Budget-based approval workflows
Overview
Available on Ramp Plus. Budgets is available by default when your business's payer country is the United States. Businesses with another payer country require Ramp to enable international access. See Ramp Plus overview for plan details.
If Budgets is unavailable for your business, contact Ramp's Support team to confirm your access.
Ramp Budgets allows admins to integrate budget controls directly into approval workflows. This ensures every spending decision is made with real-time visibility into the available budget.
Budget-based workflows use the active budget hierarchy you set up in Ramp Budgets. For access prerequisites and guidance on dimensions, roll-up categories, or reupload behavior, see Budgets overview and setup.
Features
- Budget-aware conditions : Trigger approvals based on remaining budget (e.g., "If the current-period budget has less than 20% remaining")
- Route to budget owners : Automatically involve budget owners in the approval chain
- Dynamic approvals : Adjust approval paths based on real-time budget data
- Informed decisions : Display current budget status at the time of approval request
How to set up budget-based workflows
To configure a budget-based workflow, you need permission to administer budgets and manage the related approval policy. If you do not have these permissions, ask an Admin or Owner to complete these steps.
- Access Settings: Go to Budgets > Settings in Ramp.
- Edit an existing workflow: Navigate to your list of approval workflows. Select an existing one to edit.
- Define your budget conditions
- Click Add Step
- Choose a budget condition, such as Budget remaining as percentage (current period)
- Set your threshold (e.g., "less than 15% remains in the current period")
- Assign approvers: Select the individuals or roles (e.g., budget owners, finance managers) who should review when the condition is met.
- Set notification preferences: Choose how approvers and requesters are notified about approvals.
- Save and activate: Assign the workflow to relevant teams or departments and activate it.
Example scenarios
| Scenario | Condition | Approvers |
|---|---|---|
| Near-budget threshold | Purchase exceeds 85% of monthly department budget | Department Head + Finance Manager |
| Over-budget protection | Purchase exceeds 100% of allocated budget | CFO |
| High-value and high-usage | Purchase > $5,000 and >70% of quarterly budget used | Department Head + Finance Director |
Best practices
- Start with simple workflows and expand over time
- Train approvers and budget owners on how budget workflows function
- Display remaining budget during the approval process to increase visibility
- Regularly review and adjust thresholds based on usage patterns
- Document edge cases or exceptions in your internal approval policy