Why tracking and managing approvals is essential for every organisation

  • Approval Management
  • Written by Chetan K Singh

Why approvals tracking matter for every business

While we may value task management, approvals seldom come to mind. Either we don’t think approvals are important, or we assume they’re only relevant to large enterprises, banks, or government agencies. That’s not the case. In fact, understanding the approval definition is vital for every business—small or large.

What Is an Approval?

The approval definition in business is the formal act of agreeing to, endorsing, or permitting a task, deliverable, or decision before it progresses further. It’s a form of consent that signals: “Yes, proceed.” This consent might be given by a senior manager, client, vendor, or strategic partner. Without approvals, your business operations lack accountability, structure, and clarity.

For example, if you’re creating a marketing campaign for a client, you’ll need approvals for the visuals, copy, and media plan. In a design project, architects seek approvals on layouts, materials, and cost estimates. In every such case, the approval definition applies.

Approvals vs. Tasks: Know the Difference

Though they often overlap in execution, tasks and approvals serve different purposes. A task is an actionable job assigned to someone, while the approval refers to the decision-making response that either allows or blocks further action.

When a task is completed, it’s marked as done. But approvals require an explicit “yes” or “no” before anything can proceed. That’s why a typical task management tool doesn’t satisfy the functional needs of managing approvals under the approval definition.

How Approvals Are Typically Managed

Nearly 98% of approvals in businesses are handled verbally. Another 1.9% happen over messages or emails. Only a negligible 0.01% use dedicated software. This clearly shows that most organisations either underestimate the importance of approvals or don’t understand the value of formalising the approval tracking in their processes.

Verbal approvals are easy to forget, lack documentation, and lead to confusion. Emails and messages, while slightly more formal, still scatter information and are hard to retrieve. This makes business operations inefficient and leaves room for disputes.

Why Approval Tracking Matters to Your Business

If you ignore the approval tracking, your business decisions remain undocumented, delayed, and vulnerable. Consider this: your team awaits a client’s green light. If the client doesn’t respond in time, progress halts. Projects get delayed, and productivity suffers.

Now imagine this happening across multiple teams, projects, or clients. That’s the cost of not embedding a structured approval tracking into your workflow.

How Arkchat Solves Approval Challenges

Arkchat helps you manage approvals effortlessly by embedding the approval tracking directly into day-to-day messaging. While sending a message, you can convert it into an approval request at the click of a button.

This single action creates a trackable, time-stamped, and context-linked decision request. Arkchat lets you track which approvals are pending, who needs to respond, and where bottlenecks lie—bringing the approval definition to life in real operations.

Key Benefits of Using Arkchat for Approvals

1. Request and Track Approvals from Anyone

Whether it’s a client, vendor, senior manager, or strategic partner, Arkchat allows you to convert messages into approval requests and track their status. Understanding and applying the approval tracking here helps eliminate confusion, build transparency, and enhance team accountability.

2. Keep Conversations Organised

When you create an approval request, Arkchat sets up a dedicated message thread. All related discussions, attachments, and final decisions remain bundled together. This gives structure to the approvals, so there’s no ambiguity about what was asked, discussed, or decided.

3. Real-Time Approval Analytics

Every message converted to an approval request triggers real-time analytics. You can instantly see how many approvals are pending, which are delayed, who responds the fastest, and what percentage of approvals are rejected or accepted. These analytics reinforce the approval definition as a measurable, trackable process.

4. Secure, Auditable Records

Arkchat stores your approvals securely. Unless you delete the group or your account, all decision records stay in place. This makes the approval tracking not just a formality—but an auditable part of your governance process. Your data remains encrypted and private, accessible only to authorised team members.

Final Thoughts

Most businesses underestimate the operational power behind a clear approval tracking. By structuring how approvals are requested, tracked, and recorded, Arkchat transforms a messy, informal process into a strategic advantage.

Don’t let vague conversations slow down your business. Embrace the approval definition through Arkchat and bring speed, transparency, and accountability to every decision.

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