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Data Governance

The right approvers for each change. Not every approver for every change.

Approval paths are built from conditions: what changed, by how much and whether it is regulated. Roles and separation of duties decide who can approve, and every decision is recorded.

Walk through it All capabilities

How it works

Route a change through conditional approvals

Adjust the price change and regulated flag to see the path change. Try approving as the author; separation of duties prevents it.

CHANGE REQUEST CR-2291

Author: A. Moreau

ROUTING CONDITIONS

  • Category manager: Always
  • Pricing lead: List price change above 5%
  • Compliance officer: Regulated attribute
Approval pathAwaiting Category manager
  1. Category managerPending
  2. Pricing leadPending
  3. Compliance officerPending
Authors cannot approve their own change

DECISION HISTORY

  1. Submitted by A. Moreau.

The capability

Governance proportional to the change

A typo fix and a change to a pressure rating should not follow the same process. When every change takes the full approval route, teams look for ways around it; when none do, regulated data changes without review.

Workflow & Approvals builds the approval path from conditions on the change itself: the attributes affected, the size of a price change, whether the attribute is regulated, the category or the source. Each step is assigned to a role, not a named individual, so routing survives organizational change.

Permissions are enforced at each step, including separation of duties: the author of a change cannot approve it. Changes are applied only after the path is complete, and rejected changes return to the author with reasons. The full decision history is retained with the change.

Problems it solves

Where this work usually breaks down

  1. 01

    One process for every change

    Minor corrections wait in the same queue as regulated changes.

  2. 02

    Approvers who are also authors

    Without separation of duties, people approve their own changes.

  3. 03

    Routing tied to individuals

    Approvals stall when a named approver leaves or is away.

  4. 04

    Decisions not recorded

    Approvals happen in email and are lost.

Functional capabilities

What Workflow & Approvals includes

Conditional routing
Add approval steps based on attributes, thresholds, categories, sources or regulation.
Role-based steps
Assign steps to roles; any qualified member can act.
Separation of duties
Prevent authors from approving their own changes and enforce role requirements.
Policy gates
Hold changes from release or publication until required approvals are complete.
Reject and resubmit
Return changes with reasons and track resubmissions.
Decision history
Retain every decision, decider and time with the change.

In industrial operations

A pump manufacturer governs technical and pricing changes

Engineering corrections to pressure ratings and list price updates both go through one generic approval queue.

  1. Routing conditions are defined: category review always, pricing review above a threshold, compliance for regulated attributes.
  2. Minor content changes complete with a single review.
  3. A pressure rating correction is routed to compliance; the author cannot approve it.
  4. Approved changes are applied and released; decision history is attached.

Result: Review effort matches risk, and regulated changes always carry the required approvals.

Autonomous operations

How autonomous execution changes workflow & approvals

Agents submit their own proposed changes through the same workflows as people, and can prepare approval packages, but cannot approve their own work.

Agents carry out

  • Submit proposed changes with evidence
  • Assemble approval packages
  • Remind approvers near deadlines
  • Apply changes once approved

People decide

  • Define routing conditions and roles
  • Approve or reject
  • Change policy thresholds

Evidence recorded

  • Approval path evaluated for each change
  • Decisions with decider and time
  • Applied values linked to approvals

Related capabilities

Works alongside

Feature guide

Data Stewardship

Owned work queues, service levels and evidence-backed exception resolution.

Feature guide

Data Lineage & Audit

Trace every value from source through transformation, approval and destination.

Feature guide

Validation & Completeness

Category-specific rules, severities and completeness scores with clear explanations.

Feature guide

Supplier Onboarding Portal

Supplier submissions mapped, validated and reviewed before they reach your catalog.

Capability area

Data Governance

See where Workflow & Approvals fits in the wider Data Governance capability.

Buyer FAQs

Questions evaluators ask

Can workflows differ by category or attribute?

Yes. Conditions can reference attributes, categories, thresholds, sources and regulation flags.

How is separation of duties enforced?

Authors cannot approve their own changes, and each step requires the assigned role.

Do agent changes go through approvals?

Agent changes follow the same routing. Policies can allow certain low-risk changes without approval.

Can approvals run in parallel?

Steps can be sequential or parallel depending on configuration.

Is Autonera a general business process engine?

No. Workflows govern data changes inside Autonera; they are not a replacement for enterprise BPM tools.

Your next step

See Workflow & Approvals on data like yours.

Bring a real file, catalog or record set. We will walk through how Autonera would handle it and where your team keeps the final say.

Book a Demo