Approving Signatures – How to create an approval rule

With the ContractHero signature approval process, you ensure that contracts only go out for signature once the responsible people have reviewed and approved them. This creates clear ownership, reduces errors, and improves compliance — especially for sensitive categories such as IT, Data Protection, Procurement, or HR.

With multiple approvers per rule and multi-level approvals, you can map your real internal sign-off structures directly in ContractHero — from a simple four-eyes check to a chain like “Department → Legal → Management”.

Prerequisite: Advanced conditions, multiple approvers, and multi-level approvals are available for customers with the approval workflows feature — no additional add-on needed. If you don't see the feature yet, contact your Account Manager.

Prerequisites

• You have Admin or Owner permissions in your ContractHero account.
• The approval workflows feature is active for your organization.
• The people who should approve are set up as members of your organization.

How it works

1. Open the approvals area

Go to Settings and click Approvals. You'll see the “Approval rules” page listing all existing rules, including the configured conditions per rule.

2. Create a new rule

Click “+ New approval rule”. A sidebar opens on the right.

3. Name the rule

Rule name is required. Use a descriptive name that makes the purpose obvious (“Legal — NDAs”, “Finance — Leasing > 50k”). Generic names like “Rule 1” become a dead end later.

The “Is active” toggle controls whether the rule is live immediately or saved as inactive — useful when preparing a rule that should only go live at a later date.

4. Set approvers — individually, as a group, or in levels

In the approvers section you define who needs to approve:

• One or more people per approval group: Add as many members as you like to a group. As soon as one of the selected people approves, that approval step is complete — ideal for covering vacations and avoiding bottlenecks.
• Multiple approval groups as levels: Use “Add approval group” to add further groups. Each group is its own approval step — the contract only goes out for signature once all groups have approved.
• Set an approval order (optional): With the approval-order option, groups are numbered (1, 2, …) and can be re-sorted via drag & drop. The next group is only notified once the previous group has completed its step — creating a multi-level approval chain (e.g., Department → Legal → Management). Without a set order, all groups still need to approve, just without a fixed sequence.

Only members of your organization appear in the selection — external or not-yet-invited people cannot be assigned.

5. Define conditions

In the conditions section (“Apply this rule when”) you define which contracts trigger the rule. You can combine multiple conditions — they are linked with AND logic.

Available field types: category, team, status, list fields from the contract field builder, amount fields, and number fields. For amount and number fields, operators (=, ≠, >, <, ≥, ≤) let you define thresholds.

Examples:

• HR approval for high salaries: Category = “Employment contract” AND salary ≥ €100,000
• Finance approval for larger supplier contracts: Category = “Supplier contract” AND contract value > €50,000
• Multi-level with threshold: Category = “Supplier contract” AND contract value > €100,000 — with two approval groups in order: Finance first, then Management

6. Save the rule

Click “Add rule” at the bottom of the sidebar. The rule appears immediately in the approval rules table with its configured conditions and applies — if “Is active” is set — to the next signature workflow of any contract matching all conditions.

7. What happens in the signing flow

When a contract that matches all conditions of an active rule is sent for signature, the following happens automatically:

1. ContractHero checks: does this contract match all conditions of an active approval rule?
2. The approvers of the (first) approval group receive an email notification with the approval request.
3. For multi-level approvals, the next group is only notified once the previous group has completed its step.
4. Only when all approval groups have approved does ContractHero trigger the signature request to the actual signers.
5. If any approver rejects, the flow stops immediately — the requester is notified with the reason and can adjust the contract and restart the approval. The signature request is not sent.

FAQ

Can several people be authorized to approve?
Yes. Add multiple members to one approval group — as soon as one of them approves, the step is complete. This covers vacations and stand-ins without stalling the process.

How do I build a multi-level approval (e.g., Legal first, then Management)?
Create one approval group per level and set the approval order. Groups are numbered and sortable via drag & drop — each group is only notified once the previous one has approved.

What happens if someone rejects?
The entire approval flow stops immediately — regardless of how many levels had already approved. The requester receives a notification with the rejection reason. The signature request is not sent.

What happens to my existing rules?
They keep working unchanged — the update to multiple approvers and levels does not affect existing rules or ongoing approval flows. You can edit any rule at any time to add approvers, groups, or conditions.

The person doesn't appear in the selection — why?
Check whether the person has been added as a member of your organization and has accepted the invitation (pending invitations are not enough).

Can I change a rule later?
Yes — in the approval rules table, click the rule to edit its name, approvers, groups, conditions, and the “Is active” status.

Good to know

• Cover stand-ins via the approval group. Simply add the stand-in to the approval group — since one approval per group is enough, a vacation no longer blocks the signing process.
• Use clear names: who + what (e.g., “Procurement — Supplier contracts > 50k”).
• Start small, then refine: begin with one category condition and one group; add thresholds, approvers, or levels once the process runs smoothly.
• Built-in audit trail: every approval (and rejection) is documented with timestamp and person in the contract's activity tab and the organization's change log.
• Test before going live: save the rule with “Is active” off, run a test contract through the signing flow, then activate.

Updated on: 09/04/2026