Appears that we have two discussions in parallel ?
(a) steep descent prior to conducting a normal ILS or similar.
This is something we often had to contend with on the Classic in Oz. One watched what ATC was doing to the profile like a hawk as the aircraft got closer in ... and the calculation below was run constantly in the mind so that the need for an orbit was known throughout ..
Easiest way to plan for it was to
(i) start from the desired configuration and speed spun up in the slot at one's desired distance to run to touch,
(ii) work the calculation backwards
(iii) include an appropriate distance/height (level always made it much easier all round) for landing onfiguration change and slow down to final approach speed
(iv) figure on about 1nm/1000ft gear down, approach flap, idle thrust and a little below limit flap speed - our SOP rules required us to be spun up with land flap regardless of height .. which defeated the aim of the exercise .. hence approach flap to get down. The airline had been a heavy user of B727 for which land flap with idle thrust was frowned upon by all. Habits die hard ...
Generally worked out real fine and just needed the pilot to massage speed a knot or two up or down during descent to stay on the desired profile. Mind you, the pilot had to be able to do simple arithmetic.
(b) steep approach once on the final approach.
This depends on the SOP configuration sequence.
In general we rolled over into the final descent (eg ILS) at 3000ft agl 210kt clean with a requirement to be at final approach speed in the landing configuration and spun up by 1500ft.
Not much room for excess height but the sequence generally worked like a dream unless there was more than a modest tailwind with which to contend. That just meant starting with some flap and the appropriate speed for that flap.
If the approach were commenced in a part flap and reduced speed configuration, eg as per standard OEM, one could trade some initial excess height without compromising the final gate requirement.
As a general rule, not a good technique as it just loaded the crew up and increased the chances of an unsatisfactory outcome with the need for a miss .. which wasted a lot more time than requesting an orbit first time around.