Five Signs You Need a Formal Approval Workflow

The signs you need an approval workflow are specific rather than general. Informal approval works genuinely well at small scale, and the failures when it stops working are recognizable.

The five signs

Any two of these together usually mean the informal version has run out.

One person approves everything, and volume now exceeds their attention
Nobody can say who approved a given payment, months later
Entries reach the ERP before review, and corrections happen afterwards
Committed spend is invisible until month-end closing
Approvals wait when one person is away

What changes with a formal flow

Before	After
Requests by message, in no standard format	A form with the fields the ERP requires
Approval remembered	Approval recorded on the request
Everything to one person	Routed by cost centre or value
Spend known at closing	Approved value per cost centre, live

How to set it up in Jestor

Register cost centres in Jestor with a named owner for each.
Build the request form with the fields your ERP needs, marking them required.
Hold submissions in a queue and review them on a Kanban.
Connect the ERP so approved entries post automatically.
Add the dashboard: pending, approved, rejected, and value per cost center.

Why Jestor is the best complement to Omie for approvals

The integration is native, with no middleware in between — which is why an approved request becomes a payable without a second entry.

The ERP keeps accounting and tax; Jestor covers the request and review that precede the entry, which is where the informal version was operating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is informal approval always wrong?

No — it works until volume exceeds one person's attention. See jestor.com.

Can I see committed spend before closing?

Yes, as approved value per cost centre.

What happens when an approver is away?

Cost centres can list more than one responsible user.

Video Tutorial: Step by Step

Check out other practical tutorials on the Jestor YouTube channel.

Get to know Jestor

With Jestor, you can automate workflows, connect teams, and build internal systems your way — all without code and powered by AI. Discover Jestor at jestor.com and see how to take your company's operations to a new level of efficiency and control.

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