Start with the decision
For each type of spend, identify what the approver needs to decide: business purpose, budget ownership, policy fit, or another defined requirement. Avoid adding approval steps without a clear responsibility.
Make ownership explicit
Document the requester, approver, backup approver, and accounting reviewer. Consider how responsibilities change when someone is away or moves into a different role.
Write down exceptions
Define how urgent requests, rejected purchases, missing information, and requests outside policy should be handled. Assign responsibility for resolving each exception rather than relying on an informal message chain.
Test the edges
Walk through a routine request, a request near a spending threshold, an unavailable approver, and a request that needs correction. Confirm the intended outcome with the people who will run the process.
Review when the business changes
Revisit rules when teams, responsibilities, or purchasing patterns change. Keep a dated record of approved changes and explain the updated process to affected users.
General planning guidance. Adapt this framework to your business and review the final process with the people responsible for it.