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Approvals let you gate ticket progress behind one or more approval decisions. Add approvers to a ticket, choose a policy that determines when the approval is satisfied, and track the outcome across web and Slack. Approvals use a rounds-based system where each round has its own approvers and policy. Rounds are grouped into stages that run in order, and rounds inside the same stage run in parallel. A single round covers simple use cases, sequential stages support multi-step workflows like manager approval followed by security review, and grouping rounds into one stage lets independent approvers act at the same time.

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How approvals work

When you add approvers to a ticket, Ravenna creates an approval round and notifies each approver. The round stays active until the policy is satisfied or an approver declines.

Approval policies

Each round uses one of these policies to determine when it completes:
  • Any can approve: The round is approved as soon as any single approver approves. If any approver declines, the round is declined.
  • All must approve: Every approver must approve. If any approver declines, the round is declined.
  • Threshold: A specific number of approvers must approve (for example, 2 out of 5). The round is declined if it becomes mathematically impossible to reach the threshold.
The ticket itself tracks an overall approval status based on the progress of its rounds:
  • In progress: At least one round is active or pending
  • Approved: All rounds completed successfully
  • Declined: A round was declined by an approver
  • Force approved: An admin approved the ticket, bypassing remaining rounds
Each round moves through these states:
  1. Not started: The round is created but waiting for a previous stage to complete
  2. In progress: The round is active and awaiting approver decisions
  3. Approved: The round’s policy was satisfied
  4. Declined: An approver declined the round
Rounds inside the same stage activate together, and the next stage only starts once every round in the current stage is decided. When the final stage is approved, the ticket’s approval status changes to Approved.

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Where to approve and decline

Approvers can act on approval requests from multiple surfaces. When added as an approver, you receive notifications with action buttons.

Admin

Open the ticket detail page and use the Approve or Decline buttons in the approval rounds section. When declining, you can provide an optional reason.
Approval requests are delivered as Adaptive Cards in the approver’s Microsoft Teams chat. The card includes an Approve and Decline action. Approval updates are also posted into the ticket’s connected Teams channel thread.
Learn more about Microsoft Teams approvals
Approvers receive a DM with the ticket details and approval buttons. You can approve or decline directly from the message. If your workspace requires biometric verification, the buttons redirect you to the Admin to verify your identity before completing the action.Approval updates are also posted to the ticket’s Slack thread so the team stays informed.

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Adding approvers

Add approvers to tickets from several places:
  • Ticket sidebar: Use the Approvers field to search and add users or
  • Approvals section: Click Add round to create a new round with approvers and a policy
  • : Use the Add Approvers action to assign approvers automatically based on conditions
  • : Import a pre-configured set of rounds and approvers
When you select a user group as an approver, the group is automatically expanded into individual users when saved. Only the individual users are stored as approvers on the round.

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Admin actions

Workspace admins have additional controls for managing approvals on tickets.

Force approve

Approve a ticket immediately, bypassing any remaining rounds. All pending and active rounds are marked as approved. Use this when a ticket needs to proceed urgently regardless of the normal approval process.
Restart the approval process. Existing rounds are archived and new rounds are created. Approvers are re-notified and must approve again. You can change the policy or approvers during a reset.You can reset individual rounds or the entire approval process.

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Workspace settings

Configure approval behavior for your workspace in Settings > Workspace.

Admin approvals

Allow workspace admins to approve tickets on behalf of other users. Enabled by default.
Control whether the ticket requester can be added as an approver on their own request. When off (the default), the requester is removed from every approval round, even when they would otherwise be pulled in through an approver group. The rule applies uniformly across the ticket sidebar, approval rounds UI, workflows, and forms. When on, the requester can be added as an approver like anyone else.
Require approvers to verify their identity with a passkey (Touch ID, Face ID, or security key) before approving or declining. When enabled, Slack approval buttons redirect to the Admin for verification.Approvers register passkeys in Settings > Account > Passkeys.

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Approval reminders

Automatically nudge approvers who have not yet responded by configuring an organization-wide reminder cadence. When enabled, Ravenna posts a public ticket message that @mentions every pending approver on each interval until the round resolves or the maximum reminder count is reached.
Learn how to configure cadence, business-hours behavior, and escalation in reminders.

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Approvals in workflows

Use workflow actions to automate approval processes:
  • Add Approvers: Adds approvers to a ticket and creates an approval round. Supports assignment strategies (All, Round Robin, Auto).
  • Wait for Approval: Pauses the workflow until the approval round completes or the configured timeout expires (default 3 days). Continues down the On Approved, On Declined, or On Timeout path.
  • Ticket Approval trigger: Fires when a ticket’s approval status changes, letting you trigger follow-up actions after approval or handle declined requests.
Learn more about approval workflow actions
Last modified on August 26, 2026