SaaS Onboarding and Approval Workflows That Do Not Slow Teams Down
How to design a SaaS approval workflow with tiers by cost and data risk, so small purchases move in hours and high-risk ones get the review they need.
By the MI Solutions SAM team9 min read3 exhibits
A SaaS approval process has one job: make sure new software is worth buying, safe to use and recorded properly. If it is slow, people go around it with a card, and the organization ends up with more shadow IT, not less. The answer is a tiered workflow: fast for small, low-risk purchases; thorough for large or sensitive ones.
Three tiers
Exhibit 1
The tier is set by whichever is higher: cost or data risk. A cheap tool that will hold customer data is Tier 3; an expensive tool that holds nothing sensitive may be Tier 2.
Exhibit 2
The request form
Keep it to five questions. Every extra question is a reason to use a card instead.
01What problem does this solve?
In one or two sentences.
02How many users, and who?
Team, roles, and whether external users are involved.
03What data will it hold?
None, internal, or personal and customer data.
04What does it cost per year?
Including expected growth.
05Do we already have something that does this?
The requester checks the catalog first.
The checks by tier
Check
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
Catalog check
Yes
Yes
Yes
Budget approval
Manager
Finance
Finance
Security review
Self-assessment
Light review
Full review
Contract review
Standard terms
Key terms
Legal review
SSO required
Preferred
Yes
Yes
Exhibit 3
Make the approved route the easy route
Do
Publish the catalog of approved tools, searchable by capability.
Pre-approve common low-risk tools.
Report turnaround times by tier, every month.
Record every approved purchase with an owner and renewal date.
Avoid
A form with twenty questions for a $500 tool.
Approval queues with no service level.
Security reviews for tools that hold no company data.
Approving software without recording the contract.
How MI One helps
Frequently asked questions
What threshold should separate the tiers?
Set it to your organization's size and risk appetite, and review it yearly.
Should free tools need approval?
Yes, if they hold company data. Use the data-risk part of the tiering.
Who should own the workflow?
IT, with finance and security agreeing the thresholds and service levels.
See where your software budget goes
Bring your five largest vendors to a 30-minute call. Our SAM experts will show you where the savings usually hide, and how fast MI One can surface them.
