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Business Operations & Automation

Approval and review: a desk, not a pile of emails

Purchase orders, discounts, refunds, change orders and credit terms all wait for someone's decision, usually in different inboxes. An approval and review system puts every one of them on one desk, ordered by deadline, with the owner, the evidence and the effect of deciding, and it escalates or delegates before anything waits too long. We build the desk around your decision types and the rules you already follow.
Talk through your approvalsSee the three views ↓
Review desk · 6 waiting↓ sorted by deadlinedecisionwhatownerduestatusCR-7credit terms, new accountfinanceowner1 day overwaitingescalatedPO-118parts order, $2,140ops manager2 hwaitingapprovedQ-240discount 15%ops manageroffice lead4 hwaitingdelegatedCO-J540-1change orderAcme's manager24 hwaitingRF-31refund, $95financetomorrowwaitingTO-12time off, T5ops managerFriwaitingPO-118 approved · Q-240 delegated to office lead · CR-7 escalated to owner

Decisions wait where nobody can see them

Every business runs on small decisions: can we order this, can we give that discount, can we refund this customer. Each one arrives as a message to whoever usually decides. Nobody else can see it's waiting, the evidence is spread across threads, and when that person is busy or away, work stops without anyone noticing.

A review desk gathers every pending decision in one place. Each has an owner from your rules, a deadline, the evidence needed to decide and a clear statement of what deciding will do. Reminders, delegation and escalation happen on their own, and every decision is recorded where the work continues.

Today, and with a review desk

Today

  1. 01Requests for decisions arrive by email, text and in passing.
  2. 02The evidence is in attachments and earlier messages.
  3. 03Nobody can see what's waiting, or for how long.
  4. 04When the approver is away, the request just sits.

Work stalls quietly, and the first anyone hears is a customer or supplier asking why.

With a review desk

  1. 01Every decision lands on one desk, from every workflow.
  2. 02Each arrives with its evidence and what deciding will do.
  3. 03The desk is sorted by deadline, with owners.
  4. 04Delegation and escalation happen by rule.
  5. 05Every decision is recorded with who, when and why.

Nothing waits in an inbox, because nothing is sent to one.

One desk, three views

The same decisions, seen by the person deciding, the person responsible for flow, and anyone checking later.

PO-118 · parts order

request
T2 orders a replacement heat exchanger for J-631
amount
$2,140, supplier quote attached
why now
the customer's heating is off; parts take two days
effect of approving
the order is placed and the job is booked for Thursday
options
approve / approve with changes / reject with a reason

What the desk does, and what it leaves to people

On its own

  • Collects every pending decision from your workflows
  • Routes each to its owner by your rules
  • Sends reminders, delegates and escalates on time
  • Records every decision and resumes the work

Asks a person

  • Every decision itself
  • Requests outside the rules
  • Changes to who approves what
  • Anything a reviewer flags

Never

  • ✕ Approves on anyone's behalf
  • ✕ Lets a request skip its approver
  • ✕ Deletes a decision from the record
  • ✕ Hides what's overdue

What changes from one business to the next

Decision typesPurchase orders, discounts, refunds, credit, change orders, time off
Approval rulesWho approves what, at which limits, in which order
DeadlinesHow long each type may wait, and what happens then
DelegationWho covers for whom, and when
Where people decideThe desk, a notification, or the app they already use

A common starting point is a review desk built as a small web application on PostgreSQL or Supabase, with n8n or Trigger.dev handling routing, reminders and escalation, and notifications through the channels your team already uses. These are starting candidates, not requirements.

Is a review desk the right fit?

Good fit

  • Several kinds of decisions wait on a few people.
  • Work stalls when they're busy or away.
  • You need to see later who approved what, and why.

Avoid when

  • One kind of decision, decided by one person who is always available.
  • The approval rules haven't been agreed. Agree them first.

How we'd approach it

Most of the early work is listing your decision types, the approval rules and deadlines, and who may delegate.

  1. 01

    Understand

    As much as the problem needs

    We map how the work runs today: who does what, which systems hold the records, and where it breaks.

  2. 02

    Design

    Decided before it's built

    Ownership, rules, integrations and exceptions, agreed with you and written down with acceptance criteria.

  3. 03

    Build

    Connected to what you use

    We build the scoped system, connect it to the tools you already run, and test it on the cases that matter.

Related systems

The capabilities underneath

Questions about approval and review systems

Do approvers have to use the desk?

Not for every decision. They can decide from the notification on their phone; the desk is where everything is visible, for them and for whoever manages the flow.

Can a decision need two people?

Yes. The rule says whether they decide one after the other or both at once, and each decision is recorded separately.

What happens to decisions that already live in email?

New requests come through the desk from the start. Anything already in flight can be added by hand in a minute, so the desk starts complete.

Can customers approve things on the desk?

Customers approve in their portal, such as a change order, and the desk shows that decision as waiting on them.

Stop decisions waiting in inboxes

Tell us which decisions wait longest today. We'll show you what they would look like on one desk.

Start a project