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Setting up approval rules for Bill Pay

Emily P.
  • Updated

This article walks through how to set up and manage approval rules for bill payments in Relay.

Approval rules are a series of one or more approval steps that must be completed before a bill payment can be initiated. This ensures that any required team members are signing off on bills before funds are used to pay them off.

Please note: approval Rules can only be set by team members with Administrator permissions or advisors with Super Administrator permissions.

How to create approval rules (Web)

  1. Sign in to your Relay account.
  2. Navigate to the Payments tab, then select Approval rules from the drop-down menu.
  3. Click New Rule in the top-right corner of your screen.
  4. Set your approval qualifiers. There are the "triggers" for an approval process. When a payment falls within the defined criteria, the approval rule must be satisfied in order to initiate a payment.
    • Approval qualifiers can be set to amounts less than, between, or greater than the defined criteria.
  5. Select whether your approval process will include one or multiple stages.
    • A one-stage approval process means that only one representative must approve the bill prior to payment.
    • A multi-step approval process means that one representative in each stage must approve the bill prior to payment.
  6. Define your approval stages. These are the steps that must be completed (in the defined order) for a payment to be initiated. To add a step, click Add new step to open the approval stage modal.
  7. From the modal, choose the team member(s) who must approve of the payment at this step. Check the 'All team members in group must approve payment' box if all selected team members are required to approve for this step to be completed. Leave the box unselected if only one team member's approval is required to complete the step.
  8. Add additional approval steps as required. Steps must be completed in the order they are listed. You can change the step order by clicking the four dots to the left of each box and dragging the step up or down.
  9. Click Save in the bottom-right corner of your screen to save your approval rule. Saved approval rules will appear on your main Approval rules page.

How to create approval rules (Relay Mobile App)

  1. Sign in to the Relay app on your mobile device.
  2. Navigate to the Payments tab, then tap Manage approvals.
  3. Tap the plus (+) sign button at the top-right corner of your screen.
  4. Set your approval qualifiers. There are the "triggers" for an approval process. When a payment falls within the defined criteria, the approval rule must be satisfied in order to initiate a payment.
    • Approval qualifiers can be set to amounts less than, between, or greater than the defined criteria.
  5. Choose the team member(s) who must approve of the payment, then hit Save.
  6. Back on the Manage approvals page, tap on the approval rule you just created, then select the three vertical dots at the top-right corner of your screen. Tap Edit rule.
  7. Here, you can select whether your approval process will include one or multiple stages.
    • A one-stage approval process means that only one representative must approve the bill prior to payment.
    • A multi-step approval process means that one representative in each stage must approve the bill prior to payment.
  8. Then, you can define your approval stages. These are the steps that must be completed (in the defined order) for a payment to be initiated. To add a step, click Add New Step to open the approval stage modal.
  9. Add additional approval steps as required. Steps must be completed in the order they are listed. You can change the step order by pressing on the team member's name, then dragging and dropping in the desired order.
  10. Tap the pencil icon next to any team member's name, then check the 'All team members in group must approve payment' box if all selected team members are required to approve for this step to be completed. Leave the box unselected if only one team member's approval is required to complete the step.
  11. Tap Save at the bottom of your screen to save your approval rule. Saved approval rules will appear on your main Manage approvals page.

How to edit or delete approval rules (Web)

  1. Sign in to your Relay account.
  2. Navigate to the Payments tab, then select Approval rules from the drop-down menu.
  3. Click on the approval rule you wish to edit.
  4. Click Edit at the top-right corner of your screen. This will take you to the above workflow for setting up an approval rule, and you can edit the rule from there. 
  5. To delete the rule, click Remove at the top-right corner of your screen.

How to edit or delete approval rules (Relay Mobile App)

  1. Sign in to the Relay app on your mobile device.
  2. Navigate to the Payments tab, then tap Manage approvals.
  3. Tap on the approval rule you wish to edit.
  4. Tap the three vertical dots at the top-right corner of your screen, then hit Edit rule.
  5. Follow steps 7-11 in the above workflow for setting up an approval rule, and you can edit the rule from there.
  6. To delete the rule, go back to the Manage approvals, select the rule you wish to delete, tap the three vertical dots at the top-right corner of your screen, then hit Delete rule.

How do I approve bills?

For instructions on how to submit bills for approval and approve bills, please see Approving bills.

How do I pay my bills?

Once your bills are approved and ready for payment, please follow the instructions outlined here to pay them off.

Why don't I see the Approval Rules tab in my Relay account?

Relay's Bill Pay feature is only available to customers subscribed to Relay Pro with an active Xero or QuickBooks Online Bill Pay integration.

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