Understanding Approval Processing
When you need to approve changes to tests, specifications, and preferences, you can activate workflow approval processing and use the Approvals Workbench program (P37300) to route changes through an automated approval process.
You activate workflow for approval processing by setting the appropriate processing options for these programs:
Test Revisions (P3701)
Specification Revisions (P3702)
Quality Preference Revisions (P40318)
The Approvals Workbench program is especially useful for streamlining an approval process that involves a large number of changes. The system displays all approval messages for a specific approver, enabling the approver to answer them collectively.
When you activate workflow, changes to any fields trigger the workflow approval process. All revision transactions begin with a status of pending. A designated approver reviews the changes and approves or rejects them. For example, you might need to reject changes to the allowed minimum and maximum values for a passing test result, due to customer requirements.
If you reject a revision, the system sends a message to the originator about the rejection. If you approve a revision, the system applies the changes and sends a message to the originator about the approval.
You cannot change pending, rejected, or history records. If you attempt to change a pending record, the system displays a message that an approval is pending.