How first-approval routing works

What first-approval rules do

When a document enters the approval flow, Nordflow evaluates the first-approval rules to decide which group handles it first. Each rule pairs a trigger (something on the document) with a destination group. The first matching rule wins, and the document is sent to that group.

Rule precedence

When more than one rule could match the same document, Nordflow picks the most specific match:

Supplier-specific rules generally take precedence over dimension-based rules.
Project rules generally take precedence over department rules.
Keyword rules apply when no more-specific rule fires.

Build rules to be mutually exclusive where possible to keep routing predictable.

The default group

If no rule matches a document, it goes to the default first-approver group. You do not need rules to cover every case — rules handle the cases with known patterns; the default catches everything else.

Keywords and routing

Keywords are a companion mechanism. A keyword rule reads text on the invoice and sets a field value (for example, it finds a project code in the invoice body and sets the Project dimension). A first-approval rule then routes based on that field value. The typical chain is: keyword sets field → first-approval rule reads field → document goes to group.