Two types of managing approvals

There are two main ways of managing approvals:

  • Directly (regular approvals).

  • Through a gatekeeper.

The diagram below shows an example of an approval process with three approvals steps, with the third approver carrying out the final approval:

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Figure 1. Regular approval process

When approvals are managed through a gatekeeper, the regular approval process is modified. The diagram below shows an example of an approval process in which the third approver is a gated approver and has a gatekeeper, such as a secretariat:

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Figure 2. Approval process with approval gateway

In this example, the approval reaches the secretariat who then sends it to the gated approver. After the gated approver has processed the approval, it is again sent to the secretariat for post-processing.