Approving and rejecting

When a workflow step is waiting on you, you respond on the record itself: choose an outcome on a decision, or complete a task. This article covers finding those steps, responding, and what happens next.

• My Items lists the records waiting on you, by tool. Select a row to open the record. Steps on equipment, incidents, passive fire and safety data sheets don't appear there.
• Email reaches you when the workflow has a Notify block for the step, or the step sends reminders. The button in the email opens the record. You can't respond from the email itself.
• The record shows the step in its workflow strip, below the title.

On Contracts, Procurement, Site Diary, Submittals and Timesheets, My Items also lists Upcoming in Your Queue: steps that name you and will reach you once the steps before them are done.

1. Open the record.
2. In the Your turn card at the bottom of the record, optionally enter a note.
3. Select an outcome, such as Approve or Reject.

If the outcome requires a note and you haven't entered one, a dialog opens. Enter the Notes, then select the outcome again.

The outcome buttons also sit at the right of the workflow strip. On a phone, a step with more than one outcome shows a single Respond button.

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On a submittal, every outcome opens a dialog before you confirm:

1. Select the outcome.
2. Enter a Comment. Some outcomes require one.
3. Optionally, select Attach Files to add marked-up drawings.
4. Select the outcome again to confirm.

Submittals are the only tool where a response can carry files.

1. Open the record.
2. Select Complete.
3. If the task requires a note, enter it in the Complete Task dialog and select Complete.

A task with completion requirements can't be completed until they're met.

• Permits: Approve, Reject
• Method statements: Accept, Reject
• Observations: Verify or Reject, then Close or Reject
• Submittals: Approved, Approved as noted, For information only, Revise and resubmit, Rejected

Every rejection in the default workflows requires a note.

A rejection moves the record on straight away, without waiting for anyone else on the step. The workflow decides where it goes:

• In most default workflows, including permits, progress claims and method statements, the submitter is given a Revise and resubmit task. When they complete it, the record returns to the same review.
• On submittals, Revise and resubmit and Rejected end the run. The revision is submitted as a new submittal.

The rejection and its note show in an amber chip on the workflow strip.

• The step is with someone else. The card at the bottom of the record reads "Waiting for" and names them.
• You don't hold the permission the tool requires. On most tools, being assigned to a step isn't enough without the tool's approval permission. Learn more about who can act on a step.
• Someone has already responded. On a step where the first response decides, the record has moved on. On a step that needs everyone, the card reads "Waiting for the remaining participants to respond."
• You're a guest on a contract or procurement step. Guests can't decide progress claims, variations or contract execution, and procurement is host only.

• The step is waiting on a condition. The step reads "Waiting:" followed by the condition, such as no open linked defects, and the card reads "Waiting for the condition to be met."
• The step is waiting for a time or a date. The card reads "Waiting for the scheduled time."
• The workflow has stopped. The record shows Workflow needs attention, with the reason. Teralo emails the host organisation's project administrators and organisation administrators. Fix the cause, then select Retry on the record.

A workflow stops when a step finds nobody to act, because no one holds the permission or the record's field is empty, or when a block that runs on its own fails.

Point at a chip on the workflow strip to see its outcome and when it was completed, or who the current step is waiting on.

Select any chip to open the approval history. It lists each completed step with its outcome, who chose it, when, and any note, then the current step with the people on it, then the steps still to come.

Responses can't be edited, and later edits to the workflow template don't change them.