Glossary

What is an approval workflow?

Also called: approval process, approval flow

Definition

Last updated October 2026

An approval workflow is a process in which work must be reviewed and approved by a named person or group before it can move on. It sets out who approves, in what order, what they check and what happens if they reject it, and keeps a record of each decision and when it was made.

In more detail

Approval workflows exist wherever a decision needs a second pair of eyes: purchases over a limit, invoices, new hires, access requests, contract changes, releases to production. The workflow makes the rule visible and hard to skip, instead of relying on someone remembering to ask.

A clear approval workflow answers five questions: what is being approved, who approves it and who stands in when they are away, what they should check, what happens after a yes or a no, and where the decision is recorded. Approvals can run one after another, or depend on the amount or type of request.

Example

A purchase request under £1,000 goes to the team manager. Above that, finance approves next. If either says no, the request goes back to the requester with the reason, and nothing is ordered until both approvals are recorded.

Approvals in CheckFlow

In CheckFlow an approval is a step in the checklist: assigned to the approver, completable only by them, and set to halt everything after it until it is done. The decision is recorded in a required Approved or Not approved field, and conditional logic can route larger amounts to a second approver.

Approval software