List every action the agent can hold, decide what authority each needs, then name individual people, not team inboxes, with deputies for each. Check that no approver is also the maker or conflicted, train them on what they are approving, load the roster into the agent's bounds, test the routing, and review it whenever someone joins, moves or leaves.
What is a named approver, and why does the name matter?
A named approver is the specific person who decides on an action the agent has held. The agent drafts the payment, the refund, the change or the letter; the named approver releases or rejects it. The name matters because accountability needs a person. "The finance team approved it" cannot be questioned later. "The named team leader approved it at 14:02 having seen the invoice" can.
The agent owner sets up the approver arrangements. Each approver's line manager confirms they have the authority and the time. Risk confirms that the arrangement meets separation of duties rules. HR data, through joiners and leavers, keeps the roster current.
What are the steps, and what evidence does each leave?
- Agent owner: lists every held action type for each capability: what the agent drafts and holds rather than completes. Evidence: the held action list.
- Agent owner and risk: set the authority each needs. Value bands, customer types, change types. A refund up to one level needs a team leader; above it, a manager. Evidence: the authority matrix.
- Agent owner: names approvers for each held action type and band, by individual. Evidence: the roster, in a form like the named approver roster template.
- Agent owner: names deputies for each approver, with the same authority, so absence never stops the queue. Evidence: deputies on the roster.
- Risk: checks independence. No approver reviews work they prepared, approves changes to their own records, or has a conflict with the customer or supplier involved. Evidence: the independence check.
- Line managers: confirm time. Approving takes time; managers confirm their people have it. Evidence: confirmation per approver.
- Agent owner: arranges training on what the agent does, what a held item shows, what to check and when to reject. Evidence: training records.
- Agent operations: loads the roster into the agent's bounds, so the platform routes each held item to the right person and refuses approval from anyone else. Evidence: the configuration and its version.
- Agent operations: tests routing with sample held items for each type and band, including deputy routing. Evidence: test results.
- Agent owner: reviews the roster monthly and whenever HR records a joiner, mover or leaver among approvers. Evidence: review log.
| Step | The agent does | Depth | Stays with a person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Held action list | Lists its held types from its bounds | 1 | Confirming |
| Authority | Nothing | none | Setting bands |
| Name approvers | Nothing | none | Choosing people |
| Deputies | Nothing | none | Choosing people |
| Independence | Flags conflicts it can see | 1 | Deciding |
| Time | Nothing | none | Managers confirm |
| Training | Nothing | none | Delivering |
| Load roster | Routes by roster | 1 | Configuring |
| Test | Routes test items | 1 | Checking results |
| Review | Flags roster changes from HR feed | 1 | Updating |
What should an approver see?
The approval screen decides whether approval is a real control or a click. An approver should see the action proposed, the evidence behind it with its provenance, the bound that held it, and anything the agent was unsure of. They should be able to open the source documents, not just the agent's summary.
They should also see how long the item has waited and what will happen if they do nothing. If the answer is "the customer waits", that should be plain.
Why do approvers need training?
Approving an agent's work is a different skill from doing the work. Approvers need to know what the agent is good at and where it tends to be wrong, which parts of the held item come from systems of record and which from the customer, and that the agent's confidence is not evidence. The argument is made in full in approvers need training too. Without training, approvers drift towards approving everything, because the agent is usually right.
How fast should approvers respond?
Fast enough that the service still works. Held items have their own clock, and the approver's response is usually the biggest part of it. Set a response level with each approver's manager, and include it in the agent's service levels, as described in how to set service levels for an AI agent. If approvers cannot meet it, either add approvers or keep the capability at a depth where fewer items are held.
What should you measure?
- Held item age, by approver and type.
- Approval, rejection and amendment rates, by approver. A rate of rejection near zero across many items deserves a look.
- Time spent per approval. Very short times on complex items suggest approval without review.
- Items routed to deputies, and why.
- Roster changes overdue: leavers still on the roster, or approvers who moved roles.
Where does it usually go wrong?
Approvers are teams. Held items go to a shared queue, someone approves, and the record shows a team. Name people.
No deputies. The approver goes on leave and the queue stops. Customers wait, and pressure builds to widen depth so items stop being held.
Leavers stay on the roster. HR records the leaver, but no one updates the roster. The agent routes items to an empty inbox, or worse, to someone who has moved to a conflicting role. Connect the roster review to HR events.
Authority is copied from another process. The approval limits from manual work are reused without thought. Agent-held items may need different bands, because the agent prepares many more of them.
Routing is not tested. The roster looks right on paper but the platform sends items to the wrong band. Test every route before go-live, following train, shadow, certify, widen.
Where Pryme fits
In Pryme, the roster is part of the agent's bounds: a held item can only be released by a named approver for that action type and band, and the verdict records who released it and what they saw. An approval from anyone else is refused.
Questions people ask
Can the agent choose which approver gets an item?
It routes by the roster's rules. It does not choose between approvers on its own judgement, and it never routes to someone outside the roster.
Can an approver delegate to someone not on the roster?
No. Delegation means updating the roster, with the same checks as any other approver.
How many approvers does each held action type need?
At least two people per type and band, the approver and a deputy, and more if the volume of held items is high.