Approval describes gaining the customer's or contractee’s acceptance at the end of a project by successfully delivering goods and services that meet the requirements that were set at the beginning of the project. Immediately after the production of the agreed goods or services the customer or contractee is entitled to a delivery which completes the order. The contractor is responsible for keeping the customer or contractee informed of the progress of the product completion. Approval is therefore a fundamental milestone that is very important for the project because it allows the customer or contractee to determine whether the contractor has delivered a product that meets the agreed upon goals. Without it, a project is not successfully completed, even if it was finished within time and/or budget.
By accepting the project's deliverables, the customer acknowledges that the delivered product or service is complete, which means it can be used for its intended purpose. In the context of project management, various instances of approval can take place within a project, such as the approval of the project plan or the adjustment of the scope during the process of the project. In this case approval means keeping all stakeholders up-to date on the project status and thus progressing to the next phases of the project.