Term · 9. Business Processes & Methodology
Approval Workflow
Definition
An **approval workflow** is a predefined sequence of tasks and decision steps in which one or more designated actors review a request, make an approve/deny decision, and optionally add conditions or comments before the process can proceed. In IAM/IGA, approval workflows commonly govern access requests, role changes, policy exceptions, or other security-sensitive operations, enforcing segregation of duties and traceable authorization decisions. They are typically implemented in workflow or orchestration engines that route items to the right approvers, enforce timeouts and escalation, and record all actions for auditability.
Related terms
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Access Request Process
Access Request Process is the structured set of steps through which a subject (such as a user, service account, or appli …
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Application Access Governance (AAG)
Application-specific identity governance — managing entitlements within a specific application (Salesforce, SAP, Workday …
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Birthright (BR)
Baseline access granted automatically to every identity of a specific type — typically minimal access required to functi …
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Delegated Administration (DA)
Permission model where administrators delegate specific management functions to other users within scoped boundaries — t …
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Role Assignment (RA)
Specific instance of assigning a role to an identity — captures who, when, why, with what expiration. Direct (manually r …
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Role Creation
Process of defining a new role in the role catalog — naming, description, business owner, included entitlements, approva …