ApproveThis manages your Sterblue Integration approvals.

When Drones Meet Decision-Making

Modern industrial operations face a critical challenge: accelerating inspections while maintaining rigorous safety and compliance standards. Sterblue's drone-powered asset monitoring generates vast amounts of inspection data, while ApproveThis brings structure to the decision-making required to act on that data. Together, they create a closed-loop system where automated detection meets human oversight – without bottlenecks.

Energy companies using this integration have reduced approval cycles for critical repairs by 68%, while construction firms report 40% faster mission authorization. The combination works because it aligns Sterblue's technical precision with ApproveThis' organizational control, creating auditable processes that satisfy both engineers and executives.

Core Integration Benefits

This integration solves three fundamental problems in asset-intensive industries:

• Time-sensitive response: Anomaly detection triggers immediate approval workflows
• Cross-team coordination: Field teams and decision-makers stay synchronized

Approvers can review Sterblue's visual evidence directly in approval emails without needing Sterblue logins. For companies managing external contractors, this eliminates the cost and complexity of provisioning additional software licenses while maintaining security.

Real-World Use Cases

1. Anomaly-to-Repair Workflows

When Sterblue's AI detects corrosion on wind turbine blades, the integration automatically creates an ApproveThis request with severity ratings and image attachments. Engineering leads receive an email with one-click approval options, while the system automatically routes high-risk findings to senior managers.

Impact: A European energy provider reduced blade repair times from 14 days to 48 hours using this flow, preventing potential power generation losses exceeding €200k monthly.

2. Mission Authorization Chains

New drone inspection missions in Sterblue trigger multi-level approvals in ApproveThis. Safety managers verify compliance checklists, while site supervisors confirm equipment availability. ApproveThis' conditional routing ensures missions only proceed when all stakeholders sign off.

Impact: A rail infrastructure company eliminated 92% of last-minute mission cancellations through pre-flight approval enforcement.

3. Compliance Auditing

ApproveThis automatically archives approval decisions alongside Sterblue's mission reports, creating tamper-proof records for regulators. The integration's timestamps and digital trails satisfy ISO 55000 asset management requirements.

Impact: Oil & gas operators using this method reduced audit preparation time from 3 weeks to 4 days.

Technical Implementation

Setting up the integration requires 15 minutes in Zapier:

1. Connect Sterblue and ApproveThis accounts
2. Map Sterblue anomaly/mission data to ApproveThis request fields

Key configuration tips:

• Use ApproveThis' calculated fields to auto-prioritize requests based on Sterblue's confidence scores
• Set approval thresholds to auto-approve minor findings below $500 repair cost

Maintenance is minimal – vacation delegation ensures approvals continue uninterrupted during team absences.

Department-Specific Advantages

Field Operations Teams

Technicians receive approved work orders directly in Sterblue with all necessary documentation attached. ApprovalThis' mobile interface allows on-site approval of mission adjustments during inspections.

Compliance Officers

Real-time dashboards show approval rates and bottlenecks. Automated reminders ensure SLAs are met without manual follow-ups.

Financial Controllers

Approval thresholds prevent budget overruns by requiring executive sign-off for high-cost repairs identified in Sterblue reports.

Beyond Basic Automation

Advanced users combine both platforms' capabilities for predictive maintenance:

1. Sterblue detects early-stage corrosion patterns
2. ApproveThis triggers supplier bidding workflows
3. Winning bids auto-populate future repair missions

This proactive approach helped a solar farm operator increase panel lifespan by 17% through earlier interventions.

Getting Started

Companies should begin with anomaly approvals, then expand to mission authorization and historical data audits. ApproveThis' template library provides pre-built Sterblue workflows that can be customized in minutes.

Critical first step: Map your Sterblue severity levels to approval tiers in ApproveThis. Most organizations use:

- Level 1: Auto-approve with notification
- Level 2: Team lead approval
- Level 3: Safety committee review

This tiered approach maintains speed for routine issues while ensuring rigor for critical findings.

Why This Integration Wins

Competitive solutions force teams to manually download Sterblue reports and upload them to separate approval systems. The Zapier integration eliminates this friction while maintaining Sterblue's rich visual context throughout the approval chain.

ApproveThis adds unique value through:
- Email approvals: Decision-makers can review drone footage attachments directly in Outlook/Gmail
- Escalation paths: Unanswered requests automatically route to backup approvers
- Budget guards: Repair cost estimates from Sterblue trigger spend limit checks

Next Steps

See the integration in action during a live demo, or start a free trial with pre-configured Sterblue templates. Engineering teams can deploy the first workflow in under an hour using Sterblue's integration docs.

For current Sterblue users: ApproveThis offers migration tools to convert existing approval processes into automated workflows without disrupting active missions. Transition typically takes 2-3 weeks with full historical data preservation.