Bill Pay submission policies

This article applies to Ramp Administrators and Owners.

Overview

Beta. This feature is currently in Beta. Contact your Account Manager or email [email protected] to request access.

Bill Pay submission policies let admins define which fields employees must fill out before a bill can be submitted. This ensures that bills have the required information — such as a purchase order, invoice number, description, or accounting codes — before they enter the approval workflow.

Submission policies are separate from Bill Pay approval policies. Approval policies control who approves a bill; submission policies control what information the bill must contain before it can be submitted.

Each business has one Bill Pay submission policy. Within that policy, you can use conditions to apply different required fields based on bill attributes such as amount, business entity, or accounting field values.

How to create a Bill Pay submission policy

  1. Go to Policy > Expense requirements .
  2. Find the Bill Pay submission policy pane and click it to open the policy drawer.
  3. Click Create a Bill Pay submission policy to open the workflow builder. If a policy already exists, click Edit instead.
  4. In the workflow builder, add conditions and required fields to define your policy. You can layer and nest conditions using AND / OR statements.
  5. Click Save when you are satisfied with the policy.

Note: Each business can have one Bill Pay submission policy. Creating a new policy replaces the existing one.

Setting conditions

Conditions determine when specific required fields apply to a bill. For example, you can require a purchase order only when the bill amount exceeds a certain threshold, or require additional accounting fields for a specific business entity.

The following conditions are available:

ConditionDescription
Amount (Plus)Bill amount in USD. Supports operators such as less than, greater than, equal to, and between.
Business entityThe business entity associated with the bill. Supports "is" and "is not" matching.
Matched to purchase order (Plus)Whether the bill is matched to a purchase order, and the match status.
Accounting field values (Plus)Values from your connected accounting system's tracking categories (such as class, location, or department). Available when an accounting integration is connected.

Conditions marked with (Plus) require Ramp Plus. The business entity condition is available to all customers.

Setting required fields

After setting conditions (or without conditions, to apply requirements to all bills), add the fields that employees must fill out before submitting a bill.

The following fields can be set as required:

FieldDescription
Purchase orderRequires the bill to be matched to a purchase order.
Invoice numberRequires an invoice number on the bill.
DescriptionRequires a description on the bill.
Line item descriptionRequires a description on each line item of the bill.
Bill ownerRequires a bill owner to be assigned.
Accounting tracking categoriesAny tracking category from your connected accounting system (such as category, class, location, or department). Available categories are pulled automatically from your accounting integration.

Note: Accounting tracking categories that are not splittable across line items (such as location) are required at the bill header level. Splittable tracking categories (such as category or class) are required on each individual line item.

How bills are validated against the submission policy

When an employee submits a bill, Ramp checks it against the submission policy. If the bill is missing any required fields, the employee sees an inline error on each missing field with the message Required by submission policy. The bill cannot be submitted until all required fields are filled in or the policy is overridden.

Submission policy validation applies to bills created and submitted through Ramp. Bills imported via remote integrations (such as accounting system imports) are not subject to submission policy validation.

When a submission policy is created or updated, Ramp asynchronously re-evaluates existing draft bills and flags any that do not meet the updated requirements.

Overriding submission policy requirements

Users with permission to modify Bill Pay settings can override submission policy requirements for a specific bill. When a bill shows a Required by submission policy error, an Override? link appears next to the error. Clicking it opens a dialog where you must provide a reason for the override.

After overriding, the override reason is shown on the bill and recorded in the audit log. You can remove the override by clicking Remove policy override on the bill.

Note: Only users with the permission to modify Bill Pay settings (such as Admins and Owners) can override submission policy requirements.

Frequently asked questions

How many submission policies can I have?

Each business has one Bill Pay submission policy. Within that policy, you can use conditions to create different requirements for different types of bills.

What happens when I update the submission policy?

Changes apply to future bill submissions. Existing draft bills are re-evaluated asynchronously, and any that do not meet the updated requirements are flagged. Bills that have already been submitted or approved are not affected.

Are remotely imported bills subject to submission policy validation?

No. Bills imported via remote integrations (such as accounting system imports) skip submission policy validation because they may not have all Ramp-specific fields available at import time.

Do I need an accounting integration to use submission policies?

No. You can require non-accounting fields (such as purchase order, invoice number, or description) without an accounting integration. Accounting tracking category requirements are only available when an accounting integration is connected. To set up an integration, see How does Ramp integrate with accounting software?

How is this different from Bill Pay approval policies?

Bill Pay approval policies control who must approve a bill and in what order. Bill Pay submission policies control what information must be on the bill before it can be submitted for approval. The two policies work together: submission policies ensure data completeness, and approval policies ensure proper authorization.

How is this different from expense submission policies?

Expense submission policies apply to card transactions and reimbursements. Bill Pay submission policies apply specifically to bills. The two features use similar workflow builder interfaces but are configured separately and apply to different spend types.