Hi John,
The only way to make the project status change to Approved automatically is to use the Approved status as the trigger for your approval. If you are concerned that the user won't trigger the approval and instead just change the status, you can create a report that shows the approval path details. I use this to capture the approval workflow end to end.
column.17.displayname=Project Approval Flow Details
column.17.sharecol=true
column.17.textmode=true
column.17.usewidths=true
column.17.value=<strong>Approval Start Date: </strong>
column.17.valueformat=HTML
column.17.width=200
column.18.linkedname=direct
column.18.namekey=approvalStartDate
column.18.querysort=approvalStartDate
column.18.sharecol=true
column.18.textmode=true
column.18.valuefield=approvalStartDate
column.18.valueformat=atDate
column.19.sharecol=true
column.19.textmode=true
column.19.value=<hr><strong>Approver by Stage:<br></strong>
column.19.valueformat=HTML
column.19.width=200
column.20.displayname=Approver
column.20.listdelimiter=<br>
column.20.listmethod=nested(approverStatuses).lists
column.20.sharecol=true
column.20.textmode=true
column.20.type=iterate
column.20.usewidths=true
column.20.valueexpression=CONCAT({approvalStep}," - ", {approvedBy}.{name}, " ")
column.20.valueformat=HTML
column.20.width=200
column.21.sharecol=true
column.21.textmode=true
column.21.value=<hr><strong>Approval/Rejected Date: </strong>
column.21.valueformat=HTML
column.21.width=200
column.22.displayname=
column.22.linkedname=direct
column.22.namekey=approvalCompletionDate
column.22.querysort=approvalCompletionDate
column.22.textmode=true
column.22.usewidths=true
column.22.valuefield=approvalCompletionDate
column.22.valueformat=atDate
column.22.width=200
I'm not aware of a workaround of any kind.
Hope this helps,
Teale