The SharePoint approval workflow is, in many ways, the connective tissue holding various processes together in an organisation. It decides who sees what, who acts on what, and in what order. Without structured approvals, even the most well-organised SharePoint environment starts to leak – teams delay decisions, publish documents before they are ready, and create avoidable inefficiencies..
Approvals are not just administrative checkpoints; they are the backbone of accountability. Whether you are reviewing a contract, publishing content, or processing a leave request, an efficient approval workflow in SharePoint ensures consistency, transparency, and speed.
In this article, we will explore how organisations can unlock real value from the document approval workflow in SharePoint, and how to elevate it into a broader business process management strategy that actually delivers results. Let’s begin.
What the SharePoint Approval Workflow Can Actually Power
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When people talk about an approval workflow, the immediate image is a document waiting for a manager’s signature. And yes, that is a core use case. But the scope extends much further than that.
1. HR and Employee Lifecycle Processes
HR teams regularly rely on an approval workflow to manage leave requests, onboarding documentation, policy acknowledgements, and role change authorisations. Instead of relying on buried emails and untraceable verbal confirmations, teams route every decision through a documented, time-stamped chain. SharePoint notifies approvers automatically, and the request does not move forward until the right person has acted on it.
2. Document Management and Version Control
This is perhaps the most natural home for a document approval workflow in SharePoint. Marketing copy, compliance policies, financial statements, and technical specifications – all of these require review and sign-off before a wider audience can see them. SharePoint’s content approval feature lets organisations hold documents in a “Pending” state until a designated approver marks them as approved, keeping draft content separate from published content.
3. Content Publishing and Intranet Management
For organisations running internal communications or intranet sites on SharePoint, publishing workflows prevent unauthorised or unreviewed content from going live. A content editor submits a post; a communications manager reviews and approves it. The approval workflow gives organisations editorial control without needing a separate CMS.
4. Procurement and Purchase Requests
Purchase requests, invoice approvals, and budget allocations require strict oversight. A SharePoint approval workflow ensures financial decisions go through multiple checkpoints. With an effective approval workflow, organisations reduce errors, prevent unauthorised spending, and maintain financial discipline.
5. IT and Facilities Support Requests
Change management in IT is notoriously difficult to govern without structure. Whether it is a software installation request, a server configuration change, or an office facilities approval, routing these through a SharePoint approval workflow gives IT and facilities teams an auditable process that scales without extra administrative overhead.
6. Legal and Contract Review
Legal teams typically review documents before they go to clients or external parties. By using an approval workflow, the system automatically loops legal teams in at the right stage, instead of relying on someone to remember to forward the document.
How to Start Using an Approval Workflow in SharePoint
Getting an document approval workflow in SharePoint up and running does not require a skilled developer, at least not in most straightforward scenarios. Here is how to approach it depending on your environment.
a) For SharePoint Online (Microsoft 365)
Microsoft deprecated the classic SharePoint Designer workflows in favour of Power Automate, which is now the primary tool for building workflows in the cloud environment.
- Navigate to the document library or list where you want the approval to trigger.
- Select Automate > Power Automate > Create a flow.
- Choose the “Request sign-off” template or build a custom flow from scratch using the “Start and wait for an approval” action.
- Define your approvers – these can be a single person, multiple people in parallel, or a sequential chain.
- Set up the notification emails and the actions that follow each outcome (approved/rejected).
- Test the flow with a sample document before deploying it.
Power Automate gives you considerably more flexibility than the old SharePoint 2010-style workflows, including conditional logic, multi-stage approvals, and integration with Teams for approval notifications.
Building workflows is one thing. Building them right the first time is another.
With over two decades of experience in the Middle East and beyond, we have seen – and solved – every SharePoint quirk imaginable. If you are weighing whether to hire SharePoint consultant, look no further than Neologix.
b) For SharePoint On-Premises (2016/2019)
On-premises environments still support SharePoint Designer 2013 for workflow creation, though this path has its limitations and is approaching the end of support.
- Open SharePoint Designer and connect to your site.
- Create a new List or Reusable Workflow and select the relevant list or library.
- Use the built-in Approval – SharePoint 2010 workflow template as a starting point.
- Configure approvers, due dates, notification settings, and rejection behaviour.
- Publish the workflow and associate it with the document library.
For organisations still running on-premises but looking for more capability, third-party tools or a migration to SharePoint Online is worth serious consideration.
Key Configuration Decisions
Regardless of platform, these choices shape how effective your SharePoint approval workflow will be:
- Sequential vs. parallel approval: Sequential routes to one approver at a time. Parallel sends to all approvers simultaneously.
- Delegation and out-of-office handling: Decide whether approvers can delegate to a colleague and how the workflow behaves if no action is taken within a set period.
- Rejection handling: Define whether a rejection sends the document back to the originator with comments, terminates the process entirely, or routes to a different approver.
Moving Towards Full-Fledged Business Process Management
Enterprise business processes cannot rely solely on the approval workflow in SharePoint. The solution offers additional out-of-the-box workflows such as Collect Feedback, Collect Signature, Three-State, and Publishing Approval. However, the question remains – are these sufficient for complex BPM needs?
Research indicates that while many organisations trust SharePoint for simple workflows, fewer rely on it for advanced BPM scenarios. This highlights a clear gap between basic automation and comprehensive process management. To bridge it, organisations can consider three strategic approaches.
1. Customise Your SharePoint Environment
Custom development can transform the approval workflow into a robust BPM solution. Developers can build tailored workflows that manage entire business processes, not just approvals.
Pros:
- A unified platform for all operations
- A seamless user experience within SharePoint
Cons:
- Requires skilled developers
- Higher maintenance and support costs
A customised document approval workflow in SharePoint can handle complex scenarios, but organisations must invest in the right expertise to sustain it. It can also integrate deeply with other systems, offering considerable flexibility.
2. Extend SharePoint with Third-Party Tools
Solutions like Nintex, K2, and Bamboo enhance the capabilities of the SharePoint approval workflow and provide advanced features for designing and managing workflows.
Pros:
- Faster implementation
- Rich functionality without heavy coding
Cons:
- Additional licensing costs
- Dependency on external vendors
By extending the workflow in SharePoint, organisations can achieve near-BPM capabilities without extensive development. These tools also make more advanced workflows achievable without starting from scratch.
Power Automate. SharePoint Designer. Third-party extensions. BPM integrations.
There is a lot to navigate – and the wrong call early on creates problems that could set your business back by years. Before you decide, hire SharePoint consultant to map out what your business actually needs to thrive.
3. Integrate with Dedicated BPM Platforms
Another approach involves pairing SharePoint with a specialised BPM solution. In this setup, SharePoint handles content while the BPM platform manages processes.
Pros:
- Comprehensive process management
- Minimal customisation within SharePoint
Cons:
- Integration complexity
- Additional investment
This approach lets organisations retain the benefits of an approval workflow while accessing advanced BPM capabilities. The approval workflow in SharePoint continues to support document-level processes, while the external system handles larger, more complex workflows.
Conclusion
A well-implemented SharePoint approval workflow does more than automate tasks – it builds a structured, reliable system that keeps your organisation moving efficiently. Where SharePoint’s native capabilities stop, there is still plenty of road ahead: through customisation, third-party extensions, or integration with dedicated BPM tools. The platform grows with an organisation’s needs, provided someone steers it in the right direction.
That is where Neologix comes in. With over 25 years of hands-on SharePoint experience, Neologix has helped organisations across industries design and implement SharePoint environments that go beyond generic configurations. Whether you are setting up your first document approval workflow in SharePoint or rethinking how your entire approval workflow operates, our team will work closely with you to implement a future-ready solution aligned with your business goals.
Contact us at info@neologix.ae or call +971-521043226 to get a conversation started.
