Override the approval chain on one invoice
A routing override lets you adjust the approval chain on a single document without touching the policy. Use it for one-off situations where the standard chain is wrong for a specific invoice and you do not want to change how every other invoice routes.
If you need to apply a policy change across many documents, reroute instead.
Routing overrides require the company:invoice:override_approval_routing permission, which Administrators and Controllers hold by default.
When to use a routing override
- One specific invoice needs an extra approver who is not in the policy chain.
- The policy-assigned approver is unreachable, but only on this one invoice.
- A specific approver wants to recuse themselves from a particular document (conflict of interest).
- The invoice should skip a step that does not apply for some unique reason.
For everything else, change the policy.
Apply an override
- From the Invoices list in the left sidebar, click the invoice row to open the invoice detail page.
- On the invoice detail page, click the Approvals tab in the right-side tab row (the tabs are Items / Expenses / Approvals / Comments / Activity). The Approvals tab shows the policy that matched and the chain of steps that will run, with assigned approvers on each.
- Inside the Approvals tab, look for an Edit chain or Override action. (Depending on your platform version this may be a button at the top of the tab, an icon next to each step, or a row-level action menu.)
- Use the action to add a step at the start, middle, or end of the chain; replace approvers on a step; remove a step; or switch the approval mode (Any / All) on a step.
- Save your changes. A confirmation toast appears, and the chain on the Approvals tab now shows your overridden steps.
The change applies only to this invoice. The underlying policy is unchanged.
What you can change on an override
- Add a step at the start, middle, or end of the chain.
- Replace the assigned approvers on a step.
- Remove a step entirely.
- Switch the approval mode for a step (Any / All).
What gets recorded
Every override is recorded in the invoice's activity log: who applied the override, when, and what changed. Useful for audit.
Existing approvals on the chain
If approvals have already been given when you apply an override:
- Steps that already completed remain completed.
- The current step continues with the new configuration if you modified it.
- Newly added steps take effect after the current step completes.
You cannot un-give an approval that has already been logged.
How overrides differ from rerouting
| Routing override | Reroute | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | One document | Selected documents |
| Underlying policy | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Existing approvals | Mostly preserved | Cancelled |
| Use for | Specific exception | Applying updated policies broadly |