The policy matrix is not the path in the application
Why a laminated approval table can look complete while the live workflow still lets a request skip a named reviewer.
Finance teams in Kuala Lumpur often keep a tidy matrix: amount bands, cost centres, and named approvers. The application may display that table on a help screen while the live path uses a different rule set—delegates, acting roles, or a leftover configuration from the last reorganisation.
An approval-trail audit starts with a sample of completed documents, not with the policy PDF. If a purchase order can reach “approved” without the person the matrix names, the control exists on paper only.
We ask one practical question in the walkthrough: would internal audit accept this screenshot as evidence that the named person decided? If the answer is no, the configuration work belongs on the next change window, not in a footnote.