ApproveThis manages your Parallel Integration approvals.

Why Approval Automation Matters

Modern businesses face a critical challenge: balancing speed with accountability. While tools like Parallel excel at organizing collaborative workflows, many teams still rely on messy email chains or disjointed spreadsheets for approvals. This gap creates bottlenecks, compliance risks, and frustration – especially when external stakeholders are involved. ApproveThis solves this by adding structured approval governance to Parallel’s flexible process engine.

Capabilities Comparison

Parallel specializes in creating adaptable workflows for document collaboration, task routing, and team coordination. Its strength lies in enabling teams to design processes that mirror real-world operations. However, it lacks native features for enforcing approval hierarchies, managing decision thresholds, or handling external reviewers without paid licenses.

ApproveThis complements this by adding granular control over who can approve what, under which conditions. Its email-based system allows vendors, clients, or department heads to review requests without needing access to Parallel itself. When connected via Zapier, these platforms create closed-loop automation where processes trigger approvals, and approvals advance processes.

Strategic Use Cases

Procurement & Vendor Management

A manufacturing company uses Parallel to manage supplier onboarding checklists. When a new vendor submission arrives, ApproveThis automatically routes the request to procurement managers based on contract value thresholds. Legal teams review high-risk contracts via email without Parallel logins, while the system auto-approves routine NDAs under $5K using calculated fields.

Sales Contract Reviews

Marketing agencies often struggle with client change requests. By connecting Parallel’s project briefs to ApproveThis, sales directors receive automated approval tasks when scope changes exceed 10% of original estimates. Sequential approvals ensure finance and delivery leads sign off before committing to clients.

HR Policy Compliance

When a Parallel workflow detects an employee relocation request, ApproveThis enforces multi-tier reviews: local HR confirms budget, tax teams validate implications, and the CFO approves expenses over $15K. Vacation delegation rules prevent delays when managers are unavailable.

Implementation Guide

1. Connect Accounts: In Zapier, authenticate both ApproveThis and Parallel.
2. Choose Trigger: Select events like “New Parallel Event” or “Approval Request Completed.”
3. Map Data Fields: Pull critical details from Parallel into approval requests (e.g., project IDs, amounts).
4. Set Conditions: Use ApproveThis’ logic to route high-value items to senior staff.
5. Test & Deploy: Run test approvals to validate email templates and escalation rules.

Team-Specific Benefits

Finance Teams

Automate PO approvals with real-time budget checks. When a Parallel purchase request exceeds department caps, ApproveThis instantly notifies controllers via SMS or Slack while locking down the associated Parallel task until resolved.

Sales Operations

Reduce deal desk bottlenecks by attaching ApproveThis to Parallel’s quote workflows. Dynamic approval chains ensure regional managers review cross-territory deals, while legal auto-approves standard clauses using predefined templates.

HR & Legal

Onboard external contractors securely by embedding ApproveThis into Parallel’s intake forms. Third-party vendors sign NDAs via email while internal teams handle system access approvals – all tracked in a single audit trail.

Cost & Efficiency Gains

A mid-sized tech firm reduced approval cycles from 72 hours to 4.5 hours by combining these tools. Key drivers:

• Eliminated 12,000 annual emails through automated status updates
• Reduced SaaS costs by 18% via external approver license savings

Another example: A construction company auto-approved 63% of material requests using monetary thresholds, allowing project managers to focus on critical path items.

Advanced Configuration Tips

• Use Parallel’s custom fields to pass metadata like department codes into ApproveThis’ conditional routing rules.
• Combine approval groups with Parallel’s @mentions to notify secondary stakeholders without approval authority.
• Schedule Zapier filters to bypass approvals during off-hours for low-priority tasks.

Limitations & Workarounds

While the integration handles most use cases, complex scenarios like parallel approval paths with dynamic thresholds may require ApproveThis’ API. Teams needing bi-directional data syncs should explore webhook options for real-time status updates in Parallel.

Getting Started

ApproveThis offers a 14-day free trial with prebuilt Parallel templates. For teams managing 50+ monthly approvals, the integration typically pays for itself within one quarter through reduced delays and error rates. Visit approvethis.com to register or book a custom demo showing your specific workflows.

Final Considerations

This integration isn’t about replacing human judgment – it’s about eliminating the busywork surrounding decisions. By automating the process around approvals rather than the decisions themselves, teams maintain control while accelerating execution. Start with high-volume, low-risk approvals like travel requests or template-based contracts, then expand to more complex scenarios as confidence grows.