Require approval before an automation continues

Use Wait for approval to pause an automation until a reviewer makes a decision. Add this step before actions that need explicit review.

Example: Require review before creating business case

Scenario: Automation prepares investment proposal, but reviewer must decide before its status changes.

Add Wait for approval after draft case is created and before Business case status.
Include case name, estimated amount, and objective in review context.
Place Approve only on approval branch. Use rejected branch to stop or send notification without approving case.
Test both decisions. Verify reject path cannot reach approval step.

Set up approval

Open Admin > AI Studio > Orchestrate > Automations and select the automation.
In Builder, select + Add step > Wait for approval at the point where review is required.
In Question for the reviewer, enter the decision being requested. Insert workflow variables when relevant.
In What the reviewer sees, include the figures, proposed change, or summary needed to decide.
Under Assign to, choose the responsible people, roles, or both.
Define Choices for possible outcomes. Each choice creates a branch.
Add follow-up steps under the appropriate branches.
Save and test the approval paths before activation.

Available assignment roles include Budget Owner, Cost Centre Owner, FinOps Admin, and Cloud Administrator. You can also assign a person by name or email address.

Use the decision

The automation pauses while approval is outstanding. Selected reviewers receive an inbox notification. Later steps can use:

{{human_decision}}: selected reviewer choice.
{{human_response}}: reviewer note, if supplied.

Place write, status-change, or notification steps only in the branches where those actions should run. For example, an approved insight review can proceed to Update insights, while a rejected outcome takes a different path.

Check

Run an approval test with the intended reviewer. Confirm question, supporting context, available choices, and downstream branches match the decision process.