Every business has things someone must allow before they happen: a purchase order above a certain amount, a leave request, a supplier invoice, a quote with a large discount, an overtime arrangement. Usually this runs through a signature folder, an email saying “please approve”, or a quick word in the corridor.

As long as everyone is in the building, that works. It gets difficult when the approver is travelling, when an email gets buried, or when nobody can later remember who actually approved an order. Then work waits, and the supplier calls because their invoice is still unpaid.

Typical approvals

  • Purchase orders: above an amount, for certain product groups or for new suppliers
  • Supplier invoices: correct in substance, correct in figures, then released for payment
  • Leave and absences: request, check of cover, approval
  • Quotes: with a large discount, unusual terms or high totals
  • Travel and expenses: receipt, check, reimbursement
  • Master data: a new supplier, changed bank details

The last one looks minor and matters a great deal. Changed bank details that nobody checks are a popular route for fraud.

What a digital approval has to do

Clear rules

Who may approve what, up to which amount? That sounds obvious, but in many businesses it is written down nowhere. People know the rules, or they ask. So before any software comes the question: what do your approvals really look like today? Documenting business processes describes how to write something like this down.

Seeing what is waiting

Everyone sees their open approvals in one place, not scattered across emails. Whoever submits a request can see who it is currently with. That alone saves a lot of chasing.

Approving on the move

An approval should work on a phone: look, approve or reject, with a short reason. Otherwise whoever travels a lot holds up the business.

Cover

If the approver is on holiday, the approval goes to their deputy. Without this rule things wait until they are back.

Reminders and escalation

If an approval sits untouched, the system sends a reminder after a set time. If nothing happens then, it moves to the next person. You decide how long to wait.

Traceable

Who approved what, when, and with what comment? That has to be available later: for accounts, for your tax adviser’s review, or simply for the question of why you ordered that back then.

Several stages

Some approvals need more than one person. For a supplier invoice, purchasing checks that the goods have arrived and accounts checks that the amount is right. For a large order, the department head signs first, then the managing director.

Keep the stages as lean as possible. Every extra stage means more waiting. Often one approval up to an amount is enough, with a second one above it. What this looks like for invoices is described in processing incoming invoices automatically.

Who may do what

Approvals are closely tied to permissions. Who may approve orders up to what amount, who may change the rules, who sees other people’s leave requests? These permissions belong in the system’s checks, not just hidden in the interface. More in roles and permissions.

One important principle: nobody approves their own request. That sounds obvious, but the system has to be set up that way.

Where approvals belong

  • In the specialist program itself: many programs for purchasing, accounting or HR include approvals. Then they are attached directly to the transaction. That is usually the best route.
  • In Microsoft 365: forms, lists and automated flows can handle simple approvals. That works for leave requests or small orders. With many stages and exceptions it quickly becomes hard to follow. Low-code describes where such tools reach their limits.
  • In an application of your own: this pays off when approvals run across several programs or your rules are particular. The application then fetches data from your existing programs where possible and writes the result back.

An approval that runs alongside the transaction creates new work. If an order is approved in one program and placed in another, someone is retyping again.

Why it fails

  • The rules are not clear. Then the software reproduces today’s state, including every ambiguity.
  • Too many stages. Every approval needs three signatures, so people work around the system.
  • The boss keeps approving by word of mouth. Then the system says one thing and reality another.
  • No cover. The first return from holiday shows how much has piled up.

Questions before you decide

  • Which approvals do you have, and who approves what up to which amount?
  • Where do things wait longest today?
  • Which programs already include approvals, and are they used?
  • Who covers for whom?
  • Where will you later need to show who approved something?

Start with the approval people complain about most today. Once that runs well, the others almost follow by themselves.