Chatbots
Multi-step approvals in a Teams bot
A request that needs three approvals is not three separate conversations. Here’s how to model it as one.
Published by CloudFixies · 18 November 2025
The state machine
Model the approval as a directed graph: nodes for each approver, edges for outcomes (approve/reject/timeout). The bot holds the state; each approver sees only their step.
The SLA clock
Every node has a deadline. Deadlines auto-escalate. The requester sees the whole graph in one card, always fresh, always current.
◆ Takeaway
One conversation, one state machine, one adaptive card that updates as the graph advances.