Managing filters and filter rules

What you'll learn#

• What filters are and how they differ from routing conditions inside a workflow
• The three-step setup (create filter, assign to document type, configure rules)
• Which operators you can use on each field type
• Common patterns like amount-based routing

What filters are for#

A filter is a named set of rules that evaluates a document's field values when approval starts, and routes the document to a specific workflow if the rules match.

Typical use cases:

• "If the expense amount is over 10,000 AZN, route to the CEO-approval workflow instead of the standard one."
• "If the vacation request is for more than 14 days, use the long-leave workflow."
• "If the supplier's VOEN starts with specific digits, use the government-entity workflow."

Without filters, the default workflow (configured on the document type) runs for every submission. Filters let you pre-configure exceptions so admins don't have to tell users "pick the CEO workflow for amounts over 10k" — the system does it automatically.

Filters vs. routing conditions#

VAT Portal has two ways to make approvals branch:

Filters pick the path at the beginning; routing conditions branch along the way inside a chosen path. Some document types use both: filters to pick a workflow family, then conditions inside each workflow for finer branching.

The three-part setup#

Getting filters working takes three separate steps across two different pages.

Step 1 — Create the filter (just a name)#

1. Open Utilities → Filters in the sidebar.
2. Click Create.
3. Enter a name — something descriptive like "High Amount", "Long-leave Request", or "Government Supplier".
4. Click Create.

The filter is saved but has no rules yet and isn't connected to anything — it's just a placeholder. The rules and the document-type assignment come next.

Step 2 — Assign the filter to a document type#

1. Open Document Flow → Document Types → [your document type].
2. Scroll to the Filters card.
3. Click Assign (or similar).
4. In the dialog, pick the filter you created, then pick the workflow it should route matching documents to. The workflow must already be assigned to this document type and must not be the default workflow.
5. Confirm.

The filter now appears on the Filters card as a row paired with its target workflow. But until you add rules, it still won't actually match anything.

Step 3 — Configure rules#

Click the filter's row on the Filters card to expand it. A Filter Rules panel appears inline with an Add button.

Adding a rule#

1. Click Add in the rules panel.
2. In the Rule dialog:
   • Field — pick from the fields attached to this document type.
   • Operator — the comparison to apply (see table below). The dropdown updates based on the field's type.
   • Value — the value (or values) to compare against.
3. Click Save.

Each rule matches when its comparison is true. A filter matches only when all of its rules are true — i.e., rules within a single filter are combined with AND.

Operators by field type#

The operators available depend on what kind of field you picked. VAT Portal hides operators that don't make sense for the field type.

Number and Date fields#

• eq — equals
• ne — not equal
• lt — less than
• gt — greater than
• lte — less than or equal
• gte — greater than or equal

Example: "Amount gt 10000", "Start Date gte 2026-01-01".

List / External dropdown fields#

• in — value is one of the listed options
• ni — value is not one of the listed options

Example: "Department in (Sales, Marketing)" — matches if the picked department is Sales or Marketing.

Text and typed-dropdown fields#

• eq — equals
• ne — not equal
• lk — contains the given substring (like)
• Plus a set of specialized length-based operators (diglen, letlen, anmlen, nsplen) for character-type validation — useful for things like "this VOEN starts with exactly this many digits" or "this description has this many letters". Most admins won't need these; ask your implementation partner if you need to use them.

Example: "Category eq 'International'", "Description lk 'Urgent'".

Yes / No (switch) fields#

• eq — equals (matches true or false)

Example: "Requires Executive Review eq true".

How evaluation works#

When a user clicks Start Approval on a document, VAT Portal looks at the document type's filters in order and evaluates them:

1. For each filter, it checks whether every rule matches the document's field values.
2. The first filter whose rules all match is used — its assigned workflow runs.
3. If no filter matches, the document falls through to the document type's default workflow.

Make sure your filter rules are specific enough that only the intended documents match. Overlapping filters can make routing hard to reason about — whoever debugs a routing mishap six months from now will thank you.

Common patterns#

Amount-based routing#

Route expense claims over a certain amount to a higher-approval workflow:

• Filter: "High Amount" → assigned to "CEO Approval Workflow"
• Rule: "Amount gt 10000"

Category-based routing#

Route different expense categories to different workflows:

• Filter: "Travel Expense" → assigned to "Travel Approval Workflow"
• Rule: "Category eq 'Travel'"

Multi-condition routing#

Route only large international requests to the strictest workflow:

• Filter: "Large International" → assigned to "Board Review Workflow"
• Rules (all must match):
  • "Category eq 'International'"
  • "Amount gt 50000"

Non-standard supplier routing#

Route supplier invoices from specific countries or tax types:

• Filter: "Government Supplier" → assigned to "Government Workflow"
• Rule: "Supplier Type in (Government, Municipal)"

Managing filters themselves#

The Utilities → Filters page is a simple CRUD list. Aside from creating new filters there (step 1 above), you can also:

• Search for a filter by name.
• Edit to rename a filter (its rules stay intact; the rules live on the document-type assignment).
• Delete a filter — this removes the filter definition and its rules everywhere it was assigned. Documents already in approval aren't affected; but new submissions won't be routed through it anymore.

Common questions#