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Governance

Overview

Strong governance ensures that value claims are auditable, approvals are defensible, and documentation standards are maintained across teams and tenants.

Who this is for

  • Admin
  • Executive
  • End User

Prerequisites

  • Admin access to Administration > Configuration > Workflows.
  • Defined RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) matrix for value management.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Define approval gates

  1. Map each initiative type to a workflow.
  2. Set minimum approver counts and role requirements.
  3. Require approval for: creation over a value threshold, baseline changes, and benefit actuals over a variance limit.

2. Enforce documentation standards

  1. Require a business case description of at least 100 characters.
  2. Mandate stakeholder identification before submission.
  3. Use custom fields to tag initiatives by risk level, strategic pillar, and regulatory scope.

3. Maintain audit readiness

  1. Lock baselines at approval time.
  2. Prevent deletion of approved initiatives; allow archival instead.
  3. Export audit logs quarterly and store them in your document management system.

4. Conduct access reviews

  1. Quarterly, run the User Access Report from Administration > User Management.
  2. Verify that former employees and contractors are deactivated.
  3. Confirm role assignments match current job functions.

5. Document exceptions

  1. Create a custom field named Governance Exception.
  2. When a workflow rule is bypassed, require the bypasser to select a reason.
  3. Review all exceptions monthly in the governance committee meeting.

Permissions required

Role Permission Scope
Admin Configure workflows Organization
Admin Manage audit logs Organization
Executive Approve high-value initiatives Organization

Limits and guardrails

  • Limit Workflow stages: 10 per workflow.
  • Limit Approvers per stage: 5.
  • Limit Audit log retention: 7 years.

Troubleshooting

Issue: Workflow bottlenecks at one approver

Cause: The approver is on leave, or the notification was filtered to spam. Resolution: 1. Set delegate approvers in user profiles. 2. Enable Slack or Teams notifications as a secondary channel. 3. Allow escalation after 48 hours of inactivity.

Issue: Audit log export is incomplete

Cause: The date range spans the retention boundary, or the export hit the row limit. Resolution: 1. Break the export into 90-day chunks. 2. Use the API for full historical extraction.

Escalation path

Severity Condition Contact
General Workflow design questions Customer Success Manager
Urgent Governance breach or audit finding support@valuepact.ai