Approval Workflow

An approval workflow is the defined sequence of reviews and sign-offs a quote must pass before it can be sent to a client, enforcing margin floors, discount limits, and commercial term standards.

Why a structured workflow is required

Without a defined workflow, pricing decisions default to whoever assembled the quote. A senior account manager with a client relationship will approve their own discounts. A partner under revenue pressure will waive the margin floor. An approval workflow separates the decision to price from the authority to approve that price, and it creates an audit trail for governance review.

The three tiers of approvals

Tier 1: auto-approve. Quotes that fall within all standard parameters (rate card rates, margin above floor, no non-standard terms, below revenue threshold) proceed without human review. This should be the majority of quotes.

Tier 2: manager approval. Quotes with a discount in the representative-authorized range, or slightly below the margin floor. Approval SLA: 24 hours.

Tier 3: partner or executive approval. Quotes above a revenue threshold, with large discount exceptions, with non-standard IP or liability terms, or new client relationships above a defined size. Approval SLA: 48 to 72 hours.

What each approver reviews

Each tier of the workflow should surface only what that approver needs to evaluate:

• Margin at the quoted price and how it compares to the floor.
• Discount percentage and what the standard price would have been.
• Comparable past engagements at similar scope and client type.
• Scope inclusions and exclusions that could affect delivery cost.

Approvers who receive a quote without this context tend to rubber-stamp rather than evaluate. The workflow should pull this data automatically, not require the submitter to prepare a separate summary.

Common pitfalls

• No SLA on escalations. Approvals sit in an inbox for days while the deal goes cold.
• All quotes require approval. Routing every quote to a senior approver creates a bottleneck and trains the team to escalate everything regardless of parameters.
• Approval without data. Approvers receive the quote but not the margin model or discount history needed to evaluate the exception.
• No audit trail. Approvals happen in email or chat. No record of who approved what, on what basis, is available for governance or margin analysis.