Glossary
What is human approval gate?
A human approval gate is a defined point where an automated workflow stops and waits for a person before anything consequential happens. It is not a notification and not an after-the-fact log. The action does not execute until someone with the authority to own the outcome approves it, and the approval is recorded.
The definition
Human approval gate explained
The gate is what separates automation a finance or operations leader can defend from automation they simply have to trust. Everything before it can be automated aggressively: gathering, matching, classifying, drafting, and explaining. The moment an action posts to the system of record, moves money, or reaches a customer, it passes through a person.
Placement is the design decision. A gate on every step produces an approval queue nobody works, and a gate on nothing produces decisions no one signed off on. The useful rule is to gate on consequence and reversibility rather than on step count, and to give the approver the evidence and the option to do nothing.
Where this shows up at Altura
FAQ
Frequently asked question
See also
Related terms
Related terms that come up in the same workflows.
01
Governed AI workflow
A governed AI workflow is an AI-assisted operating process with explicit controls: a defined data contract, a risk tier set by what the action touches, and a human approval point before anything posts to a system of record. It is how AI is used safely on back-office work, amplifying operators rather than replacing them.
Read the definition02
Exception seam
An exception seam is a point in an operating process where the deterministic rules stop and a person starts hunting: a payout that will not tie out, an order held for a reason nobody recorded, a partner document that changed shape. The work is real, recurring, and usually invisible to the systems that report on it.
Read the definition03
Exception handling
Exception handling is the governed path an automated workflow follows when something does not fit the rules: a payout that will not match, a stuck order, an integration error. Instead of failing silently or forcing a person to hunt, the exception is classified, routed to the right owner with context, and resolved with human approval where it matters.
Read the definition04
Deterministic matching
Deterministic matching is reconciliation by fixed rule rather than guess: each settlement line-type is mapped once to a chart-of-accounts treatment, and from then on the same input always produces the same posting. It is the opposite of probabilistic, AI-scored matching. There is no confidence percentage, because the assignment is a lookup a person confirmed.
Read the definitionDealing with human approval gate in your operation?
Tell us where the work breaks today, and we'll help scope the governed workflow worth converting first.