You can set deadlines during the workflow configuration to help Approvers stay on track and ensure timely processing of documents.
ApprovalMax supports two calculation methods:
Based on the submission (BoS) – deadlines are set at the time of request creation
Based on the approval (BoA) – deadlines are calculated dynamically after the approval of each step
Based on the submission (BoS)
When you choose the Based on Submission calculation, deadlines for all approval steps are calculated immediately at the time of document creation and based on the date/time by which a request should be ready for the next step - not when each step becomes active.
This method is useful if you want the entire approval workflow to follow a fixed timeline from the moment the document is created.
This is how it works:
Each step’s deadline is relative to the document creation time
Delays in earlier steps reduce the remaining time for later one
For example:
You'll configure a workflow with two approval steps:
Step 1 has a deadline of 2 days based on submission
Step 2 has a deadline of 5 days based on submission
If step 1 takes 2 days to approve:
Step 1: The deadline is 2 days after submission
Step 2: The deadline is 3 days after Step 1 is completed (5 days in total from submission)
Based on the approval (BoA)
When you use the Based on Approval method, ApprovalMax immediately calculates the date and time by which the first approval step should be finalised. Subsequent deadlines are calculated dynamically, starting from the moment the previous approval step is completed.
This approach gives each Approver the full amount of time allocated to their step, regardless of when the request was submitted.
This is how it works:
The deadline for step 1 is set at submission
Each subsequent step’s deadline starts counting only after the previous step is approved
There's no cumulative overlap; each step gets its full time allocation
For example:
You configure a workflow with two approval steps:
Step 1 has a deadline of 2 days based on approval
Step 2 has a deadline of 5 days based on approval
If step 1 is approved exactly 2 days after submission:
Step 1: The deadline is 2 days after submission
Step 2: The deadline is 5 days after step 1 was approved (not 5 days from submission)