Why email-based approvals fail at scale
When field teams submit 200+ expense claims monthly, email chains become unmanageable. Approvers lose context. Audit trails disappear. High-value claims bypass segregation of duties. Finance cannot prove who approved what and when.
Four approval tiers in Scootee
1. Auto-approve — Claims under configured threshold (e.g., $25) approve instantly
2. Manager approval — Standard claims routed to sales_manager or designated approver
3. Director approval — High-value claims require director-level sign-off
4. Multi-level chains — Sequential approval from multiple roles for claims above $2,500
Policy conditions
Approval policies support conditions based on amount ranges, expense categories, and employee bands — allowing different rules for executives versus field staff, or travel versus equipment purchases.
Audit trail requirements
Every decision records approver identity, timestamp, IP address, and user agent in approval_history. Rejection at any step terminates the workflow with full documentation. This satisfies SOC 2, internal audit, and regulatory compliance requirements.
See Approval Engine for technical architecture details.