Governance
Approval workflows: who signs what, encoded as data
Every organisation has approval rules; the question is whether they live in policy documents people ignore or in software that enforces them. This guide explains how data-driven approval chains work and why hard-coded workflows fail.
Why hard-coded approval logic fails
Software that assumes “finance approves, then the director” works until you meet the organisation where programme managers approve first, or where amounts under a threshold skip a step. Approval rules differ legitimately between organisations and over time. The only sustainable design treats chains as data: definitions with ordered steps, editable by administrators, executed by an engine.
Anatomy of an approval chain
A definition belongs to a document type — leave request, purchase request, travel clearance. Each step names how its approver resolves: a specific user, anyone holding a role, or the line manager of whoever submitted. When a document starts its approval, the engine creates an instance, resolves the first step, and notifies the assignee.
- Definitions per document type, active or inactive
- Steps with assignee resolution: user, role, or line manager
- Instances track state: pending, approved, rejected
- Rejection requires a written reason returned to the requester
The approver experience decides adoption
Approvers are busy people drowning in requests. A unified inbox — oldest first, SLA indicators for overdue items, full context one click away, and quick approve/reject actions — is the difference between same-day decisions and week-long bottlenecks. After each decision, routing the approver to their next pending item keeps the queue moving.
Signatures and the audit record
Where policy demands it, approvals can require the approver’s stored signature, producing decision records that stand up in donor audits and legal disputes. The complete instance history — who approved, when, in what order, with what comments — is permanent and exportable.
Frequently asked questions
Can different document types have different chains?
Yes — each document type (leave, purchase request, travel, and so on) has its own definitions, and organisations configure each independently.
What if an approver is on leave?
Role-based steps resolve to anyone holding the role, providing natural cover. Organisations can also adjust definitions when responsibilities change.
Are decisions reversible?
A completed decision is a permanent record. The correct path for a wrong decision is a new request or an administrative action — never silently editing history.
How do requesters track their submissions?
A “my requests” view shows every submission with its current step and state, eliminating the “did you see my request?” follow-up emails.
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