How to speed up document approval so it doesn't slow down business

No one has done anything wrong. Nevertheless, the process has stalled. For a single document, this may mean several hours or days. However, if a company processes hundreds of contracts, orders, quotations, internal requests or HR documents in this way, waiting for approval becomes a real obstacle to business.

The problem is often not the signature itself. It is the entire process before and after it: who should approve the document → in what order → who has already completed the task → who is next → what happens in the event of absence → who should send a reminder → what follows after signing

If these rules exist only in emails, spreadsheets or employees’ heads, even relatively simple approval can become an administrative bottleneck.

Approval is not just administration

The approval process is often seen as a secondary administrative activity. In reality, it can directly affect:

• the conclusion of a business contract,
• the acceptance of a quotation,
• a new employee’s start date,
• the purchase of goods or services,
• the approval of an order,
• customer activation,
• project implementation,
• invoicing,
• supplier relationships.

A document may be prepared in 15 minutes, but then wait another three days for a series of approvals. For a company, what matters is not only the time required to create the document, but above all the time from its creation to the final decision or signature.

In addition, if documents are located in different emails and repositories, this creates a broader problem with their traceability and management.

Four situations that most often slow down approval

1. The process is waiting for a specific manager

One of the most common situations: only one specific person can approve the document. However, that person is:

• on a business trip,
• in meetings,
• on holiday,
• out of the office,
• or has simply overlooked the email.

The process comes to a halt. The problem may not be that the manager is unwilling to decide. The information simply did not reach them at the right time, or approval requires steps that can only be performed in a specific environment.

A well-designed approval workflow therefore needs to clearly define:

• who approves,
• in what order,
• within what time limit,
• who can act as a substitute for the approver,
• what happens in the event of a delay.

2. Signing requires physical presence

The document has been approved, but is still waiting to be signed. If signing means:

print → sign → scan → send → file the original,

the process remains dependent on the physical movement of the document and the availability of a specific person. This particularly complicates:

• hybrid and remote work,
• signing between branches,
• communication with customers away from the company’s premises,
• cooperation with external partners,
• processes involving multiple signatories.

Electronic signing can eliminate physical distance from the process. However, an electronic signature alone does not automatically constitute an entirely digital process. The greatest benefit arises when the signature is a natural part of the approval workflow.

3. The approval flow is complex, but managed manually

Some documents need to be approved by one person. Others may require:

head of department → finance → legal → CFO → managing director

A further level may be added for higher-value orders. A legal review may be added for certain types of customers. Another department may be added for a foreign contract. This creates a rules-based approval flow. However, if these rules are not part of the system, a person must manage them.

This means:

• checking the type of document,
• deciding who to send it to,
• tracking the order of approvals,
• checking responses,
• sending the next version,
• recording the final status.

The more complex the process, the greater the risk that the document:

• ends up with the wrong person,
• skips a mandatory approval,
• waits between two steps,
• or the wrong version begins to be processed.

4. No one points out that the document is stalled

Manual approval has another problem: it depends on human memory. The salesperson has to remember that they sent a contract two days ago. HR has to check whether the candidate has signed the documents. Administration has to chase the manager. When more processes are open, a separate administrative task is created:

check → reminder → another check → another reminder

Notifications and escalations can automate some of this work.

Manual versus managed approval

Area	Manual approval process	Managed digital workflow
Determining the approver	The employee must know who to send the document to	The approver can be determined by a rule
Order	Checked manually	The workflow manages the order of the steps
Process status	Determined via email or colleagues	The current status is recorded
Absence	The process may come to a halt	A substitute or escalation can be set up
Reminders	Sent manually	Can be triggered automatically
Signature	Paper, scan or a separate tool	Can be part of the workflow
History	Reconstructed retrospectively	Individual steps can be recorded
Next step	Must be triggered by a person	Can follow automatically

The greatest benefit of automation is therefore not merely “faster signing”. It is the elimination of unproductive time between individual steps.

When an approval flow becomes too complex for email

Not every process needs a sophisticated workflow. If one request per month is approved by one manager, email may be entirely sufficient. The situation changes as the number of the following increases:

• documents,
• approvers,
• conditions,
• organisational units,
• exceptions,
• required signatures.

Table: How approval complexity increases

Situation	Low complexity	Higher complexity
Number of approvers	1	Multiple people or departments
Order	Not relevant	Precisely defined sequence
Rules	The same for all cases	Depend on value, type or department
Exceptions	Rare	A common part of the process
Signatories	One person	Multiple internal and external parties
Volume	A few documents	Tens to thousands
Deadlines	Not critical	Affect the customer or the business
Reporting	Not required	Management needs an overview

 

The more items that fall into the right-hand column, the less appropriate it is to manage the process solely by email.

Approval and signature are not the same

These steps are often confused. Approval means an internal decision that the document or transaction may proceed. Signature may represent formal confirmation by a specific person or the parties.

A typical process may therefore look like this: contract creation → review by salesperson → approval by manager → review by legal → internal signature → customer signature → archiving

If a company digitises only the last step—the signature itself—a large part of the waiting time may still occur before it. It is therefore more useful to consider the entire document lifecycle. A similar principle applies, for example, to HR processes. An employment contract may go through several internal steps before being signed by the candidate.

Automatic notification versus an automated process

These terms are also not identical. Notification: “You have a document to approve.”

Automated workflow:

1. the system identifies the correct approver,
2. creates a task for them,
3. notifies them,
4. records their decision,
5. sends a reminder in the event of a delay,
6. moves the document forward after approval,
7. initiates signing or another process after the final step.

A notification is therefore only one part of automation. If a company adds alerts to a chaotic process, the result may simply be a chaotic process with more emails.

How an effective approval workflow should work

1. The process has a clear starting point

It must be clear what triggers the workflow. For example:

• creation of a contract,
• receipt of an order,
• submission of a request,
• exceeding a value threshold.

2. Rules determine the next step

Not every document has to follow the same path. For example:

order up to €5,000 → manager

€5,000–€20,000 → manager + finance

over €20,000 → manager + finance + executive management

This reduces unnecessary approval of simple cases.

3. Every task has an owner

It must be clear who needs to act at that moment. Not: “We are waiting for finance.”

But: “The document has been assigned to a specific approval role since 10:34.”

4. Waiting has a time limit

The workflow should be able to distinguish normal waiting from a delay. Once the limit is exceeded, the following may occur:

• a reminder,
• an escalation,
• redirection to a substitute.

5. Signing naturally follows approval

After the final internal approval, an employee should not have to download the document manually and send it for signature. The signing step can be a natural continuation of the workflow.

6. The process does not end after signing if another step is to follow

A signed contract may be required for:

• service activation,
• onboarding,
• an order,
• invoicing,
• archiving,
• another company system.

This can be clearly seen in customer onboarding, where signing a document represents only one stage of a broader process.

Which processes are suitable candidates for automation

Process	Typical problem	What can be managed by a workflow
Business contracts	Waiting for the manager, legal review and the customer’s signature	Order of approvals, signature, notifications
Quotations	Unclear discount limits	Approval based on value or margin
Purchase requests	Many approvers	Rules based on amount, department or category
HR documents	Approval of terms and the candidate’s signature	Internal approval and signing process
Internal policies	Multiple reviewers	Review and approval sequence
Supplier contracts	Finance, legal, executive management, external party	Multi-level approval workflow
Client forms	Waiting for confirmation or signature	Digital flow between the company and the customer

 

For these processes, it is advisable to track not only the resulting document, but also the status of each step. If a company regularly deals with questions such as “Has it been signed?” or “Where is the document stalled?”, the problem already lies in the transparency of the workflow.

Brief checklist: Is approval slowing down your business?

Question	YES / NO
Do documents regularly wait for a specific manager or signatory?	YES / NO
Does signing require physical presence, printing or scanning?	YES / NO
Do employees have to manually decide who to send the document to for further approval?	YES / NO
Does the approval process change depending on value, document type or department?	YES / NO
Do employees have to manually chase approvers or signatories?	YES / NO
Does a document sometimes wait for several days without anyone noticing?	YES / NO
Is it not always clear who should take the next step?	YES / NO
After signing, does an employee have to manually initiate further administration?	YES / NO

 

Evaluation

Number of YES answers	What to consider
0–2	The current process is probably manageable. The main scope for improvement may lie in clearer rules or substitution arrangements.
3–5	It is worth mapping the approval flow and identifying steps suitable for automatic notifications, routing or electronic signing.
6 or more	Approval probably represents a systemic bottleneck. It is advisable to assess the entire workflow from document creation through approval to signing and subsequent processing.

The checklist serves as a general guide. The result alone does not determine whether the company needs a new system, an integration or merely a change to the existing process.

How to measure whether approval is actually faster

“Fewer emails” is a welcome result, but it is not a sufficient metric. It is better to track:

• average time from document creation to approval,
• average time for one approval step,
• time from approval to signature,
• total time from creation to process completion,
• number of overdue processes,
• number of manual follow-ups,
• number of documents returned for correction,
• number of cases in which the absence of a specific person halted the process,
• proportion of processes completed without manual intervention by an administrator.

One of the most important metrics is: How much of the total process time is actual work and how much is merely waiting? If the approval itself takes two minutes but the document waits two days for it, the greatest potential for optimisation lies precisely between the steps.

A faster process does not mean less control

Approval automation is not intended to remove necessary control mechanisms. The aim is to eliminate steps that add no decision-making value:

• manually forwarding documents,
• identifying the correct approver,
• checking inboxes,
• repeated follow-ups,
• physically carrying a document,
• manually initiating the next step.

The decision itself still remains with the authorised person. The difference is that the document reaches them automatically, in the correct order and with clear context.

Do not let one document hold back your business

If the deal has been agreed, the request prepared or the job offer approved, further days of waiting should not arise simply because the document is moving between inboxes, offices and signatories. By linking approval rules, electronic signing, automatic notifications and subsequent steps, it is possible to create a process that does not stop every time one person is away from their desk.