Approval Routing and Revision Load Baseline (Onboarding)

Approval Routing and Revision Load Baseline (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Map every approver on the client side before the first post is drafted

   Name each reviewer, their role, and the maximum number of business days they get to respond. A retainer with three silent approvers will stall delivery regardless of which scheduling platform sits underneath.

2. 02

   Classify content into approval tiers by risk rather than by channel

   Routine evergreen posts can clear in one pass; regulated claims, pricing, and executive-voice posts need legal or founder sign-off. Tiering keeps the queue moving without exposing the client to a compliance miss.

3. 03

   Configure the approval chain inside the platform to match the tiers

   Sked Social and ContentStudio both support multi-stage approval routing; Planable exposes side-by-side comment threads. Pick the routing model that mirrors the client's real sign-off order, not the vendor's default.

4. 04

   Run a two-week shadow cycle on a representative client set

   Track coordination time (internal handoffs, chase emails, status meetings) and revision count per post. Two weeks across three to five accounts gives a usable baseline; a single hero account will flatter the numbers.

5. 05

   Log every revision with a reason code

   Tag revisions as copy, visual, compliance, or stakeholder preference. Preference-driven churn is the expensive kind and usually signals an approval-tier mismatch rather than a production problem.

6. 06

   Set the revision ceiling and escalation path in the retainer terms

   Two rounds per post is a common ceiling. Beyond that, route to a paid change order or a standing weekly review call. Write the rule down before the first overrun, not after.

7. 07

   Re-baseline coordination time at day 30 and day 60

   Compare against the shadow-cycle numbers. If coordination time has not dropped, the platform is not the constraint; the approval design is.