Review or Approve Objects

While securing a record, its owner may authorize users as reviewers or approvers. If so, a workflow applies: A user edits and submits the record. A reviewer or approver must then accept the record before others can work with it.

• A record owner may select users for both the review and approval authorizations. In this case, the reviewer acts first to accept or reject the record. If the reviewer accepts, the record goes to the approver, who may accept or reject it. The approver's acceptance of a record sets its state to Approved.

• Instead, a record owner may select users for either, but not both, of the review and approval authorizations. In this case, a user who accepts the record sets its state to Approved, no matter whether that user is a reviewer or an approver.

• A third option: A record owner may select no users for the review and approval authorizations. In that case, no review or approval workflow is implemented for that record. Its state is Approved, and users can work with it, the moment any owner or editor submits an update.

For example, the creator of a control, automatically its owner, may authorize herself as approver and others as editors. Those other users may be responsible for day-to-day management of the control, but always under the owner's supervision; all edits would be subject to her approval.

If you're appropriately authorized, a request to review or approve a record appears both among your worklists and in the record itself, for example as an option in the Actions menu of a process, risk, or control. In a review or approval page, your options include:

• Accept the record as is.

• Request information. The user who edited the record must either withdraw the edit or reply to the request. A reply returns the record to the In Review or Awaiting Approval state. The record can't be approved, reviewed, or edited while the request for information is pending.

• Reject the record. This removes the record from the workflow and changes its state to Rejected. The user who modified the record is notified.