📘 Guide: Implementing a Per-Line Approval Workflow Based on Supplier and Tracking Categories

Overview

This guide demonstrates how to configure a per-line approval workflow using AI Tasks based on specific business conditions. The use case involves dynamic approver assignment based on:

1. Supplier (regardless of tracking category)
2. Supplier + Tracking category combination
3. Tracking category (regardless of supplier)

To achieve this, you’ll create two workflows:

• A Main Workflow for invoice processing and per-line approval logic
• An Approval Workflow where the designated approvers will review and approve assigned lines

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🧠 Use Case Scenario

The client’s requirement is to automatically route invoice lines to the correct approvers based on:

• The supplier (in isolation)
• A specific combination of supplier and tracking category
• The tracking category alone

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🔧 Step-by-Step Setup

Step 1: Create the Custom AI Task

This AI Task will determine the correct approver per line based on rules from a CSV file.

• Prompt logic: The AI Task must parse a CSV that lists approvers for specific suppliers, tracking categories, or combinations of both.
• Details to include in your prompt:
  • How to parse the CSV structure
  • Fallback rules if both supplier and tracking don’t match
  • Clear logic path to determine precedence

Important: After creating the AI Task, configure it to reference the approver list CSV using the following JSON input (replace 37226497 with your actual document ID):

{
  "state": 104922,
  "keywords": [
    {
      "name": "approval_document",
      "value": "37226497"
    }
  ]
}

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Step 2: Configure the Main Workflow

Structure the main workflow as follows:

Start ➝ Pre-Extract ➝ Extract ➝ Submit Approval ➝ Approved ➝ [Custom AI Task: Line Item Approval Setter] ➝ Switch ➝ Approve Each Line of the Invoice v2 ➝ Xero Export ➝ Finish

• This is based on the standard per-line approval structure (see the main guide: Setting Up Per-Line Approval Workflow Using AI Tasks). Link: https://www.ezzybills.com/user-guide/line-approval-workflow-using-ai-tasks/
• The only changes are:
  • A custom AI Task that sets approvers based on the CSV.
  • Replacing the basic per-line approval with “Approve Each Line of the Invoice v2”, which includes enhanced approval tracking.

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Step 3: Build the Approval Workflow

This workflow defines how approvers review and act on their assigned lines.

Structure:

Start ➝ Submit Approval ➝ Approved ➝ Approve My Approval Lines ➝ Switch Workflow ➝ Finish

• The Submit Approval task must include the approver’s email address.
• The Switch Workflow task at the end must point back to the main workflow, using the following JSON setting:

{
  "state": 390,
  "keywords": [
    {
      "name": "changeWorkflow",
      "value": "main_workflow"
    }
  ]
}

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🔄 Updating the Approver List

To update the CSV of approvers:

1. Go to Advanced Upload ➝ Select Document Type: Blob Update
   
2. Upload the new CSV file.
3. Duplicate the existing approval workflow and rename it appropriately (e.g., James Bond).
   
4. In the duplicated workflow:
   • Update the Submit Approval task with the correct approver’s email.
   • Rename the workflow if needed to reflect the new approver.
     

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✅ Final Notes

This configuration enables dynamic, per-line approvals based on flexible and evolving business rules. By offloading the decision logic to an AI Task that references an external CSV, you gain a maintainable and scalable way to control approval flows.