FAQ: What are Approval Milestones and Steps?
Zudello uses Milestones and Steps to structure complex approval workflows configured via Automation Sentences. This provides clarity and control over multi-stage approval processes.
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Approval Flow: The overall container for the entire approval process for a specific document.
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Approval Milestone:
- Represents a distinct stage or phase within the approval flow (e.g., "Department Review", "Finance Approval", "Budget Check").
- Can contain one or more Approval Steps.
- All steps within a milestone must be successfully completed (
APPROVED) before the flow can proceed to the next milestone. - If any step within a milestone is
REJECTED, the entire milestone is considered rejected, and the flow typically stops or follows a rejection path (unless specific logic handles it differently). - Milestones execute sequentially – Milestone 2 only becomes active after Milestone 1 is fully approved.
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Approval Step:
- Represents a specific task or required approval action within a milestone (e.g., "Marketing Manager Approval", "IT Manager Approval", "Check DOA > $1000").
- Assigned to a specific User, User Group, DOA lookup, etc.
- Multiple steps within the same milestone can run concurrently (in parallel). For example, Marketing and IT managers might receive their approval requests at the same time within the "Department Review" milestone.
- Each step is evaluated independently based on its pass/fail criteria (e.g., 1 approval needed, all members of a group needed).
Example:
An invoice might have a flow like this:
- Milestone 1: Department Review
- Step 1.1: Marketing Manager Approval (Assigned to Marketing Mgr Group)
- Step 1.2: IT Manager Approval (Assigned to IT Mgr Group)
- (Both steps become active simultaneously. Both must be approved for Milestone 1 to pass).
- Milestone 2: Finance Review
- Step 2.1: Finance Team Approval > $500 (Assigned to Finance Group, conditional on amount)
- (This milestone only becomes active after Milestone 1 is fully approved).
This structure allows for building flexible and logical approval processes that reflect organisational hierarchies and policies. Users see this structure clearly in the approval flow display on the document.