Standard operating procedure · SL6A · Sales

Deal Approval

Transactional procedure owned by Deal Desk & Approvals in Sales. 8 numbered steps, 2 of them a person deciding and 6 of them agent work … more

Sales manual Service view

Procedure code

SL6A

Transactional

Rule versions in force

v3.3 · v2.0 · v2.8

3 governing rules stacked over it

In force since

2025-01-09

Earliest effective date across those rules

Last reviewed

2026-08-05

Latest review date across those rules

Rules approved by

Director, Deal Desk

Rule health

3/3

0 under review · 0 superseded

There is no document register behind this header. The version, the dates and the approver names are read off the governing rules this procedure runs inside, which is the closest thing the estate holds to a document control record. Nobody wrote these procedures. There is no document library behind this page and no Word file anywhere in the estate. Every procedure below is generated from rows this platform already holds: the line and its ordered stations, the owning team and the person accountable for it, the policy items bound to that team, and the governance gates seeded against the function. The steps, the owners, the gates, the approvers, the dwell times and the volumes are read straight off those rows. The sentences that join them together are generated. Read a procedure as the estate describing itself, not as a document somebody signed.

Purpose and scope

What this procedure is for and where it stops

To run deal approval to one repeatable standard inside Deal Desk & Approvals, part of Sales. more

Entry condition

Runs transactional. Starts when a scheduled window opens.

Exit condition

The unit clears release to quote. more

In scope

Every unit of deal approval raised inside Deal Desk & Approvals, from the trigger below through to the final step.
6 of the 8 steps, which run without a person present.
2 decisions that stop the line until a named person releases it.

Out of scope

Anything outside the envelope set by the owning team. It leaves the line at a gate and becomes the named approver's decision.
Work that belongs to another function. This line hands off to finance, legal, revenue-operations and does not follow the unit there.
The 1 step carried on the shared AI GBS spine. They are done for this line but not by this function.

Who owns it

Runs the line

Deal Desk Orchestrator

Accountable person

Director, Deal Desk

The end of the escalation path. Above them sits Sales Chief of Staff for the function.

That team’s remit

Owns deal work end to end inside Sales. more

That remit describes the whole team, not this one procedure, so its counts are larger than the ones on this page.

Autonomy

76% now · ceiling 76%

In-policy deals clear automatically with evidence posted. more

The procedure, step by step

8 numbered steps · 2 of them stop for a person

A step is one station on the line. more

No.	Step	Who does it	What happens	System of record	Time on the step	In flight
01	Submit Agentworkflow	Discount Policy Agent	Discount Policy Agent performs this step unattended at the workflow layer, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Customer Relationship Management	2.2 hrsstandard 2.8 hrs	27
02	Policy screen GBSgbs	Approval Routing Agent	Approval Routing Agent performs this step unattended on the shared AI GBS transaction spine, outside the function, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Customer Relationship Management	35 minstandard 1.0 hrs	10
03	Margin model Agentworkflow	Non-standard Terms Agent	Non-standard Terms Agent performs this step unattended at the workflow layer, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Contract Lifecycle Management	1.3 hrsstandard 3.0 hrs	28
04	Precedent check Agentworkflow	Approval Routing Agent	Approval Routing Agent performs this step unattended at the workflow layer, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Configure, Price and Quote	1.6 hrsstandard 3.5 hrs	34
05	Route approvers Agentworkflow	Precedent Lookup Agent	Precedent Lookup Agent performs this step unattended at the workflow layer, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.	Customer Relationship Management	1.3 hrsstandard 2.6 hrs	18
06	Finance approve HumanpolicyDecision	Director, Deal Desk Releases: Director, Deal Desk	Work stops. Director, Deal Desk reviews what the line has produced and either releases the unit or sends it back. Nothing downstream of this step runs until that decision is made.Holds until: Held for a named human when the unit exceeds the deal decision envelope, when confidence falls below the floor, or when a policy clause is engaged.Hands off to finance	Contract Lifecycle Management	9.5 hrsstandard 18.6 hrs	3
07	Legal approve HumanpolicyDecision	Director, Deal Desk Releases: Director, Deal Desk	Work stops. Director, Deal Desk reviews what the line has produced and either releases the unit or sends it back. Nothing downstream of this step runs until that decision is made.Holds until: Held for a named human when the unit exceeds the deal decision envelope, when confidence falls below the floor, or when a policy clause is engaged.Hands off to legal	Contract Lifecycle Management	8.4 hrsstandard 11.6 hrs	7
08	Release to quote Agentworkflow	Deal Desk Orchestrator	Deal Desk Orchestrator performs this step unattended at the workflow layer, inside the envelope its owning team has set, and writes an evidence record naming the actor, the authority it acted under and the digests of what it read and wrote.Hands off to revenue-operations	Contract Lifecycle Management	2.5 hrsstandard 3.4 hrs	21

The swimlane

The same steps, laid out by who is holding the work

Three lanes: a person deciding, an agent working, and the shared services spine. more

Person2 stations and 65% of the dwellAgent5 stations and 32% of the dwellShared spine1 station and 2% of the dwell4 crossings between lanes

Human

decides

Agent

does the work

GBS

shared spine

System

attributed by rule

Customer Relationship Management

Contract Lifecycle Management

Configure, Price and Quote

Customer Relationship Management

Contract Lifecycle Management

Click any station to see who does it, what it costs in time, the rule that gates it and the system attributed to it.

Run the procedure

One unit walked along that swimlane on the happy viable agentified path

Press run and a single unit enters at station 01. Each station takes exactly the dwell this platform records for it and is held by whoever the estate says holds it. more

speed

worked clock

00:00

allowance clock

00:00

stations cleared

0/8

the happy path, worked time0 min of 27 hrs

the same run against its allowance0 min of 47 hrs

Human

decides · 2

Agent

does the work · 5

GBS

shared spine · 1

run log

Nothing has happened yet. more

where the worked time goes27 hrs a unit

Person18 hrs · 65%Agent8.9 hrs · 32%Shared spine35 min · 2%4 crossings between lanes

what makes this path viable

The lanes are the recorded lanes. 2 of the 8 stations stop for a person and every one of them still does on this run.
Every one of the 2 decisions is still taken by the people who hold them. The happy path is that each one is released first time, not that it is skipped.
The owning team is held to a 76% autonomy ceiling and this run sits at 35% unattended, inside it.
3 systems are attributed across the stations, and 0 of them are connected. Nothing in this run has been watched executing against a real system of record.

what would have to change

1 of the 2 decisions can be handed over inside the 76% ceiling. more

could move to the agent lane

06 Finance approve — held by Director, Deal Desk, 9.5 hrs a unit

stays with a person

07 Legal approve — The last decision on the line. Something on every procedure ends with a person, so this one is never offered.

what this run is, and what it is not

This is a run, not a forecast. more

Happy means nothing goes wrong: no station raises an exception, no gate sends the unit back, no rework loop fires and nothing sits in a queue between stations. more

The second clock is the allowance. more

A decision may be handed to the agent lane only if two things hold … more

The run reads the station rows only. more

What this run does not model: arrival patterns, contention between procedures for the same person, shift patterns, weekends, learning curves, and the cost of anything. more

Run it again, going wrong

The same unit, the same stations, broken the way the estate already records breaking

This is the same unit on the same stations, breaking. more

No break below was chosen. more

One play head, two tracks, the same scale. The clean run stops when it runs out of stations; the other one keeps going.

As written

8 stations, nothing waiting, nothing sent back

0 min of 27 hrs

now Submit · Discount Policy Agent · 2.2 hrs

As the ledger has it

the same stations, plus 6 categories the estate already counts

0 min of 2.5 days

now Submit · Discount Policy Agent · 2.2 hrs

personagentshared spinework the break addsnobody working it

What breaks, and where it is counted

No break below was chosen. more

What the two runs say together

6 counted categories land on this procedure. more

What this run cannot claim

These breaks are shown together on one unit so the shape of a bad day fits on one screen. more

The separation register records a duty conflict against a sub-function and a named post, not against one procedure. more

Two clocks run. Worked time is the sum of the time the work is actually being done … more

Roles and responsibilities

7 named parties

The responsibility grid is assigned by a rule, not lifted from a chart. more

Party	RACI	Steps	Duty	Escalates to
Deal Desk Orchestrator orchestrator	Runs the line	0	Sequences this line, holds its timetable and decides what has to surface to a person. more	Raises to Director, Deal Desk when a unit falls outside the envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Discount Policy Agent agent A2% autonomy · ceiling A3% 91% clean · 10% overridden	Responsible	1	Holds the rules that bind every other agent in deal desk & approvals. more	Escalates on any decision that would breach a live policy version, with the clause cited.
Approval Routing Agent agent A4% autonomy · ceiling A4% 99% clean · 8% overridden	Responsible	2	Runs the repeatable portion of requisition & po inside the shared transaction spine at spine cost and spine controls.	Escalates to Director, Procurement Operations when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Non-standard Terms Agent agent A3% autonomy · ceiling A3% 91% clean · 3% overridden	Responsible	1	Executes the deal desk & approvals step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.	Escalates to Director, Deal Desk when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Precedent Lookup Agent agent A3% autonomy · ceiling A3% 96% clean · 6% overridden	Responsible	1	Executes the deal desk & approvals step it owns, posts its evidence, and hands the unit to the next stage.	Escalates to Director, Deal Desk when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.
Director, Deal Desk person	Accountable and responsible	2	Holds 2 decisions on this line. more	Accountable to Director, Deal Desk for the decisions held here.
Deal Desk Orchestrator agent A3% autonomy · ceiling A3% 93% clean · 13% overridden	Responsible	1	Owns the deal desk & approvals lane end to end. more	Escalates to Director, Deal Desk when the unit falls outside the decision envelope or confidence drops below the floor.

Decision points and escalation

2 places this procedure stops

06 · Finance approve

9.5 hrs

Held for a named human when the unit exceeds the deal decision envelope, when confidence falls below the floor, or when a policy clause is engaged.

Director, Deal Desk

07 · Legal approve

8.4 hrs

Held for a named human when the unit exceeds the deal decision envelope, when confidence falls below the floor, or when a policy clause is engaged.

Director, Deal Desk

Handoffs out of this procedure

Step 06 Finance approve passes the work to finance.

Step 07 Legal approve passes the work to legal.

Step 08 Release to quote passes the work to revenue-operations.

The rules this procedure runs inside

3 governing rules

Deal Desk & Approvals Decision Envelope

active

SL6-POL-200 · envelope · vv3.3

Agents in this lane may act without a human when the deal sits inside the stated value, risk and confidence envelope. more

Approved by Director, Deal Desk · in force 2025-10-16 · reviewed 2026-08-05

Binds Margin Impact Agent, Non-standard Terms Agent, Approval Routing Agent, Precedent Lookup Agent, Revenue Impact Agent

EU · UK · US

Deal Desk & Approvals Evidence Standard

active

SL6-POL-201 · evidence · vv2.0

Every autonomous decision writes inputs, the rule version applied, the model and prompt version, the output and a reversal path. more

Approved by Director, Deal Desk · in force 2025-01-09 · reviewed 2026-07-31

Binds Margin Impact Agent, Non-standard Terms Agent, Approval Routing Agent, Precedent Lookup Agent, Revenue Impact Agent

Global

Deal Desk & Approvals Escalation Rule

active

SL6-POL-202 · escalation · vv2.8

Escalation is mandatory when confidence falls below the floor, when two options sit inside the confidence band, or when a break condition on a ratified position fires. more

Approved by Director, Deal Desk · in force 2025-04-10 · reviewed 2026-07-14

Binds Margin Impact Agent, Non-standard Terms Agent, Approval Routing Agent, Precedent Lookup Agent, Revenue Impact Agent

EU · UK

Systems this procedure touches

3 named · 0 connected

System attribution is a rule, not a reading. more

System	Vendor	Domain	Criticality	Steps	Connection
Contract Lifecycle Management	Icertis	legal	high	4	modeled
Customer Relationship Management	Salesforce Sales Cloud	crm	critical	3	modeled
Configure, Price and Quote	Salesforce CPQ	crm	high	1	modeled

0 of the 3 systems on this procedure is connected to the platform, and none of the twenty-six in the estate register is. 2 of them are marked as taking a write back, which is a property of the system, not a live path from here.

How it performs

End to end

27.4 hrs

Summed from the time each step sits, standard 46.6 hrs — running at 59% of the standard.

Touchless

78%

Agent share

75%

A week

3,120

In flight

148

Effort a week

1,073 human minutes · 568 agent minutes

Volume multiplied by the time on each step. more

Assurance over this procedure

4 governance gates sit above it

The twenty-four controls and eighteen exception classes in this platform are held at estate level … more

Gate	What trips it	Who releases it	Clock	Waivable
Mass campaign above 500 recipients approval	Any bounded outreach exceeding 500 recipients in a rolling 24 hours	Sales leader	4 business hours	No
Nonstandard commercial statement approval	Any language outside the approved commercial library	Deal desk	1 business day	No
Protected or executive account contact escalation	Outreach to named strategic, executive or legally protected accounts	Account executive	2 business hours	No
Evidence provenance audit oversight	Weekly sample of 5% of agent-produced customer briefs	Sales operations	Weekly	Yes

Next to it on the same team

Deal Desk & Approvals

Exception Precedent Build

SL6B

Discount Doctrine Position

SL6C

All of Sales

What this document is and is not

These procedures describe the modeled estate. more

Actions

What is waiting on a person

What one procedure document gives you, and what to check before you treat it as the standard.

151

named approvers appear across the library

Every decision point on every procedure carries a job title, not a queue. more

143

steps in the library hand their unit to another function

A handoff is where a procedure stops being one team’s problem. more

controls exist in the estate, and they belong to no procedure in particular

Controls and exception classes are held estate-wide. more

Operations

What this desk is allowed to start

A surface that only reports is not operable. more

Trigger and bound

A procedure document prints purpose, scope, entry and exit, the numbered steps with the actor on each, the roles and their RACI position, the swimlane, the decision points and escalation, the handoffs, the governing rules with version and approver, the systems by rule and the timings. more

Live observability

What the record shows right now

The whole library, by lane, so a single document can be read against the estate it came from. more

Current distribution

2,748 steps

Agent, inside the function1,38951%

Agent, on the shared spine85131%

Person deciding at a gate50818%

Is policy and strategy coming to fruition

Whether the written intent is holding here

Half. The document is complete and every actor on it is measured more

Not holding on the record

A procedure here carries a version, an approver, an in-force date and a last-review date. more