Problem guide
Nobody knows who approved what
Nobody knows who approved what because approvals happen in texts, calls and hallway conversations that leave no record tied to the job, the purchase or the change. The fix is recording every decision in one place at the moment it is made, with who decided, when and on what, so the answer is a lookup instead of an argument.
What it usually looks like
At the end of a commercial job, the customer's facility manager questions a charge for after-hours work. The project manager is sure the customer's maintenance lead approved it on a call. The maintenance lead remembers the call but not agreeing to overtime rates. The foreman thinks the operations manager signed off, and the operations manager thinks it was the project manager. Someone searches email, then text threads, then a notebook in a truck. Nothing turns up. The company splits the difference with the customer and moves on.
Signs you have this problem
- Disputes about extra charges come down to who remembers the conversation
- Managers are asked to confirm approvals they do not remember giving
- The same request gets approved twice by two different people
- Month end review turns up spending nobody can explain
- An approval text lives only on one person's phone
What usually causes it
- Approvals are given by phone or text, and nothing carries the decision into the office recordsThe handoff gap
- Decisions are scattered across personal inboxes and phones, so nobody can see the full listThe invisible queue
- Approvals are made in the field and recorded later from memory, if at allThe field-to-office split
What to try this week
- Audit a handful of recent decisionsPick several recent purchases, change orders and schedule changes. For each, try to find who approved it and when, and note how long it took to find out.
- List the approvals that matterWrite down the decisions that carry money or liability, such as purchases over a limit, change orders and pricing exceptions. Those are the ones that must leave a record.
- Use one written confirmation habitAgree that every verbal approval for those decisions is followed by a short written confirmation to one shared place, stating what was approved, by whom and when.
- Put approval authority on paperPublish who can approve what and up to what limit. Approvals from the wrong person become obvious once the rule is written.
Where do-it-yourself stops
These steps start a record and show you where the gaps are. They depend on people remembering to write confirmations, and they do not attach the decision to the job, the purchase order or the invoice where it will be looked for later. A lasting fix needs a tool built around your own approval rules and your job and accounting systems, so the record is created by making the decision, not afterward. That is what a Workflow Spec designs.
Questions people ask
Why is there no record of approvals?
Because the fastest way to approve is a call or a text, and neither one lands in the system where the job, the purchase or the invoice lives.
Is a text message a good enough record?
It is better than nothing, but it lives on one phone, is hard to find later and is not tied to the job. Ask your own advisors what record your company needs.
What should an approval record include?
At least what was approved, who approved it, when, and for which job or purchase. Anything you would argue about later belongs in it.
Will requiring written approvals slow everything down?
Only if the written step is harder than the verbal one. The goal is making the record a side effect of approving, not an extra chore.
Who should own the approval rules?
Usually the owner or controller sets the limits, and operations managers make sure the field knows them. Write both down.