Approval timing: due windows, reminders and out of office — When the window blows: escalation

Each stage picks what happens when an ask goes past due: • Notify — tell the requester and a named person; the ask stays put. • Add an approver — a named person joins the round alongside the original approver. • Reassign — the stale ask is retired and a fresh one goes to the named person, carrying a visible for {name} trail. • Auto-approve / Auto-reject — the overdue ask decides itself, and writes an explanatory note saying so. There are no silent robot decisions: an auto-outcome always reads as one in the trail. The due window is the escalation clock — one clock per stage, not separate timers to keep consistent. A stage with no due window never escalates.