Automating Internal Approvals: A Path and a Deadline

Automating internal approvals means every request, from leave to an expense to a discount, follows a known path: who approves it by type and amount, who stands in when that person is away, how many hours it waits before it escalates, and a log showing who approved what and when. In part 2 of the series you mapped the process as it really runs, and the wait at approvals probably showed up as its longest step. This third part of 7 gives you 4 elements to build an approval path, and an exercise in which you trace your last 10 requests and how long each one waited.

Why automation often starts with approvals

An approval is a small step in form and a large one in effect. The request itself may take minutes, yet it sits for days because the manager is travelling, the message sank in a busy WhatsApp chat, or the requester does not know who decides in the first place. Nobody is at fault: approving by message works well while the team is small, then strains with every new employee and branch.

Approvals are the clearest first workflow because their rules usually already exist in management's head: request type, amount and owner. A workflow here simply means the request moves from one step to the next automatically according to written rules, instead of an employee carrying it by hand. The idea applies to many request types: leave, expenses and petty cash, purchase requests, discounts on quotes and contract changes.

The approval matrix: who approves what, up to which limit

The first element is the approval matrix, a single table that answers one question: for this type of request at this amount, who approves? Write it by role, not by name, so it does not change every time someone leaves:

• Request type: leave, expense, purchase, discount, contract change. Each type gets its own row.
• The limit: the amount, duration or discount level at which the decision-maker changes. Use the limits your business actually works with, not figures borrowed from another company.
• The approver: the role that approves within each limit, and when an approval needs two levels in sequence.
• Conditions: what must be attached before the request reaches the approver, such as a quote or a leave balance, so it does not bounce back incomplete.

Do not reinvent what you have built elsewhere. We covered purchase requests in detail in Purchase Requests and Approval Limits: Who Signs What?, and leave and what the Labor Law requires in Leave Under Saudi Labor Law: An Approval Path, Not WhatsApp. What matters here is bringing every type into one logic the system can follow.

A delegate when the approver is away

The second element is the delegate. What stops requests most is not rejection but an absent approver: leave, travel or long meetings. So every role in the matrix needs a stand-in named in advance, with 3 simple rules:

• Delegation by period: it starts and ends on two dates and does not stay open after the approver returns.
• Delegation by limit: the delegate may cover small requests only, while large ones wait for the authority holder or escalate.
• Delegation shows in the log: it records that one person approved on behalf of another, not under their name alone.

The approver no longer needs to open their phone on holiday, and the employee no longer has to guess whom to ask.

A deadline and escalation

The third element is the deadline. Every approval step needs a maximum time set by the business owner, after which something specific happens instead of the request hanging. Escalation means the request moves automatically to a higher level or to the delegate when the deadline passes. The rule you write is simple: if the approver has not answered within the deadline, the system sends a reminder; if a second deadline passes, the request moves to the person above or to the delegate.

A deadline is not pressure on the manager. It means the business has decided in advance how much waiting each request type can bear. An urgent maintenance request is not like a change to an annual contract. Start with realistic deadlines drawn from this part's exercise, then adjust them after a month of running.

The approval log: who approved what and when

The fourth element is the log, also called an audit trail: a list that cannot be edited and that keeps, for each request, who submitted it, who approved or rejected it, when, under which authority and with which comment. It answers the questions of the internal reviewer, the auditor and management without digging through old chats. When a decision needs a signature on a document such as a contract or an addendum, see Electronic Signatures in Saudi Arabia to know when an approval inside the system is enough and when you need an electronic signature.

Requests such as leave carry personal data about employees. The Personal Data Protection Law published on the SDAIA site states in Article 19 that the controller must take the organizational, administrative and technical measures and means needed to protect personal data, and in Article 31 that the controller keeps records of personal data processing activities for a period set by the regulations. An approval path with defined authority and a clear log helps with both, but the period and contents are set by the Implementing Regulation. This is not legal advice; confirm with SDAIA or a lawyer.

The Origami view

We are a Saudi technology company that builds systems, apps, integrations and AI solutions. When we build an approval path, we start with the matrix written on paper with management before any screen, because a system cannot apply a rule nobody has agreed on, and we connect the path to the systems where the request actually lives so nobody re-keys the data.

We also make sure exceptions stay possible and recorded: an urgent request finds its way, but with a trace in the log rather than a side message. That balance between discipline and flexibility is what we build on, and you will find the details on our services page.

Exercise: trace your last 10 approval requests

Over 5 working days, collect your last 10 approval requests of one type, and for each one record:

• When it was submitted, when the final approval arrived, and the gap in hours.
• How many approvers it passed through, whether one was away and who stood in.
• How many times it came back incomplete, and which piece of information was missing.
• Where the approval was kept: a system, email, WhatsApp or paper.
• Whether you can prove today who approved and when, without asking anyone.

The average wait you calculate here is the baseline for your first deadlines, and it is more honest than any general figure.

In the next part

Once a request follows a clear path, another time-consuming job remains: re-typing documents into the system. Part 4 of the series, Manual Data Entry: When the System Reads the Document, explains how a system extracts data from supplier documents, delivery notes and forms, and sends anything uncertain to a person who reviews it.