An individual at the University who is authorized to grant a request to access Electronically Stored Information (ESI). This may include an individual who has been designated, either permanently or temporarily, by another individual to serve in the role of authorizing official on their behalf. The authorizing official (a.k.a approver) typically would be from within the same department, business unit, or reporting area, and must be at least two levels above the affected individual(s) on an organizational chart (except where the affected individual is the president or vice-president). The authorizing official is a person in a higher-level position of authority who is able to determine appropriateness and reasonableness after reviewing the applicable policies and standards related to the request. For most situations, the authorizing official will be either the department chairs or heads or their assigned designee, or the President or delegated representative, such as the Vice-Presidents and Deans or their assigned designee, depending on the affected user and requested access.