Document approval routes are a predefined order in which a document travels from its author to signing through the right people. A well-built route removes chaos, speeds up sign-off and makes the process transparent. Let's look at how to set up document approval routes in your company.
What approval routes are
An approval route is a formalized path a document follows inside an organization: who reviews and approves it, in what order and with what rights, before it is signed with a QES. In essence it replaces the situation where a contract "wanders" between offices or gets lost in email threads.
Instead of manually forwarding a file and asking "have you looked at it yet?", you describe the rule once: for example, the document is first seen by the department head, then the lawyer, then the finance director. From there the system guides the document along this path and notifies each participant when it is their turn.
Sequential and parallel approval
Not all documents need the same order. That is why routes come in two basic types, which are often combined.
Sequential approval
Participants approve the document one after another, in turn. The next person sees it only after the previous one has approved it. This suits cases where hierarchy matters: for example, the lawyer must review the contract before the director.
Parallel approval
Several people receive the document at once and can approve it independently. This speeds things up when participants' opinions do not depend on one another — say, the accountant and the department head review the document in parallel.
| Route type | When it fits | Advantage |
|---|---|---|
| Sequential | Order and hierarchy matter | Clear control of stages |
| Parallel | Participants are independent | Maximum speed |
| Mixed | Complex processes | Flexibility for real needs |
Roles and permissions in a Company workspace
Routes work together with roles. In a Company workspace, each participant has their own access level: some only prepare documents, some approve, some are allowed to sign with a QES, and an administrator configures the routes themselves and manages the team.
- Author — creates the document manually, from a template or with AI.
- Approver — reviews and approves or returns for revision.
- Signer — applies the qualified electronic signature.
- Administrator — manages roles, routes and access.
This split of permissions ensures the document is signed by an authorized person, not just anyone with access. The full list of team collaboration features is available on the platform features page.
Notifications and status tracking
The main reason approvals "get stuck" is that people simply do not know it is their turn. Routes solve this with automatic notifications: as soon as a document reaches a participant, they receive an alert. You, in turn, can see at any moment which stage the document is at and who is holding it up.
This removes the need to remind people manually and makes the process predictable: no contract "hangs" unnoticed on someone's desk.
QES signing and the audit trail
Once all approval stages are complete, the document moves to signing. Responsible people apply the qualified electronic signature right in the browser — with no plugins, and the private key never leaves their device. After that, the document becomes a full-fledged original.
Every step is recorded in the audit trail: who created it, who approved it and when, who signed it. This history is immutable and evidential — it shows the document's entire lifecycle. When needed, the finished original can be sent out immediately: for more on this, see our article on exchanging documents with counterparties online.
How to start setting it up
Start simple. Describe one typical process — for example, contract approval — and turn it into a route. Then add more complex scenarios once the basic one already works.
- Identify the document types that regularly need approval.
- Describe who should approve them and in what order.
- Assign roles to participants in the Company workspace.
- Set up a sequential, parallel or mixed route.
- Test the process on a real document.
This approach suits both small teams and companies with dozens of departments — we cover different use cases on the who eObig is for page.
Want to see approval routes in action on your own processes? Request a demo or start configuring today at portal.eobig.com.