Gate Approvals

Gate Approvals are the governance checkpoint through which initiatives must pass before they are permitted to move into active delivery. The gate ensures that initiatives have a documented business case and have received formal sign-off from an authorised decision-maker before resources are committed.

What a gate is

A gate is a decision point in the initiative lifecycle. When an initiative reaches the gate, a designated Approver reviews the business case — the initiative's rationale, expected value, allocated budget, risk level, and confidence level — and makes a formal decision: approve or reject.

In StartConsole, the gate approval workflow is triggered automatically when an initiative's status is set to Proposed. If gate mode is set to Strict, the initiative cannot move to Active status without an approved gate decision.

The Gate Approvals screen

Navigate to Portfolio > Gate Approvals to see all initiatives currently awaiting a gate decision. Each row shows:

• The initiative name and owner
• The date the gate was triggered (the date status was set to Proposed)
• The current stage of the gate review
• The assigned Approver

Approvers receive an in-app notification and an email notification when an initiative is submitted for gate review.

Approver roles

Only users with the Admin role can act as a gate Approver. If your organisation has a specific governance committee responsible for investment decisions, ensure that committee members have Admin access in StartConsole.

A single Approver is assigned per gate review. Multi-approver workflows (e.g. requiring two sign-offs) are not currently supported — use the Comments section on the gate review to document input from multiple reviewers before the assigned Approver records the formal decision.

The approve and reject actions

From the Gate Approvals screen or the initiative detail page, an Approver can:

Approve — The initiative is approved to proceed. Status automatically updates to Active (in Strict mode). The approval is recorded with the Approver's name, the date, and any comment they added.

Reject — The initiative is not approved. Status returns to Proposed (or a specified earlier stage). The Approver must add a comment explaining the reason for rejection. The initiative owner is notified of the outcome.