Publish - the approval workflow for processes
When a process has reached a final version, it must be published, and if approval is activated, be approved for publication, to be available for end users. To do that, you start an Approval Workflow.
The process must be checked in and all mandatory properties must be set before the Approval Workflow can be started. If all mandatory properties has not been added, the Approval Workflow can not be started.
Note! Properties can also have impact on who is available as approver.
Also note that, if it’s the first time the process is published, a page needs to be set up, with use of the process blocks, to make it possible for end users to access the process.
To publish a process, do the following:
Check that all metadata (Properties) are correct.
Check in the process.
Open the dot menu for the process and select “Publish”.
Something like the following may be shown:
Exactly which options are available here depends on a a number of settings. These are the common ones:
Publish New Edition/New Revision: If this is allowed, the author can decide if a new edition or a new revision should be published. A Revision does not need approval, and should most likely just be used for very simple edits, like typing errors, but it’s up to your organization to decide. This option is not shown the first time a process is published, as the first publication must be an Edition.
Approver: You select one approver from the list, or accept the suggested. Available approvers depends on various settings and how the system is set up.
Approval Due Date: Here you add a date when the approval should be made, at the latest. This is just information for the approver. The Approval workflow is not stopped if this date is passed.
Comments: Use this field for comments about what was edited/added in a new edition/revision. The field is not shown when the first edition is published. The field is mandatory when available.
Read rights: The default selection is to use the Default Readers Group from the site’s permissions. If, for some reason, the Read Rights for this particular document should be different, you can select “Limit Read Access”, and enter the names of the readers, or any group memberships, for example AD groups.
Add the settings needed.
Click SEND (of approval is needed) or PUBLISH (if it’s not).
When you click SEND (if approval is needed), a task is created for the approver, and an email is sent, with a link to the draft process. The task can look like this:
The approver automatically has read access to the process, meaning the approver can use the Preview mode only, until the task is completed. If a Notification Panel is set up for Tasks, the approver is also notified in the notification panel, and can choose to open the task from there.
The workflow will be active until the task is completed and the process will be locked for editing during that time. This is noted by the message “Waiting for approval” in the Drafts list:
Approved or Rejected
If the process is approved for publication, it’s now available for readers. You, the author, will receive an e-mail stating that.
If it’s rejected, there’s some changes the approver would like you to do. You will receive an e-mail stating that the process was rejected and a message from the approver. After changes has been made, you start a new Approval Workflow the same way as before.
Cancel an Approval workflow
An active Approval Workflow can be cancelled if needed. Here’s how:
Click “Waiting for Approval”.
Click “CANCEL APPROVAL WORKFLOW”.
