Approval Workflow

Parts of an approval workflow

Part	What it defines	Example
Statuses	The stages an asset can be in	Draft, In Review, Approved, Published, Expired
Transitions	The allowed moves between statuses	In Review to Approved, In Review back to Draft
Approvers	The person or group who decides at each review step	Brand team, Legal, Product management
Conditions	When a step applies or a move happens on its own	Legal review only for assets with product claims
Notifications	Who is told when an asset needs action	An email to the reviewer group with a link
Record	Who decided what, when, and why	"Rejected by Legal: claim not substantiated"

Common shapes

• Single approval. Draft, review by one group, approved. Enough for most internal and social content.
• Sequential approval. Each step must pass before the next starts: marketing review, then legal, then final sign-off. Used where later reviewers should not spend time on content that earlier reviewers will reject.
• Parallel approval. Several reviewers look at the same version at the same time, and the asset moves on when all of them, or a set number, have agreed. Faster, but harder to administer.
• Conditional approval. Extra steps apply only to some assets, for example a regulatory review for content that mentions certifications, or a regional review for assets aimed at one market.

Typical B2B cases: a product datasheet that needs the product manager to check specifications and Legal to check claims; a co-branded asset that the partner's brand team must approve; customer logos and quotes in a case study that the customer must clear before publication.

Asset approval and creative proofing

The two are often confused:

	Creative proofing	Asset approval
Stage	While the work is being made	When the finished file enters the library
Question	What needs to change?	May this file be used, and where?
Typical tools	Annotations on drafts, comparison of versions	Statuses, reviewer groups, access rules
Outcome	A new draft	A status that controls downloads and sharing

A DAM usually handles the second. Proofing happens in the design and production tools, and the approved file is then uploaded for its final review.

Common mistakes

• Approvers as individuals. A step assigned to one person stops when that person is on holiday. Assign groups.
• Approval by email. The decision exists in someone's inbox, not on the asset, and cannot be found during an audit.
• No rejection path. A rejected asset needs a clear route back to its owner, with the reason.
• Too many steps. Each step adds days. Keep the steps that catch real problems, and make the others conditional.
• Approval not tied to the file. If someone replaces the file after approval, the approval no longer means anything. The record should show which version was approved.

Approval workflows in Freedam

• Administrators draw each workflow as statuses and transitions on a canvas, or start from the Simple Review or Advanced Review templates. Each asset class follows one workflow, so videos and product photos can have different paths.
• A status can be marked as a review step and assigned to a user group. When an asset enters it, every member of the group gets an email with a link to the asset, and assets that arrive together, for example after a bulk upload, are grouped into one email.
• Review mode in the gallery shows the assets waiting in the reviewer's steps. Reviewers move an asset from its card, and the first decision moves it on.
• Several sign-offs are set up as sequential review steps, each with its own group.
• A transition can require a confirmation or a reason. The reason is stored in the asset's workflow history, which lists every change, who made it and when, and cannot be edited.
• Automatic transitions run on rules, for example moving an asset from Approved to Expired when its rights policy has expired. See workflow automation.
• Brand compliance checks propose a compliance status that a reviewer approves or changes with a note. Uploading a new file clears the approved status, and the asset is checked again.
• Custom pages have their own publishing workflow: Draft, Review and Published.
• A workflow.transitioned webhook tells other systems when an asset changes status. See the workflows documentation and governance.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a workflow and an approval workflow?

A workflow is any defined sequence of stages, including automatic ones such as expiry or archiving. An approval workflow is a workflow in which some stages wait for a person to approve or reject the content.

How many steps should an approval workflow have?

As few as the risk requires. One review step covers most marketing content. Add a legal or regulatory step for claims, prices, customer names and regulated products, and make it conditional so other assets skip it.

Can approvals be automated?

Partly. Rules can route an asset to the right reviewers, skip steps that do not apply, check technical requirements, and move assets when a condition is met. The decision on content, tone and claims still needs a person, and AI checks are best used to prepare that decision.