, you can see the that View Documents option has been selected. All attachments open in a separate window that allows you to scroll through all attached documents.

The Manage Travel Allowance dropdown appears if the user is subject to travel allowances and has added them to the request. You have the option to view the travel allowance or view the adjustments the user has made to their allowances.

View Travel Allowance

This option allows the processor to review the details of the travel allowances requested by the user. You can use the Next button to step through all of the supporting screens.

View Adjustments

Processors can also review the adjustments the user indicated to ensure they are accurate. For example, perhaps you're attending the same conference as the traveler and know what meals will be provided. You can make sure they completed this screen properly.

The navigation buttons allow processors to easily navigate through the list of requests without having to manually close one and open the next one from the list.

Selecting the right arrow will open the next request in the list and selecting the left arrow opens the previous request.

Once you have reviewed all of the information on the request, you can decide what action you want to take on it. The actions available to you will vary based on your configuration. The option to approve has it's own button on the right side of the screen. Other options appear in the More Actions button.

Approve

This is the most common option and is used to indicate that you approve this request. When selecting the Approve button, you may be prompted to accept and confirm that you approve this request. After confirmation, the system will indicate that you have approved this request and sends it to the next step defined in the approval process.

More Actions → Edit Approval Flow

The Edit Approval Flow option allows you to add steps to the approval process for this request. You can use the Add Step link to add steps to the process and then the Save button to save your changes. Upon completion of this form, you must then select the Approve button for the request.

More Actions → Approve & Forward

The Approve & Forward option allows you to approve this request and select an additional approver to send it to. Use the User-Added Approver field to add the approver, and then select the Save button to perform these actions.

Note

This option uses the Edit Approval Flow page so you can also perform the same actions you could when using the Edit Approval Flow option.

More Actions → Send Back to Employee

The Send Back to Employee option sends this request back to the employee to be corrected and resubmitted or canceled. You're required to provide a comment with details of what they did wrong and what action they should take going forward. Once the comments are added select the Send Back button.

Note

If the user makes corrections to the request and resubmits it, it must go through the entire approval process again.

• Request Processors use the Requests Ready for Processing query to view all submitted requests pending their approval (excluding those they submitted themselves). Setting this as the default query streamlines the approval process.
• Processors can open any pending request to review key areas such as Expected Expenses, Request Details (including header, timeline, and audit trail), Print/Share options, Attachments, and, if applicable, Manage Travel Allowances.
• Within each request, expenses can be examined in detail (and edited if permitted), and supporting documents can be viewed or added to ensure all justification is present prior to approval.
• Processors are presented with various approval options; upon review, they can approve or take other actions based on configuration. Navigation buttons allow easy movement between multiple pending requests.