Approval chains & rules

An approval chain defines the path a record must travel to be approved: who signs, in what order, how many approvals each step needs, and what each signature means. Chains are configured as approval rules, so approval follows your process rather than an ad-hoc routing.

Steps in a chain

A chain is made of ordered approval steps. Each step is a gate that must be satisfied before the next, so you can require, for example, an engineering sign-off followed by a quality sign-off followed by a management sign-off. A record advances through the steps in sequence, and only completes when the last one is satisfied.

Who signs each step

Each step specifies who can sign it. A step can be assigned to a specific individual user, to a group (any qualified member can sign), or to the item owner — whoever is responsible for the record. Using groups and roles rather than named people keeps a chain robust as your team changes, while still controlling exactly who is allowed to approve.

How many approvals

A step sets the number of approvals it requires — its minimum approvals. One signature might be enough for some steps; others may require several, so a critical decision isn’t made by a single person. A step can also be marked required or optional, letting a chain include sign-offs that apply only in certain circumstances.

The meaning of a signature

Crucially, each step carries a meaning — what signing it actually attests to, such as “authored,” “reviewed,” or “approved.” Recording meaning is a core regulatory requirement: a signature isn’t just a name on a record, it’s a statement of the signer’s responsibility. Custom labels let the meaning match your terminology.

From rule to record

Once chains are defined, they govern the records they apply to. When a record reaches a point that requires approval, its chain determines who must sign and what each signature means — and the act of signing itself is covered next in Signing & rejecting.