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Travel Expenses — Workflow

Overview

Travel Expenses does not have an approval pipeline. Transactions enter SARA through an import process and are immediately visible in the ledger. The main workflow concern is ensuring every transaction is correctly attributed to a project or department.

No approval pipeline

This feature does not have a multi-step approval workflow. There are no status transitions driven by users — records are created on import and remain in the ledger.

Note

For the standard record lifecycle model, see: Workflows & Pipelines

Roles involved

  • Finance / Admin — Imports card statements via XML or CSV; resolves unassigned transactions.
  • Any user with view — Can assign unassigned transactions to a project or department.

Workflow

Process summary

  1. Finance downloads the card statement from the provider and imports it into SARA (XML or CSV).
  2. SARA auto-assigns each transaction to a project or department by matching the collaborator's logistics calendar on that date.
  3. Transactions with no matching logistics event are flagged as Unassigned and must be manually attributed.

Import card statement

A user with edit permission uploads the card statement file using the Import button. SARA accepts:

  • XML — SiVale CFDI format (EstadoDeCuentaSiVale). Each <ecsv:Concepto> node in the Addenda becomes one transaction row.
  • CSV — Using the official template (downloadable via Download CSV format). Both semicolon- and comma-delimited variants are accepted.

On import, SARA validates that every card number in the file is registered in the system (internal_accounts or internal_subaccounts). If an unrecognized card is found, the entire import is rejected with an error listing the unknown card number. No partial imports occur.

Transactions with a charge of zero (payment/credit rows) are imported with an inactive status and are not displayed in the active ledger view.

Auto-assignment

For each imported transaction, SARA looks up the collaborator linked to the card and checks whether a Logistics Calendar event exists for that collaborator covering the transaction date. If a matching event is found, the transaction is automatically attributed to the project or department recorded in that event.

If no matching logistics event exists, the transaction is saved without an attribution and appears in the ledger with an Unassigned indicator.

Manual assignment

Any user with view access can resolve an unassigned transaction by clicking the Unassigned button in the Event column. A modal opens where the user selects Project or Department and picks the specific record. Once saved, the transaction shows the assigned event name in the Event column.

Setup & dependencies

  • Internal accounts and sub-accounts — Each card number in the import file must be registered in SARA as an internal_account (main account) or internal_subaccount (employee card linked to a collaborator). Unrecognized cards block the import.
  • Logistics Calendar — Auto-assignment relies on collaborators having logistics events registered for the travel dates. Without these, all transactions for that collaborator on that date will be unassigned.

Permissions

Permissions

Access and actions are permission-driven. See: Permissions