Approval Workflow

Items can be sent through an approval process before publishing. Approvals are unanimous — every named approver must approve.

How It Works

1. Staff creates an item — no approvers yet.
2. The author or an admin adds approvers.
3. Each approver gets a notification with a review link.
4. Each clicks Approve when ready.
5. Once everyone has approved, the item is Approved and can go on a published agenda.

Approval State

Based on the approver list:

• No approvers — none added yet (the default for new items)
• Pending — at least one approver hasn't approved
• Rejected — an approver rejected with a reason. Advisory; doesn't block other approvers, and a later approval can clear it.
• Approved — every approver has approved, and no one has an active rejection

To push back without rejecting, leave a comment or talk to the author. Reject is the heavier signal — a public, visible flag that the item shouldn't move forward without changes.

Basic vs. Advanced Flows

• Basic — add approvers one at a time. Each is independent; any may approve in any order.
• Advanced (routines) — a reusable approver list with optional named steps. Applying a routine auto-populates the item's approvers. Step ordering is informational, not enforced.

Routines are managed from any item's Manage approvers dialog: build the approver list (with optional steps) and click Save as routine… to store it under a name. On other items, click Load routine… to pick a saved routine and apply it. Useful when the same pattern repeats across many items (e.g., "department head → finance → city attorney"). Saving and applying routines requires approval-routine:configure (Admin or Super Admin) and approval-routine:apply (Staff and above) respectively.

Removing Approvers

Admins can remove an approver at any time. The state recalculates from the remaining approvers — removing an unapproved approver from a 3-of-3 setup leaves the item Approved by the other two.

Approvers can Retract their own approval. That undoes their approval and the item drops back to Pending until they (or someone else) approves again.

Notifications

Approvers receive a notification (in-app + email per their preferences) with a direct review link. See Notifications.

Related

• Permissions & Roles — who can add approvers, apply routines, and approve
• Agenda Items — how approval state interacts with publishing