See what multi-level approvals change at your institution
Before vs. after adding multi-level approvals to iVake
Where you are today
Holding you back
Requests lost between inboxes
A requisition travels by email, a printed copy on the principal’s desk and a phone call, and nobody can say where it is now.
Pain point
Authority passed on by word of mouth
An approver going on leave asks a colleague to sign in their place, and nothing records who was allowed to sign what.
Pain point
Staff chasing their own requests
A teacher waiting on a reimbursement writes twice and calls the office once, and still does not know who is holding it.
Pain point
Decisions made away from the record
A concession is signed on a paper form that cannot see the student’s existing scholarship or fee ledger.
Pain point
- 3+Places one request is tracked
- DaysBefore anyone finds where it is stuck
- NoneWritten record of who signed on whose behalf
Your institution, transformed
Everything connected
One route per request type
Each request follows the chain set for its type, amount and campus, and reaches the next approver without anyone forwarding it.
Solved
Delegation written down
An approver names a stand-in for a date range, and each decision the stand-in makes is recorded as made on their behalf.
Solved
A status the requester can see
Whoever raised the request sees which step it has reached and who holds it, without ringing the office.
Solved
Decisions next to the data
A concession approver sees the student’s fee ledger and existing scholarships on the same screen as the request.
Solved
- 1Chain per request type, set by your administrators
- 0Requests forwarded by hand
- 1Audit trail for every decision
Ready to make the switch? See how it works for your institution.
Stop losing requests in inboxes and desk trays
Every request enters a defined chain with named steps and approvers. It moves to the next person on its own, and each approver sees only what is waiting for them.
- Requests raised from a form that fills in the requester’s details and takes attachments
- A reference number and a live status the requester can check at any time
- An approval queue for each person, with overdue items at the top
Enforce your policy instead of relying on memory
Approval rules are settings, not habits. Amount limits, department, campus and role decide who signs, so the chain is the same whoever happens to be in the office that day.
- Routing by amount, so a small purchase stops at the head of department and a large one goes further
- Role rules, so nobody approves a request they raised themselves
- Parallel steps where two offices must both agree before a request moves on
Give auditors the whole trail without rebuilding it
Each request keeps its own history: who raised it, what each approver decided, who acted on whose behalf and when a step was escalated. An audit question is answered by opening the request.
- Submission, decisions, comments and attachments kept on one record
- Delegations recorded with who granted them, for which requests and until when
- Escalations logged whenever a step passes its reply deadline
Multi-level approval features
Everything you need to run approvals by policy rather than by memory
Approval chains
Sequential or parallel steps for each request type, set by your administrators.
Requests from the app
Staff raise requests and follow their status from a phone.
Approval reports
Pending, approved and rejected requests by type, department and approver, ready to export.
Role-based access
Who may raise and who may approve, set by campus, department and role.
Turnaround tracking
Time spent at each step, so the slowest link in a chain is visible.
Reminders & escalation
A reminder before a reply deadline, and escalation to the next person after it.
Audit trail
Every decision, delegation and override logged with who, when and the previous value.
Delegation
A named stand-in for a date range, with each action recorded on the approver’s behalf.
Frequently asked questions
Get answers to common questions about multi-level approvals
How many approval levels can one request type have?
As many as your policy requires. A routine requisition may need one signature and a capital purchase several, in sequence or in parallel. Each step names a role or a person and a reply deadline, and your administrators change the chain without a developer. Every version of a chain is kept.
What happens when an approver is on leave?
Before leaving, the approver names a delegate for chosen request types and a date range. Requests go to the delegate’s queue, each decision is recorded as made on behalf of the original approver, and the delegation ends on its own after the last date.
Can the route change with the amount of a request?
Yes. You set amount limits for each request type, so a small purchase stops at the head of department while a larger one goes on to the principal and the management. Concessions and refunds can be routed the same way.
How do you stop someone approving their own request?
A request is never routed to the person who raised it, and one person cannot sign two consecutive steps of the same chain. Where an administrator has to override a rule, a reason is required and the override is flagged in the audit trail.
Can approvers act from a phone?
Yes. The approver is notified when a request reaches them, opens it with its attachments and the record behind it, and approves, rejects or sends it back with a comment.
What reports show how approvals are performing?
Reports show pending and completed requests and the time taken at each step, by request type, department and approver, with escalations and rejections counted. They filter by date and campus, and export to a spreadsheet or PDF.
Which requests can go through an approval chain?
Purchase requisitions, fee concessions and scholarships, refunds on withdrawal, staff leave, marks changes after a grade book locks, and room or event bookings. Each request type has its own chain.
Is every approval recorded?
Yes. Every create, update, approval and export is written to the audit trail with the actor, the timestamp and the previous value, so a decision can be traced to a person months later.
Cloud, hosted in your region
REST API & webhooks- SSO: Google, Microsoft & SAML
Encrypted, backed up daily- Built for the DPDP Act
- Full security details
Built for your institution type
See how this feature works for your specific institution
CBSE, ICSE & state-board schoolsConcessions and refunds signed off by the principal
UniversitiesCentral policy, with approval chains that differ per campus
Degree collegesRequisitions routed from department to principal
ITIs, polytechnics & skill centresRefunds on withdrawal approved against the batch- Playschools & pre-primaryLeave and small purchases approved from a phone
School groups & trustsBigger purchases go past the branch to the trust
Integrations, comparisons & tools
Extend multi-level approvals with integrations, see how iVake compares, and run the numbers
Related features
Financial Management
Fee structures, concessions, refunds and receipts on the same record.
Purchase Management
Requisitions and purchase orders, with approvals before anything is ordered.
Leave Management
Staff and student leave requests, approved and reflected in attendance.
Expense Management
Claims and reimbursements checked against policy before they are paid.
Gradebook
Grade books that lock on the date and keep their history.
Document Management
Supporting documents stored with the record they belong to.
More in strategic capabilities
Explore other features in this category
Ready to put every approval on the record?
See how iVake routes each request through the chain your policy sets, and keeps every decision where an auditor can find it.
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