Internal vs external forwarding — how they work

Two kinds of forward

Forwarding lets a group member send a document to someone else before it continues in the flow. Nordflow supports two types, and they have different effects on who ends up responsible for the approval.

External forwarding

The document leaves the current group and enters the receiving group’s flow. The receiving group handles it — approving, escalating through their superior group, or forwarding further — and the document does not return to the group that forwarded it.

Use external forwarding when you want to transfer full responsibility. The original group is done with the document once they forward it.

Internal forwarding

The document is sent to a chosen recipient (a user or group) for their input. Once they act, the document returns to the original group, which still performs the final approval at that step.

Use internal forwarding when you need advice or a check but want to remain the approver of record.

What forwarding does not bypass

When a document is forwarded, the receiving group’s own rules still apply in full: their approval limits, superior-group escalation, and multi-member requirements all take effect. First-approval routing is not re-triggered — the forward goes directly to the specified destination.

Activity log

Every forward is recorded in the document’s activity history: who forwarded, from which group, to which destination, the attached note, the type (internal or external), and a timestamp. The receiving group can see this context when the document arrives in their overview.