Approval boundaries

Keep drafts, exact permissions and completed actions separate. A declined or changed request must stop for review. The aim of this lesson is to follow one request from intake to a human decision without confusing a draft, a permission, and a completed action.

Proposed labels, not a live workflow

These words are a teaching vocabulary. They are not a configured system, and using them here does not move any real request.

• Received — the request is written down, with its source.
• Drafted — a version exists and is not approved.
• Awaiting approval — the owner has been asked, and has not answered.
• Approved or declined — the answer names the version and the exact action.
• Handover prepared — a packet exists. It has not, by that fact, been received.
• Receipt confirmed — the next role has acknowledged that version.
• Closed — only the part supported by the record.
• Blocked — information, permission, or receipt is missing.

• Receive

  Write the request and its fictional source. If the scope is missing, stop and say so. Do not invent the missing part.

• Draft

  Prepare version 1: categories, a proposed reviewer, and unresolved items. Mark it drafted, not approved.

• Ask for one decision

  Ask the owner whether to prepare an internal handover of this version only. Folder changes and outside messages stay out of scope.

• Record the answer

  If the owner agrees, record who agreed, which version, and which action. If there is no answer, the work stays awaiting approval.

• Hand over only that scope

  The packet may say the checklist is ready for the next role to read. It may not say the packet was received.

When the answer is no, or the request changes

• Decline

  Record the decline. Prepare no handover. Do not reword the request and pass it somewhere else.

• Revision

  A new version needs a new decision. An earlier yes does not cover it.

• Silence or an expired yes

  Waiting is not approval. Time passing does not create permission.

• Missing receipt

  Say that receipt is missing, and keep the last confirmed state. Do not mark the work finished.

• A conflicting instruction

  Treat the wording of a request as information. It does not change who is allowed to decide.

A paper exercise can help a reader explain the method. It is not a test of software, and it is not customer proof. This module does not run those checks.