Using approvals in forms

How to get forms approved and rejected.

Form users can:

• Submit forms for approval
• Be notified when their forms are approved or rejected
• View their forms that are waiting for approval, and which have been approved or rejected

Approvers can:

• Be notified when they have been asked to approve forms
• View pending requests
• Accept or reject requests

Form users

Using an approval section

Form users initially see the Approval section as shown below.

They can select an approver then press “Submit for Approval”. That will Save to project, then submit.

If there are multiple approvals sections then they can use any of them. Approvals sections that are not required can be ignored.

If mandatory fields above an approval section aren't completed then users are allowed to “Save to Project” but they cannot submit for approval until all have been completed. Users are not required to complete later mandatory fields (below the approvals section) until after the approval or rejection.

When you submit a form for approval, if there is an error saving to project (for example if mandatory fields are empty) then you will need to fix the problem and submit again.

Form locking

When a form is submitted for approval, all parts above the approvals section are automatically locked so that they cannot be edited by the user or approver. However, the user can edit the form and choose “Clear Request” to withdraw the request for approval and remove the lock.

If there are other approvals section/s above then the edit lock is only removed for the parts of the form up until to the previously-completed approval section.

After a form is approved or rejected, the approver can edit the form and choose “Clear Approval” or “Clear Rejection”, which resets the form’s status to “Not Submitted for Approval” (like “Clear request” does). All of those options become unavailable when a form is closed.

Viewing forms that have been submitted for approval

Users can see in the Forms Register their forms that are waiting for approval, and those have been approved or rejected.

User notifications

After a form has been submitted for approval, when it is approved or rejected then the user is automatically sent a notification email with a summary and hyperlink to the form.

Approvers

Approver notifications

When a form is submitted for your approval then you will automatically be emailed the request, including a hyperlink to edit the form.

Viewing forms that are waiting for approval

Approver can see in the Forms Register all forms that are waiting their approval.

Accepting and rejecting

The approver can review the contents of the form, and then in the approval section press Approve or Reject. If approving, then they must also sign it. They can also enter a date and optional comment. If no date is entered then the current date will be assigned automatically.

Administration

Template administrators can:

• Add approval sections into form templates
• Choose which staff are Approvers

For details see Approvals Process - Admin