Approval Workflows Guide

Learn how to implement content approval workflows to ensure quality control and team accountability.

Overview

Approval workflows help teams:

Maintain content quality
Ensure proper review
Track accountability
Meet compliance requirements

Setting Up Approval Workflow

Basic Three-Stage Workflow

Create approval workflow for blog posts:
1. Create workflow "Blog Editorial"
2. Add stages:
   - Draft (default, anyone)
   - In Review (editors only)
   - Approved (editors can publish)
3. Configure transitions:
   - Draft → In Review (anyone)
   - In Review → Approved (editors only)
   - In Review → Draft (send back for revisions)

Multi-Stakeholder Approval

Create approval workflow for marketing content:
1. Create workflow "Marketing Approval"
2. Add stages:
   - Draft
   - Content Review (content team)
   - Legal Review (legal team)
   - Brand Review (brand team)
   - Final Approval (marketing director)
   - Approved
3. Require approval at each stage before progression

Using Approvals

Request Approval

For blog post "Getting Started with AI":
1. Move to "Ready for Review" stage
2. Request approval from editor (user ID 123)
3. Add note: "Ready for technical review"

Managing Approval Requests

Show me all pending approval requests assigned to me

For approval request 456:
1. Review the content
2. Either approve or send back with feedback
3. If approved, move to next stage

Bulk Approvals

Find all blog posts in "Ready for Approval":
1. Review each one
2. Approve qualified posts
3. Send others back with feedback
4. Move approved posts to "Scheduled"

Approval Patterns

Sequential Approval

Content must pass through each approver in order.

Legal content workflow:
Draft → Content Review → Legal Review → Compliance → Approved

Each stage requires approval before moving to next.

Parallel Approval

Multiple approvers review simultaneously.

Marketing campaign:
Draft → [Content + Legal + Brand reviews in parallel] → Final Approval

All three must approve before final stage.

Conditional Approval

Routing based on content attributes.

If blog post has legal keywords:
  → Requires legal review
Else:
  → Skip legal, go straight to editorial

Best Practices

Clear criteria - Define what "approved" means for each stage
Reasonable SLAs - Set expectations for approval timeframes
Notification system - Alert approvers of pending requests
Feedback loops - Allow sending back with comments
Escalation path - Process for handling delays
Audit trail - Track who approved what and when

Common Scenarios

Blog Post Approval

Author workflow:
1. Author creates post, saves as Draft
2. Author requests review when ready
3. Editor reviews, provides feedback or approves
4. If approved, editor schedules publication
5. Post publishes automatically at scheduled time

Product Launch Approval

Product page workflow:
1. Product team creates page
2. Content review (copywriter)
3. Technical review (product manager)
4. Legal review (if pricing/claims)
5. Marketing approval (marketing director)
6. Final approval (VP)
7. Scheduled for launch day

Emergency Publishing

For time-sensitive content:
1. Create "Fast Track" workflow
2. Allow direct progression to Approved
3. Require approval from on-call editor
4. Log as exception for audit

Tracking and Reporting

Approval Metrics

Show me for last month:
- Average time from submission to approval
- Approval rate (approved vs rejected)
- Bottleneck stages (longest wait times)
- Most active approvers

Audit Reports

Generate approval audit report:
- All content published last quarter
- Who approved each piece
- How long approval took
- Any exceptions or fast-tracks

Need help with approvals? Ask Claude to set up an approval workflow that matches your team's process!