Create an Approval Control Register

The business request and the approval process should not exist only inside Power Automate run history.

Create a SharePoint list such as Approval Control Register.

Useful columns include:

• Request ID
• Business Process
• Requestor
• Original Approver
• Effective Approver
• Approval ID
• Approval Status
• Submitted Date/Time
• SLA Due Date/Time
• Escalation Level
• Last Reminder Date/Time
• Escalated Date/Time
• Completed Date/Time
• Outcome
• Approver Comments

Resolve Delegation Before Creating the Approval

Create a maintainable list such as Approval Delegation.

Example columns:

• Primary Approver
• Delegate Approver
• Start Date
• End Date
• Active
• Reason

Before creating an approval:

• Identify the primary approver.
• Search for an active delegation record.
• Check whether the current date falls inside the delegation period.
• Use the delegate as the Effective Approver when appropriate.

An illustrative expression for a delegation end-date check could use:

greaterOrEquals(
    items('Apply_to_each')?['EndDate'],
    utcNow()
)

Create the Approval Before You Wait for It

For important processes, consider using Create an approval followed by Wait for an approval.

The advantage is architectural: you can capture the approval identifier and update the control register before the flow enters its waiting state.

Suggested sequence:

• Create approval.
• Capture Approval ID.
• Write Approval ID to the control register.
• Set Status = Pending Approval.
• Set Submitted Date/Time.
• Set Effective Approver.
• Set SLA Due Date/Time.
• Then wait for the approval response.

For an illustrative 24-hour SLA:

addHours(
    utcNow(),
    24
)

Build a Separate SLA Watcher Flow

This is the part that turns the solution from an approval email into an operational control.

Create a scheduled cloud flow that runs at a frequency appropriate to your process.

It should retrieve records where:

• Status is still pending.
• SLA Due Date/Time is approaching or has passed.
• The request has not already been escalated to the same level.

Conceptually:

Status = "Pending Approval"

AND

SLA Due Date/Time <= utcNow()

The monitoring flow can then:

• Send an approver reminder.
• Notify a manager or process owner.
• Increase Escalation Level.
• Record Last Reminder Date/Time.
• Record Escalated Date/Time.

Design Escalation as a Policy, Not an Angry Email

Define escalation levels explicitly.

For example:

• Reminder: approaching SLA.
• Escalation Level 1: SLA breached — notify approver and team manager.
• Escalation Level 2: significant delay — notify process owner.
• Exception: request requires manual intervention.

Store the level on the control record so that the same escalation is not sent repeatedly.

Capture the Decision Back into the Business Record

Once the approval completes, update the control register immediately.

Capture:

• Outcome
• Responding approver
• Approver comments
• Completed Date/Time
• Final Status
• Total Approval Duration

You can calculate duration later in Power BI, so the SharePoint list does not necessarily need a permanent calculated-hours column.

Measure the Approval Process in Power BI

Approval automation should be measurable just like any other business process.

Useful Power BI measures include:

Open Approvals =
CALCULATE(
    COUNTROWS(
        'Approval Control Register'
    ),
    'Approval Control Register'[Approval Status]
        = "Pending Approval"
)

Overdue Approvals =
CALCULATE(
    COUNTROWS(
        'Approval Control Register'
    ),
    'Approval Control Register'[Approval Status]
        = "Pending Approval",
    'Approval Control Register'[SLA Due Date Time]
        < NOW()
)

Approval Duration Hours =
DIVIDE(
    DATEDIFF(
        MIN(
            'Approval Control Register'[Submitted Date Time]
        ),
        MAX(
            'Approval Control Register'[Completed Date Time]
        ),
        MINUTE
    ),
    60
)

You can then analyse performance by:

• Business process
• Approver
• Department
• Request type
• Escalation level
• Outcome
• Month or week