STRUCTURED APPROVALS

Get decisions confirmed by the right people, with structured approvals

A general agreement is enough for some decisions. Others need the right people to sign off. Structured approvals give each approver a clear role and a personal, recorded approval, in the same decision log, whether the decision happens in a meeting or between meetings.

WHAT CHANGES

Every approval is real, and every one is on the record

A decision that used to rest on a vague sense that everyone was fine with it now carries named approvals, each given personally, that nobody can dispute later.

Today, without clear approvals

  • The agreement happens, but the record varies: written down, scattered across channels, or nowhere at all
  • Who was actually involved is rarely captured, so later people remember it differently
  • An "approved" status can hide who really weighed in, or who owned the decision

With structured approvals

  • Every decision and its approvers land in one decision log, in a meeting or between them, so the record never varies
  • The right people are named, each in a clear role, with every approval captured in their own name
  • "Approved" always means that person weighed in personally, on the decision and documents in front of them

Bottom line: Structured approvals give the people who carry a decision a clear way to own it, and give the whole team a record they can rely on.

HOW IT WORKS

How structured approvals work

The team shapes the process; the process doesn't shape the team. Four steps, as light or as formal as you need.
1

Choose the process

Choose structured approvals as your decision-making process, then shape the roles with RAPID, RACI, or a custom model of your own.

2

Propose the decision

Create a proposed decision on the agenda, or as a circular resolution between meetings. Attach the documentation approvers need, and select who approves.

3

Approve

Each approver responds personally, in their own name: approve, reject, or pending. Pending keeps the decision open when someone needs more information or a discussion first.

4

Record

The outcome is automatic: final once every approval is in, rejected if anyone rejects. Either way it lands in the same decision log with approver names, whether the decision was made in a meeting or between them.

HOW IT'S BUILT

Built to turn approvals into accountability

Run through your own framework

Approve through RAPID, RACI, or a custom model with your own role names, from one to nine roles, the same rules whether the decision is made in a meeting or between them.

Personal by design

Each role is assigned to one person, and every approval is given in their own name. Nobody can approve on someone else's behalf, so "approved" means the person was actively involved.

Everything documented

Title, decision framing, pre-reads, attachments, and custom fields travel with the decision, so approvers decide on the full picture and the reasoning is recorded, not remembered.

A record that locks

Draft, Published, then Locked when Final or Rejected. Approvals open when the admin chooses and close on the outcome, and after that a status can't change: an approval given can't later become a rejection.

Traceable across teams

The decision log shows who approved, in which role, and on what documentation, so months later you know exactly who to ask. Where your organization uses Advanced Reporting, it adds read-only oversight across shared teams.

Secure by where it lives

Every decision and its record stays inside your own Microsoft 365 tenant, not scattered across email and chat where things get lost or leaked. No third-party bots, nothing leaves your tenant. SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022 certified.

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WHO IT'S FOR

For any team where key decisions need a clear owner

Not reserved for formal bodies. Most valuable where key decisions are frequent and coordination depends on them.

Cross-team steering committees

Sign-off on scope, budget, and milestones, with clear ownership at every gate.

Boards & governance committees

Decisions that need a defined, documented approval path, with a record auditors can verify.

Project teams with heavy coordination

Many moving parts, and many people who need to know what was decided and by whom.

Teams using a formal model

RAPID, RACI, or your own, mapped onto how you already decide.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Common questions about structured approvals

Structured approvals are a decision-making process in Decisions. The team chooses whose approval a decision needs before it becomes final, using an approval framework: RAPID, RACI, or a custom model. Each approver confirms personally, and the outcome is recorded in the same decision log as every other decision.
Both are decision-making processes. Voting is the group casting votes on a decision; structured approvals are the right people, each in a clear role, giving their approval. A team picks what matches how it decides, and different channels can use different processes.
They're approval frameworks you use within structured approvals. RAPID and RACI are predefined and selectable, and a custom framework lets you define your own roles, from one to nine, with your own names. Each role is assigned to one person.
Yes. The same structured approvals run on decisions inside meetings and on circular resolutions between them, so a team can continue the exact same process outside scheduled meetings. Every outcome lands in the same decision log.
Inside your Microsoft 365 tenant. Decisions is M365-native, no third-party bots join your calls, and your data never leaves your tenant. Decisions is SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022 certified.
Structured approvals are a premium feature, enabled on request on select Decisions plans. Submit a premium feature request, or contact your Customer Success Manager or email support@meetingdecisions.com, and we'll enable them for your team.
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Enabled on request. We'll help you see where they fit, and switch them on.