Skip to content

System Configuration & Permissions

Please see below for a list of the permissions available for this module and their functions:

  • [Finance] Expenses - this allows access and approval of the Activity/Student Group section of the approval process;
  • [Finance] Expenses – Finance - this allows access and approval of the Finance section of the approval process, as well as updating the VAT total;
  • [Finance] Expenses – Amount Override - this allows the user to adjust the total amount of a mileage claim prior to approval. This may be required if the claim amount per mile has been adjusted after the expense application has been submitted;
  • [Finance] Expenses – Override Committee Approval - this allows the user to approve an application that has been submitted that has not yet been approved by the relevant committee member(s).
  • [Expenses] – Finance Approve Over Setting Amount – this permission allows the user to approve an expense claim that exceeds the amount given within the Amount requiring extra permissions to approve on SUMS (£) permission, found within System Configuration.

There are various settings available for you to customise your expense claim process to suit your Union (these can be found under the ‘Expenses’ dropdown within System Configuration). Please see below for a list of settings available and their functions:

Expense Form Options

  • Expense amount per mile (pence) – enter in pence (numbers only) your mileage expense claim amount;
  • Expense amount per mile there are passengers in the car (pence) – enter in pence (numbers only) your mileage expense claim amount for when there are passengers in the vehicle;
  • Max. number of days after purchase expense claim will be accepted – enter how many days after a purchase has been made you will accept an expense claim– when submitting an application, members will only be able to select a purchase date within the select time period;
  • Group Only Expense Claims – select whether you would like your members to only be able to submit claims for their Activity/Student Group;
  • Approval Limit for an Expenses Claim (£) – set the maximum approval limit for your expense claims (enter value to 2 decimal places). Any applications made that exceed this total cannot be submitted via the Student Dashboard. The maximum amount will be confirmed for members at start of the application. If you would not like a limit, enter ‘-1’.
  • Allow Mileage Expense Claims – select whether you would like to accept mileage expense claims as well as claims for items.

Expenses – General Options

  • Expense Approval Process – select which levels of approval your Union would like to process expense claim requests:

    • Required Finance approval only;
    • Requires Activity approval and Finance approval;
    • Requires 1 Committee position approval, Activity approval, and Finance approval;
    • Requires 2 Committee position approval, Activity approval, and Finance approval;
    • Requires 1 Committee position approval, Finance approval;
    • Requires 2 Committee position approval, Finance approval;

  • Activities Approval skips Finance Approval - If this is set to Yes, when Activities approve an expense claim, the application will skip the Finance review stage and move straight into 'Processing Expense Claims'.

  • Number of days until money in bank account after marked as completed - The number of days the student will be told it will take for the money to appear in their bank account after Finance have marked an expense application as completed (i.e. "Within {14} days").
  • Extra ‘Mark as Paid’ Step in Process – allows users to mark a claim as paid prior to being marked as complete.

  • Amount requiring extra permissions to approve on SUMS (£) when an expense claim exceeds this amount, it will require approval from a user that has the following permission:

    [Expenses] – Finance Approve Over Setting Amount

  • Approval Limit to Skip Activity Approval (£) – set a limit to allow automatic activity approval; any expense claims submitted under this value will immediately skip to the next level of approval;

  • Send Emails to First and Second Approvers – if set to yes, committee member approvers will receive an email on the following occasions:

    • To all first approvers when an expense claim requires first approval;
    • To all first approvers once an expense claim has received its first approval;
    • To all second approvers when an expense claim requires second approval;
    • To all second approvers once an expense claim has received its second approval.

    These emails will only be sent to approvers that have not yet interacted/approved the claim or are the owners of the claim request.

Additional Setting

To allow Students to be able to submit feedback via their Student Dashboard, this must also be turned on via Settings:

  1. Scroll down to the ‘Student Dashboard’ section of the Settings page;
  2. Under ‘Visibility Options’, ensure ‘Expense Claims (Reimbursements)’ has been moved over to the ‘Chosen Settings’ box;
  3. Click ‘Save’ to update your settings and Expense Claims will then be available on the Student Dashboard.

Committee Member Permissions

There are three permissions that can be assigned to Committee Member positions for the purpose of expense claim approval (if required):

  1. Approve Group Expenses – First Approver
  2. Approve Group Expenses – Second Approver
  3. Authorise Approver’s Expenses (this can be set to prevent Committee Members from approving their own applications. Anyone with this permission will act as the authoriser (or second authoriser for Unions who have 2 levels of Committee Member approval) for applications submitted by those who have primary authorisation).

Updated on 13th March 2023