Moving Strict Approval Workflow Enforcement from Domain Control to the Policy Editor

Conor Pendergrast
Conor Pendergrast Expensify Success Coach - Admin, Expensify Team, Expensify Student Ambassador Posts: 175 Expensify Team
edited January 2019 in Product Updates

Hey there!

One of our goals for 2018 is to simplify the experience of using Expensify. We have often heard from our customers that they find the relationship between Domain Control and policies confusing.

Today, we're announcing the first in a number of steps to improve this, by moving Strict Approval Workflow Enforcement out of Domain Groups and into your policy.

What does this mean for you?

On February 14th, we will be moving Strict Workflow Enforcement from Domain Groups in Domain Control to the People page in your policy.

  • If you are a customer with Strict Workflow Enforcement enabled in at least one domain group, we will automatically enable this setting on all of your policies on February 14th.
  • If you do not have Strict Workflow Enforcement enabled for any domain groups, we will not take any action.
  • In addition, this setting will be enabled by-default on any policies created after February 14th, and you can manage this setting on the People page of your policies.
  • Strict Workflow Enforcement will not apply to Policy Admins, as they can already edit the policy's workflow.

What action do you need to take?

If you are a Domain Administrator for a domain which has this setting enabled, we will automatically enable Strict Workflow Enforcement on all your polices on February 14th.

You don't need to take any action for this to happen.

If you do not want this setting to be applied, please disable Strict Workflow Enforcement on all domain groups by February 13th.

How to find this setting in Expensify

This setting requires that you have validated your email domain for Domain Control in Expensify.

Between now and February 14th, Strict Workflow Enforcement can be found within your domain groups settings. If you're a Domain Admin, you can find this setting via Settings > Domain Control > your domain > Domain Groups tab, then click Edit next to each domain group.

The specific setting you're looking for is Strictly enforce expense policy workflows.

If this setting is enabled in one domain group, then it will be enabled for all policies owned by users with an email address from that domain.

After February 14th, this setting will be available in the People page of the policy:

This setting will apply to all members of the policy, with the exception of Policy Admins. This is because Policy Admins can already change the policy's workflow.

 What does Strict Workflow Enforcement actually do?

Great question. With Strict Workflow Enforcement enabled, all policy members will be restricted to submitting reports to the person in their Submits To field, and will approve reports according to how the Approves To and Threshold Approves To is set up in the People page.

With it disabled, a submitter will be able to define who they submit to, and an approver can choose the next action after they approve a report. 

 What if there are multiple domains in Expensify?

During this migration, we will look at the domain the policy owner belongs to, and enable or disable Strict Workflow Enforcement based on that domain.

For example, you have two domains set up in Expensify (happycompany.com and excitingproducts.co.uk). Your policies are all owned by expenses@happycompany.com. On February 14th, we'll look to see if any happycompany.com domain groups have this setting enabled. If any have this enabled, we will enable this for your policy and will apply it to all policy members, even if they don't have your company's domain.

 How to check if your domain is under Domain Control in Expensify

You can check if Domain Control has been enabled for your domain by signing in to expensify.com and going to Admin > Domain Control.

  • If you cannot see Admin, then you are not a Policy Admin or a Domain Admin. You will need to contact a Policy Admin or Domain Admin for any help.
  • If this page shows you the advantages of Domain Control, then it is not enabled for your domain.
  • If this page shows your domain, with a button to verify, then Domain Control has been started but has not been completely set up (click Verify to complete the setup steps!)
  • If this page shows your domain, but you cannot seem to take any action, then your domain is under Domain Control, but you are not a Domain Admin and so cannot take any action. Please contact your Domain Admin for any help.
  • If this page shows your domain, and you can click on your domain, then your domain has been set up for Domain Control, and you are a Domain Admin.

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