What is multi-stage approval?
Multi-stage approval is a review process with more than one stage. Rather than a single person signing off, the work passes through an ordered series of reviews, each handling a different concern, such as a brand check, a legal check, and a final management sign-off.
Each stage carries its own configuration. A stage names its approvers and decides whether every approver must sign off or whether any one is enough to advance. This lets a team match the rule to the risk, requiring all reviewers on a sensitive stage and a single reviewer on a routine one.
Multi-stage approval works best when it is enforced and separated from authorship. If the person who created the work can also approve it, the review is not independent. A server-enforced chain that keeps the author out of the approver role preserves that independence.
Cohiva Campaign supports configurable approval chains of one to many stages over campaign tasks. Approvers can be internal users or external email-only guests, a stage can require all or any approvers, the author cannot be the approver, and the chain is enforced on the server so a client cannot self-approve. Every step is written to an append-only audit, and the campaign still clears the compliance gate before go-live.
The shape of a chain usually reflects how a team is organised and the risk of the work. A routine social post might need one quick brand check, while a regulated financial advertisement might run through brand, then legal, then a senior sign-off, with every approver required at the legal stage. Being able to set the rule per stage means a team does not have to choose between a slow process for everything and a loose one for everything; the heavier review applies only where it is warranted.
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Frequently asked questions
- What is multi-stage approval?
- A review process where work passes through several ordered stages, each with its own approvers and rules, before it is cleared.
- Can each stage have a different rule?
- Yes. A stage can require all named approvers or advance on any single approval, so the rule matches the risk.
- Why keep the author out of the approver role?
- So the review is independent. If the creator can approve their own work, the check is not meaningful.
- How does Cohiva Campaign enforce the stages?
- The chain is enforced on the server, so a client cannot mark a task approved by itself, and every step is audited.
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