Bayou & Co. requires that any new SOP touching their client intake procedure be reviewed by their compliance lead, Mei Lin, before it goes live. By designating her as a required approver, the process cannot be published until she has reviewed and approved the steps — the system enforces it automatically.
Here's how to configure and use the approval workflow.
Before you start
- The process must be in Draft status. Approvers can only be set on draft processes.
- You need admin-level access to set approvers and submit for approval.
- The designated approvers must be workspace members holding process approval permission.
Step 1: Open the Required approvers section
Navigate to Process → Library, open the process, and find the Required approvers card below the process metadata. This card is visible to admins whenever the process is in Draft or Pending approval status.
If no approvers are set, publishing is blocked when the category requires approval.
Step 2: Add approvers
Click Edit in the Required approvers card and select the members who must sign off. When you save, each selected member becomes a required approver for this process.
Click Save approvers. The card updates to show the count of required approvers.
Category defaults: in Settings → Modules → Process, turn on Require approval before publish for a category, then select Default approvers. Defaults are copied when a process is created in or moved into that category, only when it has no approvers of its own. You can edit the copied list on each process. Changing category defaults does not change existing processes.
Clearing a process's approvers does not bypass a category's approval requirement. Publishing with no approvers returns: "This category requires approval: add approvers to the process or set default approvers on the category." Add approvers directly to an existing process; category defaults apply on assignment.
Step 3: Submit for approval
Once approvers are set, the Publish button on the process detail page is replaced by Submit for approval (the button is still disabled if the process has no steps).
Click Submit for approval. The process status changes to Pending approval. A pending approval record is created for each designated approver. The process cannot be run until all approvals are received.
The Required approvers card now shows each approver's name and their current approval status (Pending, Approved, or Rejected), along with any rejection reason.
Step 4: Review and approve (approver's view)
Designated approvers see the process listed on the Process → Needs my approval page (shown as "Needs my approval" in the sidebar navigation). This page lists every process in Pending approval status that is waiting on their sign-off.
To review and act on a process:
- Click the process title to open its detail page.
- Review the steps on the Steps tab.
- Use the action buttons in the page header:
- Approve — approve the process. If you are the last required approver, the process status immediately changes to Active and becomes runnable.
- Reject — opens a dialog requiring a rejection reason. Enter a description of what needs to be corrected and click Reject. The process returns to Draft status and the reason is recorded.
These buttons appear only to users who are designated approvers for this specific process and have a pending approval record.
Step 5: After rejection
When a process is rejected, it returns to Draft status. The rejection reason is shown in the Required approvers card for the admin to review. The admin can revise the steps, then click Submit for approval again to restart the approval cycle.
Audit log entries
Every approval action is recorded in Settings → Audit log:
| Event | Audit label |
|---|---|
| Approvers added or changed | Process approvers updated |
| Process submitted for approval | Process submitted for approval |
| Approver approves | Process approved |
| Approver rejects | Process approval rejected |
Status flow reference
Draft → (submit for approval) → Pending approval → (all approved) → Active
↑
(rejected) → Draft ┘
Tips
- A process with approvers set uses "Submit for approval" instead of "Publish" — the UI swap is automatic.
- If all required approvers approve, the process goes live without any additional admin action.
- Only one rejection is needed to return the process to Draft; all other pending approvals are reset.
- There is no way to remove or skip an approver once a process is in Pending approval status. If the approver list needs to change, the process must be rejected or the approval must complete before approvers can be edited.
- Archiving an active process that went through approval does not require re-approval; the archive action is direct.
What comes next
With an active process, any contributor, advisor, admin, or owner can start a run (viewers cannot). See How to run an SOP as a checklist.