Internal Approvals

Before a contract leaves the building, it often needs internal sign-off. Legal review, finance approval, a manager's nod. Docshark runs those chains inside the workspace, on the record.

How approvals work

An approval request attaches to a document (or envelope draft) and names approvers. Two chain shapes:

• One at a time. Sequential: each approver decides in order; a rejection stops the chain.
• All at once. Parallel: everyone is asked together; the request completes when all decisions are in.

Each approver sees the document and a decision screen: Approve or Reject, with an optional note explaining the call.

The three views

The approvals surface splits your work into:

• Awaiting me. Requests where your decision is the current blocker. This is the queue that matters day to day.
• In progress. Chains you started or joined, still moving through approvers.
• Completed. Finished chains, with every decision and note on record.

Decisions and notes

• Approve. The chain advances (sequential) or counts your yes (parallel).
• Reject, the request stops; your note tells the requester why. A rejected document does not go out on that approval, fix and resubmit.
• Notes. Optional on approval, effectively required in spirit on rejection; they are the record of why.

Where approvals surface

• Awaiting me items also land in the Inbox and the Home needs-you queue. Approvals never hide in a tab you forgot.
• Completed approvals attach to the document's record. The audit trail shows the document was cleared, by whom, when, and with what note.

Approvals vs approver recipients

Internal approvals (this page) gate a document inside your workspace. Before or alongside sending. An approver recipient role is an external participant in the envelope's routing. The first is your process; the second is the counterparty's.