SharePoint Approval Workflows with Multiple Approvers

Sequential chains, parallel fan-outs, first-to-respond, escalation, and delegation — every multi-approver pattern explained with Power Automate implementation guidance.

Power Platform May 23, 2026 10 min read

Single-approver workflows handle the easy case. Real business approval processes almost always involve multiple people — a line manager, a finance sign-off, a compliance check, and sometimes a final executive approval. Power Automate supports every combination of these patterns, but choosing the wrong model for your business process creates bottlenecks, compliance gaps, or both. This guide breaks down every multi-approver pattern and when to use each.

The Four Multi-Approver Patterns

Pattern	How it works	Best for
Sequential	Approver 1 must decide before the request reaches Approver 2. Each approval gate is completed in order.	Hierarchical sign-off: manager → director → VP. Any one rejection stops the chain.
Parallel (all must approve)	All approvers receive the request simultaneously. Everyone must approve for the outcome to be "Approved".	Multi-departmental sign-off: Finance AND Legal AND IT must all approve a contract.
Parallel (first to respond)	All approvers receive it simultaneously. The first person to respond determines the outcome.	Any one of a pool of approvers can sign off: any team lead can approve a purchase under £500.
Conditional routing	The approval path is determined by data in the request — value, category, risk level, or department determines who receives it.	Dynamic routing: expenses under £500 go to line manager; over £500 go to Finance Director.

Pattern 1: Sequential Approval Chain

Sequential Approval must happen in a defined order

Sequential approvals are built by chaining multiple "Start and wait for an approval" actions in series. Each action completes before the next begins. If any approver rejects, the flow terminates the chain and notifies the submitter.

Power Automate implementation:

Add the first "Start and wait for an approval" action (Manager)
Add a Condition: if outcome = "Approve", add a second "Start and wait for an approval" action (Director) inside the Yes branch
Chain as many stages as needed, each nested inside the previous Yes branch
The No branch at each stage terminates the process and notifies the submitter of which stage rejected and why

Keep context visible: When a sequential request reaches stage 3, the approver at stage 3 should see who has already approved. Include a "Previous approvals" section in the approval Details field, built from a variable you accumulate through each stage: append "Approved by [Name] at [Time]" after each successful stage.

📄 Manage sequential approvals with Power Automate — learn.microsoft.com

Pattern 2: Parallel Approval — All Must Approve

Parallel · All Required Every approver must say yes

The "Start and wait for an approval" action supports multiple assignees natively. Set the Approval type to "Approve/Reject — Everyone must approve" and enter all approver email addresses (semicolon-separated or as an array). Power Automate sends the request to all approvers simultaneously and waits until every person has responded.

The outcome is "Approve" only if every assigned approver chooses Approve. If even one rejects, the outcome is "Reject" and the flow handles it accordingly.

All approvers see the same request details and can add individual comments
The responses array in the approval output contains each person's decision and timestamp — useful for audit trails
Set a shared timeout so one non-responsive approver does not block the entire process indefinitely

Retrieving all responses for the audit log

// Loop through all responses after parallel approval completes
Apply to each: outputs('Start_and_wait_for_an_approval')?['body/responses']
  Append to string variable AuditLog:
    "@{items('Apply_to_each')?['responder/displayName']}: @{items('Apply_to_each')?['approverResponse']} at @{items('Apply_to_each')?['requestDate']}\n"
// Then write AuditLog variable to a SharePoint column or list item
      

📄 Manage parallel approvals with Power Automate — learn.microsoft.com

Pattern 3: Parallel Approval — First to Respond

Parallel · First Responds Any one approver can decide

Set the Approval type to "Approve/Reject — First to respond". The request goes to all listed approvers simultaneously, but the first person to respond — approve or reject — determines the outcome. All other pending responses are cancelled automatically.

This is ideal for approval pools where any qualified person can sign off: any team lead in a department, any on-call manager, or any member of a finance committee. It reduces bottlenecks caused by one specific approver being unavailable.

The approver who responded is recorded in responses[0]['responder']
Combine with manager group distribution lists so the pool automatically updates as team membership changes
Use this pattern to implement a "deputy approver" system — add both the primary approver and their deputy to the request; whichever is available responds first

Pattern 4: Conditional Routing by Value or Category

Many business processes require different approval paths depending on the request's attributes. Power Automate handles this with Switch or nested Condition actions before the approval step.

Example: expense approval routing by amount

Switch on: triggerOutputs()?['body/Amount']

  Case < 500:
    // Send to Line Manager only
    Start approval: assigned to = Manager email

  Case 500–5000:
    // Sequential: Line Manager first, then Finance Lead
    Start approval: Manager → (if approved) → Finance Lead

  Default (> 5000):
    // Sequential: Manager → Finance Lead → CFO
    Start approval: Manager → Finance Lead → CFO
      

The same pattern applies to routing by document type (contracts go to Legal, policy changes go to HR, technical specs go to IT Architecture), by risk level (low/medium/high risk requiring different approval tiers), or by geography (EMEA documents go to the EMEA compliance team).

Handling Approval Delegation and Out-of-Office

One of the most common production issues with multi-approver workflows is approvers going on leave without setting a delegate. Power Automate does not automatically reroute approvals when an approver is out of office.

Options for managing delegation

Power Automate Approvals delegation: Users can set approval delegates in the Power Automate approvals portal (flow.microsoft.com → Approvals → Delegate). When a delegate is set, all approval requests are forwarded to them automatically — no flow changes needed.
Timeout escalation: Build a timeout on every approval action. When the timeout expires, re-send the approval to the approver's manager (retrieved via the Office 365 Users connector: "Get manager" action) rather than blocking indefinitely.
Pool-based approvals: Where business rules allow, use the "First to respond" pattern with a pool of qualified approvers rather than locking to one individual — this naturally handles absence.
Approval status visibility: Write the current approver and the timestamp the request was sent to a SharePoint column. This lets managers monitor their team's pending approvals without needing flow admin access.

Building an Audit Trail for Compliance

Regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, legal, government) require a documented audit trail showing who approved what, when, and with what comments. Build this into every multi-approver workflow from the start.

Audit trail implementation

Create a separate Approval History SharePoint list with columns: Document ID (lookup), Stage Number, Approver Name, Approver Email, Decision, Comments, Response Timestamp
After each approval stage completes, use "Create item" (SharePoint) to write a row to the Approval History list regardless of the decision
Use this list to power a Power BI report showing average approval cycle times by stage, approver, and document type
Set the Approval History list permissions to read-only for all users except the automation service account — ensuring the audit trail cannot be edited after the fact

Choosing the Right Pattern: Quick Decision Guide

Business requirement	Recommended pattern
Hierarchical sign-off — each level must see previous approval	Sequential chain
Multiple departments must all agree	Parallel — everyone must approve
Any qualified person in a team can approve	Parallel — first to respond
Approval path depends on value, risk, or category	Conditional routing + appropriate pattern per tier
Compliance requires documented multi-stage sign-off	Sequential with audit log at each stage
Speed is critical; bottleneck risk is high	Parallel first-to-respond or small sequential chain with tight timeouts

Need a complex multi-approver workflow?

OceanCloud designs and builds multi-stage SharePoint approval workflows with conditional routing, escalation, delegation, and compliance audit trails — typically in 1–2 weeks.

Talk to a Workflow Specialist