Approval Workflow
The configured sequence a record must pass through before it takes effect — who approves, in what order, under what thresholds and conditions. It is how a delegation of authority becomes enforced behaviour rather than a document.
Sequential and parallel are different tools and the difference is who is waiting. Sequential stacks delay: each approver waits for the last. Parallel collects opinions at once. Most organisations default to sequential everywhere because it feels controlled, then wonder why a purchase order takes eleven days.
And the real failure mode is silence. Approvals are rarely rejected — they sit, while the approver is on leave, and the request ages in a queue nobody measures. An SLA with escalation and delegation-on-absence turns that silence into a decision.
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