ApproveThis + Serviceaide: How to Automate IT Approvals Without the Headaches

Why These Two Tools Together Will Make Your IT Team Actually Smile

Let’s get real – nobody gets excited about approval processes. But when your IT team’s stuck chasing down signatures for routine tickets or waiting days to greenlight urgent changes, that’s when real work grinds to a halt. That’s where pairing ApproveThis with Serviceaide changes the game. Think of it like adding nitro to your service management: suddenly, approvals happen where the work already lives, decisions get made faster, and everyone stays in sync without the endless email chains.

Serviceaide handles the heavy lifting of IT service management – ticketing, worklogs, incident tracking. ApproveThis cuts through the approval gridlock. Together through Zapier, they create closed-loop workflows where tickets automatically trigger approvals, approvals automatically update tickets, and nobody’s left playing middleman.

What Each Tool Does Best (And Where They Meet)

Serviceaide is your command center for IT ops. It’s where tickets get logged, agents track resolutions, and SLAs get managed. But when tickets require approvals – say, a $5k server upgrade request or a privileged access change – that’s traditionally where things stall in inbox purgatory.

ApproveThis specializes in one thing: getting decisions unstuck. Custom workflows route requests to the right people, automatic reminders nudge slowpokes, and calculated fields auto-approve small expenses so managers only see what matters. The kicker? Approvers don’t need a Serviceaide license. External vendors or execs can approve via email without jumping into your ITSM system.

Four Ways This Combo Fixes Real IT Headaches

1. No More "Who Needs to Sign Off on This?"

Use Case: Auto-create approval requests for new Serviceaide tickets
How It Works: New server procurement ticket in Serviceaide → Zapier triggers ApproveThis to route for CFO/CTO approval based on cost thresholds → Approved? Ticket auto-updates. Denied? Requester gets notified with reasons.

Who Cares: IT procurement teams in manufacturing or healthcare. Example: A hospital’s IT team needs VP approval for any hardware over $3k. ApproveThis automatically routes requests based on ticket data, uses calculated fields to flag high-cost items, and forces sequential approvals (IT Director → CFO → Legal). No more guessing games.

2. Stop Letting Urgent Changes Fall Through the Cracks

Use Case: Create Serviceaide tickets when high-priority approvals happen
How It Works: Marketing team submits Adobe Admin access request via ApproveThis → Upon approval, Zapier instantly creates a privileged access ticket in Serviceaide → IT team gets alerted to implement.

Who Cares: Tech companies managing client access. Example: A SaaS vendor needs to grant temporary API access to a enterprise client’s dev team. ApproveThis routes to client’s project manager for approval, then auto-generates a Serviceaide ticket with access details for your engineers. Clients feel heard, engineers get clear specs.

3. Kill Zombie Tickets Waiting for Signatures

Use Case: Trigger approvals when critical ticket updates occur
How It Works: Service desk agent escalates a ticket to “Critical Outage” status → ApproveThis requires Infrastructure Lead approval before changes are made → All approvals logged as worklogs in Serviceaide.

Who Cares: Managed service providers (MSPs). Example: An MSP’s junior engineer identifies a network vulnerability during routine maintenance. Changing firewall rules requires L3 approval. The moment they update the ticket, ApproveThis pings the lead architect via email. Approval happens in 12 minutes instead of 12 hours.

4. Audit Trails That Don’t Suck to Create

Use Case: Auto-add worklogs when approvals finalize
How It Works: Legal approves updated SLA terms in ApproveThis → Zapier adds a worklog to the original Serviceaide ticket: “Approved by Jane Doe (Legal) on 5/21 – 15% penalty clause added” → No more digging through email for paper trails.

Who Cares: Financial services or public sector teams with compliance needs. Example: A county government’s IT team upgrades voting system software. Every approval (County Clerk → Security Lead → County Commissioner) automatically timestamps in Serviceaide. Auditors get a single timeline instead of 14 forwarded emails.

Why Your Finance, IT, and Operations Leads Will High-Five You

IT Teams: Cut ticket resolution time by eliminating approval delays. Vacation delegation means no bottlenecks when approvers are OOO. Escalation rules auto-ping directors if managers don’t respond in 24hrs.

Finance: Approval thresholds auto-approve small expenses (that $100 monitor replacement) while flagging big spends. Real-time dashboards show pending IT costs without jumping between systems.

External Partners: Client PMs approve project change requests via email without needing Serviceaide logins. Approval comments sync back as worklogs so internal teams have context.

Setting This Up Without Losing Your Mind

1. Connect via Zapier: Log into Zapier, link both apps (takes 3 minutes).
2. Pick Your Trigger: Most start with “New Ticket in Serviceaide” → “Create Approval Request in ApproveThis.”
3. Map Critical Fields: Pull Serviceaide ticket details (cost, urgency) into ApproveThis’ calculated fields to auto-route requests.
4. Test With Dummy Tickets: Create a test procurement ticket for $1. Confirm approvals route correctly before going live.

Bottom Line: Approval Processes Shouldn’t Be a Full-Time Job

If your IT team spends more time chasing signatures than fixing issues, you’re doing approvals wrong. ApproveThis + Serviceaide via Zapier cuts the red tape without adding new tools to learn. Approvers stay in email, tickets stay unblocked, and you get to be the person who finally fixed that approval bottleneck everyone complains about.

Get started with ApproveThis (free 14-day trial) or book a 10-minute demo to see how it works with your Serviceaide setup.