Record/Brief Publish Approvals- Overview

Modified on Thu, 21 May at 6:52 AM

Record Publish Approvals are workflows that require review and sign-off for database/form records (also commonly known as briefs, tasks, or projects) before they are published or made visible to other users.

This ensures that records meet your organisation's quality standards and approval requirements before being finalised or worked on.

Table of Contents

Applying a Publish Approval to a Database
Submitting Records for Approval
Reviewing an Approval
Staged Records and Approvals
Limitations

Applying a Publish Approval to a Database

Once a Publish Approval has been created by a Main Admin in the Admin > Workflows area (see this article for more details on how to set one up), it can be applied in one of two ways:

Global approval - if the approval has been created as a global process, it will automatically apply across all databases with no additional configuration needed.
Database-specific approval - if the approval is not global, it must be manually applied to each individual database where it is needed. Follow the steps below.

How to Apply a Workflow to a Database

1Navigate to the Database	Go to your Databases/Forms area and locate the database you want to apply the approval to.
2Open Database Settings	Select the three vertical dots on the database and choose Database Settings.
3Add the Workflow	In the Workflow setting, select Add Workflow and choose the relevant approval workflow from the list.
4Adjust Local Settings (Optional)	If local customization has been enabled, you can adjust database-level workflow settings here - for example, whether the Required By field is shown or which reviewers are assigned.
5Save	Select Save on the workflow, then Save on the Database Settings. The publish approval is now active on this database.

Note: If you need to enable Conditional Reviewers on your Publish Approval process (so that the approval request routes to different reviewers depending on different scenarios), please review the article here.

Submitting Records for Approval

Navigate to your database and create a new record or locate the record you want to make updates to.
Complete all required fields and ensure the record is ready for review.
Click the Submit button and fill out the remaining Request Approval fields. Note that if the approval process was set up as mandatory, Main Admins or Approval Admins will be able to override the approval request and publish records by unselecting the Request Approval checkbox.
Click Submit to alert reviewers and start the approval process.

Note: Once submitted, the record will not be visible in the database until the approval is completed.

Reviewing an Approval

Reviewers and requesters can access pending approval requests via the Approvals List in the platform navigation, or through a direct link in their email notification (if email notifications have been enabled for this workflow). The approvals list shows key information about each request, including the record name, status, who the approval is waiting on, required by date, the date/time the request was submitted, and the destination database.

How to Review and Respond

1Open the Request	In the Approvals List, go to the Actions column and select Review Request. This opens the approval response page.
2Review the Record and Details	The response page shows: a PDF version of the record, item details (record title/database), request details (requester, comments, required by date), and request status (who it is waiting on, how many approvals are still required).
3Markup / Proofing (Optional)	If you need to collaborate on updates prior to granting approval, navigate to the Markup tab to annotate the PDF record and leave comments. Refer to this article for full details on record proofing functionality.
4Submit Your Response	Go to the My Response section. Enter a response comment (this may be mandatory depending on workflow settings), then select Approve or Decline. Select Submit Response when done.

Complete Stage (Main Admins and Approval Admins Only)

Main Admins and Approval Admins will also see a Complete Stage option when submitting a response. Selecting this completes the approval request on its current stage immediately, regardless of whether other reviewers have responded. This is useful in situations where reviewers are unavailable - for example, if a reviewer has left the organisation and pending requests would otherwise be delayed indefinitely.

What Happens After Approval

If the workflow has multiple stages, the request is routed to the next stage of reviewers after each approval. Once all required approvals have been provided and the record is approved, the overall request is marked as "Approved" in the Approvals List, the requester is notified, and the record is published to the database.

Staged Records and Approvals

For databases that are Staged, offering a multi-step record creation process, the options are a little different.

Stage 1: When reviewing Stage 1 requests, you'll see the first stage content only.
Later Stages: When reviewing Stage 2 or beyond, you'll automatically see the relevant stage being approved, plus any previously completed stages.
Completed Staged Requests: Once approved, you can view all stages for reference.

Limitations

There are a few important constraints to keep in mind when working with Publish Approvals on records.

Declined Requests Cannot Be Reopened

Important: Once an approval request has been declined and completed, it cannot be reopened or resubmitted. The requester can edit the record from their Approvals List (or create a new record), but in either case this will start a new, separate approval request. This applies even if the decline was made by mistake or was intended only to communicate a minor change. This is worth noting from a reporting and auditing perspective, as you may see multiple approval requests for what is fundamentally the same record.

Decline Response on Staged Approvals

Important: If you are using a staged Publish Approval, the request only moves on to the next stage when a reviewer from the previous stage approves. Declined responses that complete the stage will close out the request. If the requester needs to put the record through approval again, this will start a new, separate request from the beginning (Stage 1). There is currently no way to choose which stage an approval request starts from.

Note: If you have questions about how your organisation's approval workflow has been configured, please check with your site administrator.