reimburse/docs/admin-guide.md

Administrator Guide — Reimbursement Form

This guide is for the person responsible for deploying and configuring the reimbursement form for their organisation.

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Copyright 2026 Kristian Benestad. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See LICENSE for more information.

This is a custom build of kbenestad/reimburse for Boat People SOS and People Serving People Foundation.

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Architecture

The application is a static web app — a single HTML file that loads a YAML configuration file at runtime. There is no server-side logic, no database, and no build step.

app/
├── index.html        # Complete application
├── config.yml        # All organisation-specific settings
└── assets/
    └── logo.png      # Optional organisation logo (PNG or JPG)

The browser downloads the two CDN libraries at startup:

• pdf-lib 1.17.1 — PDF generation
• js-yaml 4.1.0 — YAML config parsing

Both are loaded from unpkg.com. Users need an internet connection to open the form for the first time; subsequent use within the same browser session does not re-fetch them.

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Deployment

1. Copy the app/ directory to any static web server (Nginx, Caddy, Apache, S3 + CloudFront, GitHub Pages, etc.).
2. Ensure the server serves .yml files with a valid MIME type. Caddy does this automatically. For Nginx, add:

   types { text/yaml yml; }
   

3. Access the form at the URL where index.html is served. No path configuration is needed inside the file.

The form works with any URL path. If you deploy at https://intranet.example.org/finance/reimbursement/, no changes to the source are required.

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Configuration reference — config.yml

All customisation is done in config.yml. The file is loaded fresh every time the page is opened, so changes take effect immediately without redeploying.

Organisation identity

organization: "Center for Asylum Protection"
logo: yes
logo-maxwidth: 4

Key	Type	Required	Description
organization	string	Yes	Displayed in the form header and on the PDF. Used as a fallback if the logo is disabled or the image file is missing.
logo	yes / no	Yes	Whether to show a logo image. If yes, the app attempts to load assets/logo.png; if that fails, it tries assets/logo.jpg; if that also fails, it falls back to displaying the organization text.
logo-maxwidth	number (cm)	No	Maximum width of the logo in centimetres, applied in both the browser UI and the PDF. Default behaviour is unconstrained. Typical value: 4.

Logo requirements:

• Format: PNG (preferred) or JPG
• File must be placed at assets/logo.png (or assets/logo.jpg)
• The image is scaled to fit within logo-maxwidth cm width and 56 px height (UI) or 50 pt height (PDF), whichever is the binding constraint

PDF page setup

page-size: A4

Key	Type	Required	Description
page-size	A4 / letter	Yes	Paper size for PDF output. A4 = 595.28 × 841.89 pt. letter = 612 × 792 pt.

Typography

font-body: Helvetica
font-heading: Helvetica
font-monospace: Courier
font-size: 10

Key	Type	Required	Description
font-body	string	Yes	Font used for body text in the PDF. Must be one of the standard PDF fonts: Helvetica, Times, or Courier. Custom TTF fonts are not yet supported.
font-heading	string	Yes	Font used for headings and labels in the PDF. Same options as font-body.
font-monospace	string	Yes	Font used for monospaced content. Recommended: Courier.
font-size	number (pt)	Yes	Base font size in points for PDF body text. Headings and labels are scaled relative to this. Typical range: 9–12.

Note on fonts: The current implementation always uses Helvetica/HelveticaBold/Courier regardless of what font-body, font-heading, and font-monospace are set to. Custom font selection is planned but not yet implemented.

Branding

accent-colour: "#1a3a5c"

Key	Type	Required	Description
accent-colour	hex colour string	Yes	Primary brand colour. Applied as the --accent CSS variable in the browser UI (buttons, borders, headings) and as the heading/divider colour in the PDF. Must be a six-digit hex string including the # prefix.

Form text

intro: ""
footer: "Confidential"

Key	Type	Required	Description
intro	string	No	Optional introductory text shown on the first page of the PDF, above the staff/period/currency fields. Leave empty ("") to omit. Long text wraps automatically.
footer	string	No	Text printed at the bottom of every PDF page. Typical values: "Confidential", "Internal use only", or your organisation's name.

Currency settings

currency-base: USD

currencies:
  - code: USD
    name: United States dollar
  - code: THB
    name: Thai baht
  - code: EUR
    name: Euro
  - code: NOK
    name: Norwegian krone

Key	Type	Required	Description
currency-base	ISO 4217 code	Yes	The default base (reimbursement) currency. Must be present in the currencies list. All amounts on the PDF summary are converted to this currency.
currencies	list of {code, name}	Yes	All currencies available in the per-line currency dropdown. code must be an ISO 4217 three-letter code. name is shown in the dropdown for user reference only.

FX rate convention: rates are expressed as units of the line currency per 1 unit of the base currency (e.g. 34.25 THB per 1 USD). Conversion is base_amount = line_amount / fx_rate.

Adding a currency: append a new {code, name} entry to currencies. No other changes are needed.

Removing a currency: remove its entry. Any existing PDF claims already generated are unaffected.

Accounts

accounts:
  - "1000 - General Operations"
  - "2000 - Travel & Transport"
  - "3000 - Office Supplies"
  - "4000 - Professional Services"

Key	Type	Required	Description
accounts	list of strings	Yes	Dropdown options for the "Account" field on each expense line. Each string is shown verbatim. Typically formatted as "CODE - Description". At least one entry is required.

Selecting an account is mandatory for each line. The account code selected appears verbatim on the generated PDF.

Programs

programs:
  - "General Operations"
  - "Legal Aid Program"
  - "Protection Program"
  - Other

Key	Type	Required	Description
programs	list of strings	Yes	Dropdown options for the "Program" field on each expense line. At least one entry is required.

Special value Other: if the literal string Other is included in the list, selecting it in the form reveals an additional free-text field where the user must type the program name. The PDF will show Other: [typed value]. All other values are shown exactly as written.

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Changing configuration

1. Edit app/config.yml in any text editor.
2. Save the file and refresh the browser. Changes are live immediately.
3. Existing downloaded PDFs are not affected.

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Adding a logo

1. Prepare a PNG or JPG image of your logo. Transparent background (PNG) works best.
2. Place the file at app/assets/logo.png (create the assets/ folder if it does not exist).
3. Set logo: yes in config.yml.
4. Set logo-maxwidth to the desired maximum width in centimetres.

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Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
Form shows "Failed to load: Cannot load config.yml"	Server not serving the YAML file, or file missing	Check the file path and server MIME type configuration
Logo does not appear	File missing or wrong path	Place file at assets/logo.png relative to index.html
Accent colour not applied	Malformed hex value	Use the format "#rrggbb" (six digits, with quotes, with #)
Currency not in dropdown	Missing from currencies list	Add the {code, name} entry to currencies
currency-base not selectable	Code not in currencies list	Add it to currencies before using it as currency-base
PDF fonts look wrong	Custom font specified	Only Helvetica, Times, Courier are currently supported