How to prevent authority rules and delegations from drifting across HR systems, ERP workflows, contract tools, and banking platforms - plus reconciliation tactics that work.
For the architectural pattern behind a canonical authority source, see Single Source of Truth for Authority.
Definition: Sync drift is the gradual divergence between authority rules as defined in a governing system of record and the actual approval routing, signatory lists, and access controls enforced in operational systems — creating gaps between intended governance and actual enforcement that accumulate over time.
Authority drift across systems is one of those problems that feels invisible until it becomes urgent: a blocked payment, a rejected bank instruction, or an audit request you can't answer cleanly. West Monroe's 2026 research found that 44 percent of executives cite bureaucratic processes as the top cause of slow decisions. Sync drift is a major contributor — it creates both unnecessary friction (when systems over-escalate due to stale rules) and unnecessary risk (when systems under-control due to outdated entitlements).
Drift usually shows up as mismatches between the authority matrix, delegated authority records, workflow routing rules, and signatory lists/bank entitlements. When these diverge, you get either unnecessary escalation (slow work) or under-control (higher risk).
| Drift Cause | Why It Happens | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Local workflow fixes | Routing rules changed to fix operational issues without updating the matrix | Workflow enforcement diverges from policy |
| HR-authority timing gap | HR updates happen daily; authority updates happen monthly or less | Stale delegations for role changes |
| Permanent temporary coverage | Temporary delegations created without expiration dates | Authority accumulates beyond intended scope |
| Ungoverned new entities | New entities/accounts added during growth without authority model updates | Gaps in coverage for new organizational structures |
| One-time integrations | Integrations built as projects, not living processes | Data flows break silently over time |
Drift is a systems problem, not a blame problem.
Decide where authority rules live and require other systems to reference it. This is the most important step.
Authority needs a timeline. If you can't answer "what was true on March 12th," you'll be forced into manual reconstruction.
Certain events should automatically trigger authority review: role changes and terminations, re-orgs, new entity/bank account creation, M&A cutovers, and creation of new approval workflows in downstream systems.
Even with integrations, run reconciliations: authority delegates vs HR status, delegations vs signatory lists, and matrix thresholds vs workflow routing rules. Start small. A monthly mismatch report is better than "we'll do it later."
Our recommendation: Start with the highest-risk reconciliation: compare your payment approval authority to actual payment workflow routing rules. This single check often reveals the largest enforcement gaps because payment systems are updated frequently for operational reasons without corresponding authority model updates.
Flag approvals executed outside the expected authority band, signatures executed without a matching approval record, and approvals by delegates whose authority is expired or revoked. Exception reporting creates the operational feedback loop (see Authority Monitoring and Reporting Metrics) that keeps the system healthy.
Aptly supports central authority governance with versioning, effective dates, and searchable access — and can integrate with downstream systems to reduce the manual work that typically causes drift.
In organizations with monthly or quarterly authority review cycles, measurable drift begins within weeks of any significant organizational change (re-org, M&A, rapid hiring). Without event-driven authority updates, most organizations have detectable mismatches between their authority matrix and system enforcement within 60–90 days of any major structural change.
The HR-authority timing gap. People change roles, get promoted, transfer, or leave the organization far more frequently than authority records are updated. This single drift pattern accounts for the majority of stale delegations and is the highest-priority integration to automate.
Practically, no. Some level of temporary divergence is normal in complex organizations. The goal is to detect drift quickly (through monitoring and reconciliation), keep the window of divergence short (through event-driven updates and integrations), and ensure that high-risk actions have stronger enforcement (through real-time validation for payments and signing).
Key metrics include: percentage of delegations matching current HR role assignments, number of expired or expiring delegations, count of workflow routing rules that diverge from matrix thresholds, signatory list entries without matching active delegations, and time between a role change event and corresponding authority update.
Connect with our team for a discovery session to learn more about how Aptly can help within your organization. If you are already a client and need support, contact us here.
