An AI approval chain configuration agent reads your delegation of authority and purchasing policy and proposes approval chains: conditions on amount, category and department, with the approvers and order for each.
The company updates who must approve what.
The agent reads the new approval policy text.
It drafts the approver chains for each band.
Differences from the live chain are listed.
The policy owner accepts, edits or rejects each rule.
Approved chains become the active configuration.
It tests the draft against sample and past requests and reports what would have happened, including requests that match no chain or more than one.
The output is a draft for review with the conflicts and gaps listed. Only an authorised person can activate or change a live chain.
Approval chains grow by accretion, and by the time they cause delay nobody remembers why each rule exists.
Each exception adds a branch, and nobody removes the old ones.
The written authority limits differ from what the configured chain actually does.
A particular amount and category combination matches no rule at all.
Two chains apply to one request and produce different approvers.
Changes go live without checking them against real examples.
The agent reads the delegation of authority and spend policy you provide.
It converts the policy into conditions, approvers and ordering for each case.
The draft is run against sample and historic requests to see which chain each would meet.
Unmatched requests, overlapping chains and unusually long paths are highlighted.
The draft and its test results go to the owner, who edits, approves and activates it.
Bring a small sample and watch Flo work through it.
| Aspect | By hand | With the agent |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Chains are built click by click in a settings screen. | Chains are drafted from the written policy for review. |
| Errors | Typos in a chain send requests to the wrong person. | Drafts are checked against the org chart before review. |
| Change impact | Nobody knows what a change affects. | The agent lists which request types and bands change. |
| History | Old configurations are overwritten. | Each version is kept with its date and reason. |
| Testing | Chains are tested on live requests. | Draft chains can be tried on past requests first. |
| If | Then | Who decides |
|---|---|---|
| Policy text defines an approver by role | Map the role to current named holders | Policy owner confirms the mapping |
| Role has no current holder | Flag the gap in the draft | Policy owner assigns someone |
| New chain differs from the live one | List the change and affected request types | Policy owner approves |
| Policy wording is ambiguous on order | Draft both options and ask which | Policy owner chooses |
| Chain would make one person approve their own team's spend alone | Flag the conflict | Policy owner or finance decides |
| Draft chain replays differently on a past request | Show the example | Policy owner judges whether it is correct |
The agent cannot map the role to a person. It flags it, and the policy owner updates the wording or the mapping.
The configuration may not support a rule as written. The agent describes the nearest supported form, and the owner decides whether to change policy or setup.
Roles are shifting. The agent drafts a temporary chain with an end date, and the owner decides when it lapses.
Different entities follow different chains. The agent drafts one per entity and the owner checks each.
Talk it through with the team. We will map it to your steps and show where a person stays in control.
Pick one department and one band, and draft its chain from the policy.
Check the draft against the chain the team really uses.
Run drafts on past requests to see if routing matches intent.
Make each approved chain a dated version that can be rolled back.
It shows how many requests fall through gaps in the rules. A rate above zero means some requests needed manual handling and the chains need a new branch or a clearer default.
Quick answers to what people ask most about approval chain configuration.
Book a demoIt is defining who approves which purchases, in what order and under what conditions. An AI agent can draft chains from your policy and test them, while people review and activate them.
No. It produces drafts and test results. Only an authorised administrator can activate or change a live chain.
It runs sample or historic requests through the draft and reports which chain each would meet, including requests that match none or several.
From the policy and authority documents you provide. If those are out of date, the draft will reflect it, so a review against current practice matters.
Approval routing is the step that decides who must approve a purchase and sends the request to them in the right order.
→Approval delegation is the arrangement by which an approver's authority passes temporarily to someone else, for example during leave.
→Request category assignment is the step of placing a purchase request in the right spend category, such as marketing software, contract labour or office equipment.
→An approval reminder is a prompt sent to an approver whose decision is still outstanding on a purchase request.
→Bring a small sample of real items. We will show what Flo handles on its own and where it hands over to your team.
