Approvals and Decisions

Who is this for? Everyone who approves work in Adomo, plus a short section for admins on authority policies, delegation, and external approvers.

Adomo's core promise is that AI proposes and humans decide. When a process reaches a step that needs a person, it creates a decision request, routes it to the right approver, and waits. This article covers how to respond, what your options are, and how routing and escalation work.

For Users

Where approvals reach you

Your channels. Adomo messages you through the channels in your preference order (Email, SMS, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, WhatsApp, mobile push), with a button or secure link to respond. See Notifications (for Users) to set these up.
The Approvals page. Everything waiting on you, with tabs for Pending, Responded, and All.
The mobile app. Approvals are a first-class screen; respond from your phone in a couple of taps.

Your response options

Every decision shows you the context: what's being asked, the relevant data, and any attached documents. Depending on how the process was built, you'll see some or all of:

Approve - the run continues.
Reject - the run stops (or takes the rejection path the process defines).
Request revision - send feedback in your own words. Adomo reruns the relevant steps with your feedback applied and brings the result back to you. Processes suggest how many revision rounds are worthwhile and tell you when you have passed that point, but the choice stays open to you.
Edit output - correct the data directly (for example, fix a number or reword a draft email). Your version replaces the step's output, downstream steps use it, and the decision is then asked again so you can approve the corrected version. The edit is recorded alongside your decision.

Processes can rename these options to suit the step, so the wording you see may differ. Whatever you choose, the decision is attributed to you by name, timestamped, and permanently logged.

Reminders and what happens if you don't respond

Adomo sends each request on the first of your preferred channels it can reach you on. Processes can define reminder schedules ("remind daily after two days") and a timeout.

What happens when a timeout passes with no response depends on how the process was built:

Stop the run (the default) - the run halts and is marked failed, so nothing proceeds without a decision.
Treat as approved or treat as rejected - the process author can choose either, and the outcome is logged as a system timeout rather than a person's decision.

Escalation to another approver is a separate feature the author sets up explicitly on the step; it does not happen automatically on timeout. If you are responsible for a step that must never stall, ask the process owner which of these it uses.

I approved something by mistake. Can I undo it?

No - a recorded decision can't be reversed, and the run continues from your approval. What you can do: open the run's timeline to see what has executed so far, pause the process to stop further runs, and tell the process owner or your workspace admin right away. If data was changed in a connected system and you need help unwinding it, contact [email protected].

Out of office or on vacation? Delegate your approvals

If you are a workspace admin, set up a delegation under Settings > Approval policy > Delegations: your approval authority is temporarily granted to a colleague for a defined period, in full or only for specific kinds of decisions. Everything your delegate approves is logged as approved-by-delegation, so the trail stays clean.

Delegation is currently something you set up for your own authority. If you are not an admin, ask your workspace admin to reassign the pending requests or to cover the period another way.

For Admins

Approval policies

Under Settings > Approval policy, you can define policies that gate specific action types behind authority levels and thresholds, for example:

An analyst can approve variances up to $10,000; anything larger escalates to a manager, then a VP, then an executive.
Contract approvals over a defined duration always require legal.

When a run hits a gated action, Adomo evaluates the policy at that moment: if the requesting person (or the AI agent) has sufficient authority, the action proceeds. If not, Adomo escalates along the escalation path defined for that action type - and where no escalation path is defined, the action is denied rather than escalated. Give every action type an escalation path if you want requests to travel up the chain instead of stopping.

Policies can define an AI ceiling: a maximum authority level for AI agents. When set, any action requiring authority above that ceiling goes to a human. Every authority decision is logged with the policy and the evaluation that produced it.

To create or update a policy, open Settings > Approval policy, click Import policy, and drop in your policy document. Adomo drafts the roles, action types, thresholds, rules, and escalation paths from it; review the draft, then click Activate Policy to replace the active policy in that category.

Policies are versioned. A run executes under the policy version active when it ran, so historical runs stay auditable even after you change the rules.

Delegations

Set up time-bounded delegations under Settings > Approval policy > Delegations: click Create Delegation and pick the delegate user, the scope (all of their authority or only specific roles or action types), and the start and end dates. Delegations expire automatically, can be revoked early, and every use is logged.

External approvers

Some decisions belong to people who don't sign in to Adomo (outside counsel, auditors, a customer contact). Register them under Settings > Approval policy > External Authorities with a name and a contact method. The channel for that contact method (for example Email or SMS) must already be enabled under Settings > Communication > Channels. They receive each request through that channel with a secure link and respond from there; their decisions are logged like anyone else's. For SMS contact methods, you must attest the person's consent on record first (see Channels Setup (for Admins) and SMS Messaging and Opt-In).

Admin FAQ

Can one decision require multiple approvers?

Not as a single step today. A decision step can be sent to several people at once, but the first person to respond settles it - Adomo does not currently collect every response or apply a quorum.

To require more than one sign-off, build the process with a separate decision step per approver, one after another. Each is then logged individually.

Where do I see the full decision history?

Every run's timeline shows each decision: who was asked, on which channels, when they responded, what they chose, and any edits or revision feedback.

What if the assigned approver has left the company?

Update the process's assignees, and set an escalation path on the step so future requests move up the chain on their own. Deactivating a user does not delete their past decisions; the audit trail is permanent.