Lesson 8 of 16

The Approvals inbox at a glance

For: Everyone who approves or submits work. Shown by Mariam Aziz, compliance officerAbout 5 min

What you will be able to do

Know what the Approvals inbox is for, read a request that is waiting for your decision, open the record behind it, and find the requests that you sent yourself. Deciding a request is covered step by step in the course on approvals, evidence and the audit trail.

Before you start

  • You are signed in.
  • A request is waiting. In this demo company Sara Ahmed, the Data Protection Officer, has submitted a privacy notice for approval, and Mariam's role allows her to approve it.

Steps

  1. 1

    Find Approvals in the left menu

    Approvals sits under My Actions in the left menu on every page. The number beside it tells you how many requests are waiting for a decision that you are allowed to make. No number means nothing is waiting.

  2. 2

    Open the Approvals inbox

    Select Approvals. The Approvals inbox opens on the tab To decide, which lists requests waiting on a step you can decide, from every module and entity.

    • Select Approvals1
  3. 3

    Read what the request is about

    Each request is a card. The top line says what kind of approval it is, here Publish a privacy policy version. Then come the name of the record and its version, the entity, and when it was submitted. The label Waiting on step 1, Approval shows where it stands.

  4. 4

    Read the details and the progress

    The box in the middle gives the facts an approver needs, such as the policy type and whether it is a major change. The line under it shows the status Pending, how many steps are complete, which approval policy applies, and the words Strict maker, checker: the person who prepared the record cannot approve it.

  5. 5

    Select Open record

    Select Open record on the card. The record itself opens in its module, here the privacy notice in Data Protection. Always read the record before you decide.

    • Select Open record
    The screen at step 5: Select Open record
  6. 6

    Find Approve and Reject

    On the record, the Awaiting approval box repeats the progress and offers Approve and Reject to people who are allowed to decide. We do not decide in this lesson; the approvals course shows approving, rejecting and sending back for changes.

  7. 7

    Go back to the inbox

    Select Approvals in the left menu to return to the inbox. The request stays under To decide until someone approves or rejects it.

    • Select Approvals1
  8. 8

    Open My requests

    Select the tab My requests. It lists the records you prepared or edited and the access changes you asked for, with where each approval stands, and you can withdraw one while it is pending. Mariam has not submitted anything, so the list is empty.

    • Select My requests
  9. 9

    Refresh the inbox

    Select To decide again, then Refresh at the top right, to load the newest requests without leaving the page. When a colleague submits something while you are working, it appears here.

    • Select To decide1
    • Select Refresh

How to check it worked

You can say how many requests are waiting for you from the number beside Approvals in the left menu, read what a request is about and which step it is on, and open its record without deciding it.

Common mistakes

  • Looking for approvals in My Actions. Work assigned to you is in My Actions; requests that need a decision from a second person are in Approvals.
  • Approving from the summary without opening the record. Always select Open record and read what you are approving.
  • Expecting to approve your own work. With maker and checker rules, the person who prepared or edited a record cannot approve it; it must be someone else with the right permission.

Check your understanding

  1. 1. Where do you see how many requests are waiting for your decision?

    1. A.On the number beside Approvals in the left menu, and on the To decide tab
    2. B.Only in your email
    3. C.On the sign-in page
    4. D.In the entity switcher
    Show answer

    Answer: A. On the number beside Approvals in the left menu, and on the To decide tab

    The left menu shows a number beside Approvals when something waits for you, and the To decide tab shows the same count.

  2. 2. What is the My requests tab for?

    1. A.Requests other people must decide for you: the records you prepared and the access changes you asked for
    2. B.Requests you have already rejected
    3. C.Holiday requests
    4. D.Deleted records
    Show answer

    Answer: A. Requests other people must decide for you: the records you prepared and the access changes you asked for

    My requests follows what you submitted, shows where each approval stands, and lets you withdraw a request while it is pending.