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# Expenses - Old DPO Design

Use the Approval Levels feature to define automated, multi-step approval chains based on PO value, department, or user roles. This ensures purchase orders are reviewed by the right people without manual handovers — saving time and increasing control. This guide shows you how to configure the chain, assign approvers, and customize workflows for your organization.

||| **Already using DPO's new design?** [You can find the corresponding article here](https://help.digitalpurchaseorder.com/en/article/expenses-in-dpo-14x2ox5/)

### Approval levels are applied separately in the Admin settings for:
[Approval Levels (P.O.s)](https://digital-purchase-order.crisp.help/en/article/approval-levels-po-1kwtj5v/)
[Invoices](https://digital-purchase-order.crisp.help/en/article/invoices-cnlzt6/)
**Expenses**

|| If no department is entered in the topsheet, the approval chain will include all users without any conditions at the approval level.

### How to Build an Approval Chain

|| **Note:** A change to the approval chain will update all **current petty cash entries** that are still in the workflow.

1. Open **Administration > Expenses** 
2. Choose the number of approval levels you need (e.g. 1, 2, 3)
3. Click **“+ Add Approval”** to add additional approval levels

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/7/e/f/8/7ef8b3dbb012a000/screenshot-2025-09-16-at-11331_h3qyk5.png)

4. Arrange approval levels using the **up and down arrows** to reorder them as needed
5. **View assigned approvers** by clicking the **person icon** to see which users are included in the approval workflow


![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/7/e/f/8/7ef8b3dbb012a000/screenshot-2025-09-16-at-11355_o314zq.png =813xauto)

6. Search for the user’s name in the **“Add New Approver”** field on the right
7. Click the **plus (+)** icon to add the user to the approval level
8. If multiple users are assigned to the same approval level and department, the first available user will complete the approval

|| Info: If the person icon is blinking red, it means the checkbox is ticked but the person in the approval level has no department assigned


![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/7/e/f/8/7ef8b3dbb012a000/screenshot-2025-09-16-at-08033_9kopj4.png =875xauto)

9. You can assign multiple approvers to the same approval level
10. Enable **Approval by Department** if the user should only approve expenses within their assigned department

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/7/e/f/8/7ef8b3dbb012a000/screenshot-2025-09-16-at-11370_n6wgho.png)
11. For each approval level, set conditions using the drop-down menu 
* applies to all Top Sheets
* net total ≥ a defined amount, 
* or net total < a defined amount).

12. Make sure every approval level has at least one user assigned.
13. Once all levels are assigned, the automated approval workflow will be activated.

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/7/e/f/8/7ef8b3dbb012a000/screenshot-2025-09-16-at-11382_j9od8a.png)



**Any Questions?**
Our support team is happy to help:
Email: support@digitalpurchaseorder.com
Phone: +1 888 376 7254
[Or schedule a free demo](https://calendly.com/d/gpk-ppc-rjg) – we look forward to hearing from you