Auto-Approval Rules

HLF processes high volumes of routine travel expense claims and explicitly identified automatic approval under defined thresholds as a core requirement, with the specific example of under 50 km with no additional expenses. Automating these decisions removes a repetitive manual burden from coordinators and administrators, freeing them for higher-value oversight tasks. Faster approvals for routine claims improve volunteer satisfaction and reinforce the perception that the platform is less friction than the current paper-based process. Configurable rules also allow each organization to align the auto-approval boundary with their own internal financial policies and Bufdir compliance requirements, making the feature usable across all participating organizations without custom code. The rules engine is designed as a foundation for future extensions such as category-specific caps.

Rules are stored in the auto_approval_rules table with fields for condition type, threshold value, expense type scope, organization ID, and enabled flag. The evaluation service runs synchronously at expense submission time, applying rules in priority order and short-circuiting on the first match. Auto-approved claims are flagged with the matching rule ID for audit traceability. The admin UI is a Next.js form component with client-side validation and a server action for rule persistence. Rule versioning is implemented by storing a version integer incremented on each update, with approval records referencing the version active at decision time. Integration with the notification service mirrors the manual approval path so peer mentors receive the same outcome notification regardless of approval method.