Approval Latency Index

Approval Latency Index measures the elapsed time between a deliverable being ready and the client signing off inside the portal. Agencies track it because slow approvals compress production windows, push work into overtime, and quietly erode retainer margin. The index turns a soft complaint (clients are slow) into a number you can put on a quarterly review. A portal that timestamps every approval, like Clinked or SuperOkay, gives you the raw data; a bundled suite such as ClientVenue or ManyRequests adds request queues and billing so you can see which accounts stall at which stage. Benchmark the median across your book, then flag any client running more than twice that median. One agency example: a 9-day median approval cycle on a monthly retainer leaves roughly 12 working days for revision, which is where scope creep starts. Shortening the cycle by three days is often cheaper than adding headcount.