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Approving a campaign headline and authorizing a reward release are different decisions. One creates a customer promise; the other permits an action under that promise. When both are treated as ordinary campaign administration, a routine edit can expand commitments without the responsible person realizing it.
An operating team needs a decision-rights matrix that connects each consequential action to its authorized owner. This is a control for an already defined merchant program, not another general launch questionnaire.
Map decisions that create or change commitments
Begin with decisions that change what the customer can expect. A new reward amount, qualifying product scope, effective period, or recipient condition can change the promise. A correction to a typo may not. The distinction depends on substance, so the person proposing an edit should describe its effect rather than label every change “content.”
Next list decisions that move an existing case forward. Confirming evidence, approving an exception, and authorizing release may have different owners. The team should be able to explain which decision has been made without assuming that one approval silently covers the others.
Consider a hypothetical Shopify merchant with a campaign manager, an operations reviewer, a finance approver, and a business owner. The campaign manager can prepare new copy. The reviewer assesses cases under approved conditions. The finance approver authorizes the relevant release step within delegated limits. The business owner accepts changes that create a new commercial commitment.
This is an illustrative division of responsibility. A small merchant may combine some roles, while its provider arrangement may assign particular decisions elsewhere. The matrix should reflect those actual arrangements and make combined roles visible instead of pretending that job titles alone create independence.
Assign approval limits and independent review
Use a filled matrix to test the design. Limits below are described qualitatively because actual amounts and authority must be set by the merchant and relevant agreements.
| Decision | May prepare | May approve | Evidence required before action |
|---|---|---|---|
| New customer reward promise | Campaign manager | Authorized business owner, with required program review | Approved offer version and defined scope |
| Routine case assessment under that offer | Operations reviewer | Role authorized for the specific decision | Purchase context and recorded rule applied |
| Release of an approved reward | Authorized operator prepares the release set | Designated release approver under the agreed process | Approved cases, permitted release scope, and required funding confirmation |
| Exception outside ordinary conditions | Case owner gathers facts | Named exception authority | Reason, customer promise, and permitted action |
| Copy correction with no commercial change | Content editor | Assigned publication reviewer | Comparison showing that the promise is unchanged |
| Temporary delegation during absence | Team lead proposes | Owner authorized to delegate that decision | Scope, start, end, and replacement reviewer |
Shopify’s roles documentation explains roles as sets of permissions, with availability depending on the store’s context. Technical permission is still different from business authority: an account may be able to click a control without the user being authorized to make the underlying commercial decision.
Map the actual system access to the matrix after the decision rights are clear. Where the available tool cannot enforce the intended separation directly, document a practical independent review or other approved control. Do not claim a separation exists merely because a policy document names two people.
A difficult case is the owner who proposes and approves an urgent change in a very small team. Record that the roles are combined, identify any required external or later independent review, and preserve the decision evidence. Inventing a second approver who only rubber-stamps the owner’s decision provides little clarity.
Document delegated authority and exceptions
Delegation should identify the action, limit, duration, and evidence route. “Cover for me this week” leaves too much open. A better fictional record says: “Operations deputy may approve routine release sets already assessed under offer V3 during the stated absence; commercial amendments and exceptions remain with the business owner.”
Include what happens when the delegated person reaches the boundary. They need an available escalation route, not a rule that can only be followed while the absent owner is online. If no authorized substitute exists, the business may need to defer the affected action rather than expand authority informally.
Review exceptions as decisions, not just notes. An exception record should show who requested it, why the ordinary path did not apply, who approved the permitted action, and whether the exception changes future policy. A one-off customer decision should not silently become a rule for the next hundred cases.
Keep authorization evidence connected to the action it covers. An approval of offer V3 does not necessarily authorize a later V4 amendment. An approval of one release set should not be reused after additional awards are added. The operator needs to know whether the reviewed object is still the object being acted upon.
Test the matrix with a short tabletop: the campaign manager increases the advertised reward while the release approver is away. Ask who can approve the new promise, whether earlier cases remain under the old version, and who can authorize the next release. If participants answer differently, resolve the authority gap before a live change creates it.
Do not overload the matrix with every routine click. Focus on actions that create, change, approve, or execute commitments. A concise matrix with real boundaries is more usable than a lengthy approval chain that staff bypass because it treats harmless edits and consequential decisions identically.
The completed record should let an operator answer two separate questions: “Is this customer action permitted under the approved offer?” and “Am I authorized to perform or approve this step?” Keeping those questions distinct makes routine campaign work easier to administer without allowing ordinary access to become unlimited authority.
Discuss the decision controls your rebate program needs before assigning team responsibilities. Discuss program fit.
Source references
This guide is general information, not financial, legal, tax or regulatory advice. Eligibility, card availability, permitted use and responsibilities depend on the applicable offer and card terms.