How do you manage multi-party approvals in a CLM workflow?

• A. Define a single approver for all documents
• B. Define multiple participants/roles, assign tasks with escalation, configure parallel stages if needed, and ensure notifications to all parties.
• C. Only automatic approvals
• D. Skip approvals for simplicity

Answer: (B)

Managing multi-party approvals in a CLM workflow is about routing the contract to all involved parties in a structured way rather than relying on a single gatekeeper. You define the people or roles who must approve, assign each one a task, and set escalation rules so if someone doesn't act, the work is pushed to someone else. You can configure parallel stages so several approvals can happen at the same time when possible, which speeds things up, or serial stages when approvals must happen in a specific order. Notifications keep every participant informed about pending actions and progress, ensuring visibility and accountability.

This approach fits best because it covers the essential elements of multi-party approvals: multiple participants, defined tasks, escalation to prevent delays, flexible routing (parallel or serial), and clear notifications. The other options fall short: using a single approver can bottleneck and exclude other stakeholders; relying only on automatic approvals removes necessary human oversight; skipping approvals eliminates the governance controls that ensure proper review and compliance.