Best Practices for Approvals

Approvals work best when requests are clear, approvers are correct, and decisions are documented.

Best practice 1: Choose the right approver

The assigned approver should be the person who can make the decision, not only someone who is visible in the workflow.

Best practice 2: Write clear requests

A strong approval request explains what is being requested, why it matters, and what the impact is if approved or delayed.

Best practice 3: Set realistic expiry times

Expiry should create urgency, not unnecessary failure. Give the approver enough time to review while still preventing stale requests.

Best practice 4: Use decision comments

Decision comments help requesters understand why something was approved or rejected. This is especially important for rejections.

Best practice 5: Cancel stale requests when context changes

If the request is no longer relevant, cancel it rather than leaving it pending.