Approval workflows
Approvals with an audit row for every decision
Require sign-off before access is granted, hardware is ordered, or an exception is made. Ordered approval chains, out-of-office delegation, an SLA clock that pauses while a request waits, and an audit row for each decision. Approvals are part of the base plan.
How an approval moves through EvenTier
Approvals attach to request types, show their state in the queue, pause out of your SLA math while they wait, and leave a record the next access review can query.
Require sign-off by request type
Flag a request type (software access, hardware purchase, policy exception) as requiring approval, and every request of that type routes to a named approver before work starts.
- Approval requirements defined per request type
- Route to a specific approver, not a group inbox
- Requesters see the approval state in the portal
Multi-step approval chains
Configure an ordered chain of approvers on a request type: manager, then budget owner, then change board. Each step is asked only after the one before it approves, and the request stays paused until the whole chain clears. Any denial stops it and closes the request.
- Ordered approver steps per request type
- Each step notifies its approver only when it's their turn
- One denial ends the chain; automations can add approvals mid-workflow
Delegation for out-of-office approvers
An approver on leave delegates to a colleague for a set date range, and the request routes to the delegate for that window. Delegated decisions are recorded as delegated in the audit trail.
- Out-of-office delegation with start and end dates
- Delegate's decisions attributed transparently
- No admin intervention needed to unblock a queue
The SLA clock pauses while approval waits
A request in the waiting-on-approval state pauses the SLA clock. Time spent waiting on a signature is held out of the team's response and resolution numbers, and the clock resumes the moment a decision lands.
- Dedicated waiting-on-approval status
- SLA pause during the approval window
- Breach risk resumes calculating on decision
Decisions trigger the next step
The decision is a trigger the rest of the workflow runs on. Automation rules fire on approval or denial, so an approved access request can assign, notify, and transition without a human relay.
- Automations fire on approval decisions
- Rejections route back to the requester with context
- Webhook actions notify external systems
A record of every decision
Every approval state change writes an audit row: who approved, who delegated, when, and on which request. When an access review asks who signed off on a grant, you answer it with a query against the audit log rather than a search through email.
- Audit row on every approval state change
- Full request status history, by user
- Audit events stream to your SIEM
Common questions
Can a request need more than one approval?
Yes. Configure an ordered approval chain on the request type: for example manager, then budget owner, then a change board. Each step is asked only after the previous one approves, the request stays in Waiting on approval until the last step clears, and any denial closes it. Automations can also add an approval as the workflow progresses.
What happens when an approver is on vacation?
They delegate ahead of time with a date range, and requests route to the delegate automatically. Delegated decisions are recorded as such in the audit trail.
Can we prove who approved what?
Yes. Every approval decision and state change writes an audited event with the actor and timestamp, and the audit stream can be exported to your SIEM.
Do pending approvals hurt our SLA numbers?
No. The waiting-on-approval status pauses the SLA clock, so time spent waiting for a signature doesn't count against the team doing the work.
Related
Employee request management
The wider picture: one portal and one pipeline for IT, HR, finance, and facilities requests.
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Internal IT helpdesk
Ticketing, SLAs, and deflection for the team that fields access and hardware requests.
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Approvals in the docs
How approval routing, delegation, and audit events work, with the exact UI surfaces named.
Read more →
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