Which approvals are worth automating
Start with approvals that are frequent, rule-shaped and painful when late. A useful test: could you write the routing rule on one sheet of paper today? If yes, it is a candidate. If nobody can say who should approve without a debate, the problem is policy, not tooling — settle that first.
- Discount and pricing exceptions that need a manager or finance before a quote goes out.
- Purchase requests and supplier spend above a limit you define.
- Expense claims and reimbursements that need a line manager and sometimes finance.
- Contract or document sign-off before something is sent externally.
- Access, onboarding and time-off requests that touch more than one owner.
Rules and thresholds
The routing table is the heart of the build, and it should be written down before any tool is chosen. Each row states a condition, an approver, and what happens on approve and reject. Typical dimensions are amount, request type, department, customer tier and whether a standard price list was departed from.
Keep the first version small. Two or three thresholds cover most requests; every extra branch is another path to test and another place for a request to get stuck. Decide explicitly what happens when a request matches no rule — the safe default is that it goes to a named person, never that it silently passes.
Sequential or parallel
Use sequential steps when the second approver only needs to look if the first agreed, such as manager then finance. Use parallel steps when two people review different things, such as legal wording and commercial terms, and the request should not wait for one to start the other.
Self-approval
Decide up front that a requester can never approve their own item, including when they are also the default approver for their team. The workflow should detect this and route upward.
Escalation and delegation
Most delay comes from absence, not refusal. Build the answer to 'what if they are away' into the workflow instead of relying on people to forward things manually.
- A reminder after a period you choose, sent through the channel the approver actually reads.
- Escalation to a named backup or the approver's manager if the reminder is ignored.
- Delegation that is explicit and dated — an approver hands their queue to someone for a set window, and the record shows the delegation was in force.
- A hard stop for requests that must not auto-approve on timeout: they escalate, they never pass by default.
Audit trail
A decision that is not recorded did not happen, as far as anyone reviewing it later is concerned. For every request, store who asked, what was asked with the values at that moment, who was routed to and when, who decided, what they decided, any comment, and the time. Store this in a system you control and can export, not only in a chat thread.
One detail matters more than it looks: freeze the request content at the moment of approval. If the amount or wording can be edited afterwards, an approval no longer proves anything. A change after approval should reopen the request.
Where it runs: n8n or custom code
For a single workflow that touches a few systems, a workflow engine such as n8n is often the sensible fit: routing, reminders and notifications are its normal territory, and you can see and adjust the flow. Custom code becomes the better choice when the approval logic is tangled with your own database, needs fine-grained permissions, or has volume and reliability requirements that a visual flow handles awkwardly. We say which we recommend and why after looking at the process; see also custom automation vs Zapier for the general trade-off.
Failure handling
An approval workflow that fails quietly is worse than email, because everyone assumes it is working. Plan for failure as part of the build.
- If a notification cannot be delivered, the request is flagged and an owner is told — it does not sit unseen.
- If a connected system is unavailable, the step retries and then surfaces an error to a named person.
- A visible list of requests waiting longer than expected, reviewed by one owner.
- A manual route for the rare case where the automation cannot decide, so work is never blocked by the tool itself.
What to keep human
Automation should route and record, not decide things that need judgement. Keep a person in the loop for unusual exceptions, anything with legal or regulatory weight, and any decision where the reasons matter as much as the outcome. An approval trail is a useful business record; whether it is sufficient as a legal signature for a given contract is a question for your own advisers, and we do not give legal advice.
How LATYNEX scopes this
A single approval flow across up to three systems fits the fixed-scope Automation Sprint (€1,690). Several approval types, complex permissions or heavy integration is custom scope, quoted after we map the process. The Automation Opportunity Finder is a quick way to see whether approvals are your best first candidate. The wider service is workflow automation and systems integration.
Questions
Which approval should we automate first?+
The one that is most frequent, has a clear routing rule and causes visible delay. Discount exceptions and purchase requests are common first choices because the rule is easy to write and the cost of delay is obvious.
Can approvals happen where people already work, such as email or chat?+
Often yes, depending on the tools involved. We confirm during scoping what each system supports rather than assuming a connector exists, and the decision is always written back to one record.
What happens if an approver is away or ignores the request?+
The workflow reminds, then escalates to a backup you name. Requests that must not pass by default escalate instead of auto-approving.
Is the approval log legally binding?+
It is a reliable internal record. Whether it satisfies a legal signature requirement for a specific document depends on the document and jurisdiction, so ask your own legal adviser. We do not provide legal advice.
Do we need to replace our existing tools?+
Usually not. The workflow sits across the tools you already use and adds routing, reminders and a record. We only suggest changing a tool if it is the actual blocker.