Let’s get real: approvals suck. They’re the traffic jam in your workflow highway, the "waiting on Stacy from legal" of every project. But what if your team could handle approvals as smoothly as Jira handles bug tracking? That’s where ApproveThis comes in – and when you connect it to Jira Software Server via Zapier, you’re looking at the closest thing to approval nirvana for teams building software (or anything else).
Why This Combo Works Like Duct Tape for Your Workflow
Jira’s great at tracking what needs doing. ApproveThis is great at getting people to say "yes" to doing it. Combine them, and you’ve got:
- No more approval black holes: See exactly where requests stall between Jira tickets and human decision-makers
- Less context switching: Approvers don’t need to log into Jira – they can approve via email or ApproveThis’ dashboard
- Audit trails that don’t lie: Every approval decision automatically updates Jira issues with who approved what (and when)
Who Wins?
Engineering managers keeping sprints clean. PMs who need client sign-offs. Even finance teams approving feature-related budgets. Basically, any team that’s tired of chasing approvals across 8 different tools.
Three Ways This Integration Saves Actual Hours
1. When New Jira Issues Need Adult Supervision
The Problem: Your dev team creates urgent tickets that actually require budget approval. But finance doesn’t live in Jira.
The Fix: Auto-create ApproveThis requests for any Jira issue tagged "needs approval". Finance gets an email, clicks approve/deny, and Jira updates automatically.
Real-World Win: A SaaS company reduced feature-related budget approvals from 3 days to 4 hours by routing Jira tickets to approvers via ApproveThis.
2. Approval Decisions That Actually Update Tickets
The Problem: Someone approves a spec change in email, but the Jira ticket still shows "awaiting approval".
The Fix: Connect ApproveThis approvals to auto-update Jira issues. Approved? Ticket moves to "Ready". Denied? Comments get added with reasons.
Pro Tip: Use ApproveThis’ calculated fields to auto-approve small change requests (under 2 hours?) but escalate bigger ones.
3. Client Approvals That Don’t Require a PhD in Jira
The Problem: Clients need to approve requirements but you don’t want them in your Jira instance.
The Fix: External approvers get branded ApproveThis emails. They approve/request changes without ever touching Jira.
Bonus: Vacation delegation in ApproveThis means client approvals don’t stall because someone’s at the beach.
Setting This Up Without Losing Your Mind
1. Create a Zapier account (if you don’t have one)
2. Connect Jira Software Server and ApproveThis
3. Pick a trigger (new Jira issue, status change, etc.)
4. Map critical fields – ApproveThis can pull Jira issue details automatically
5. Test with a real approval request
Total setup time: 15 minutes if your coffee’s strong. Less if you’ve done Zapier before.
Why This Isn’t Just Another Integration
Most approval tools treat Jira like any other app. ApproveThis gets that software teams need:
Escalation Paths That Make Sense: Auto-route approvals based on Jira issue types. Critical bug? Escalate to CTO after 2 hours. Minor UI tweak? Team lead approves.
Approval Thresholds That Understand Velocity: Set approval rules based on estimated hours from Jira. Over 40 hours? Needs VP sign-off. Under 8? Auto-approve.
Real-Time Dashboards That Don’t Lie: See approval bottlenecks across all connected Jira projects. Is design approval slowing 30% of tickets? Now you know.
Who Actually Uses This?
Dev Teams: Get faster sign-offs on infrastructure spend approvals tied to Jira epics.
QA Managers: Automate UAT approval workflows that update Jira test cases.
Product Owners: Route feature spec approvals through legal/compliance before tickets move to "Ready".
The License Advantage
Here’s the kicker: ApproveThis approvers don’t need Jira licenses. For companies juggling external clients or contractors, that’s $$$ saved. Your procurement team approves vendor-related Jira tickets? They can do it through ApproveThis without needing Jira access.
When Not to Use This
If your team does all approvals in Jira already and no one complains... carry on. But if you’ve got approvals crossing teams, tools, or pay grades, continuing without this integration is like debugging without breakpoints.
Ready to Stop Chasing Approvals?
ApproveThis isn’t another layer of bureaucracy – it’s the grease that makes your Jira workflow actually move. Start a free trial or sign up and connect it to Jira in the time it takes to write a decent commit message.
Pro tip: Bookmark the Jira docs for when you want to get fancy with workflows later.
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