How to Configure an Approval Workflow
Admin guide
This page is for administrators. Only users with Approval Workflow → Write permission (typically Admin or Master roles) can create or edit approval workflows.
What is it?
An Approval Workflow defines who reviews a given object type and in what order. Each object type can have one or more workflows; requesters pick which one to use when they send an approval request.
A workflow is made up of two things:
- Attributes (object types it covers, status, description) on the Details tab.
- Responsibilities (the reviewers, their veto rights, and their sequence) on the Responsibilities tab.
Workflows are managed in Settings → Approval Workflow.
Before you start
- You need write access to Approval Workflow in Settings.
- Decide which object types this workflow covers (you can pick multiple). A single workflow can govern, for example, both Models and Policies.
- If you plan to assign Specific Users or Specific Roles as reviewers, make sure those users and roles already exist on the platform.
How to Configure
Step 1: Open the Approval Workflow list
Go to Settings → Approval Workflow. The list shows every workflow on the platform with its name, status, description, creator, and created date.
Click + New Approval Workflow at the top right.
Step 2: Fill in the Details tab
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| NameRequired | A clear, descriptive name (for example, Model MRM Approval Workflow, Quick Review). Requesters see this in the workflow dropdown. |
| Object TypesRequired | Multi-select. Pick every object type this workflow can govern (Data Element, Feature, Model, Policy, Global Function, and so on). |
| Description | (Optional) What the workflow is for and when to use it. |
| Status | Active (available to requesters) or Inactive (hidden from new requests). Existing in-flight requests continue on whichever workflow they were submitted with. |
Click Save. You're now on the workflow's tabs view.
Note
Removing an object type, or flipping a workflow to Inactive, does not affect requests already in flight. Their approval continues on the workflow they were submitted with. To clear out draft objects still linked to the workflow, use the Usage Statistics table (see below).
Step 3: Add Responsibilities
Open the Responsibilities tab. Responsibilities are grouped by Sequence Order (1, 2, 3, …):
- Responsibilities in the same sequence group review in parallel.
- Responsibilities in later sequence groups unlock automatically once every responsibility in the earlier group has accepted.
So a workflow with all responsibilities in sequence 1 is fully parallel. A workflow with Sequence 1 = Code Quality, Dev Team and Sequence 2 = MRM, Fair Lending is parallel within each group, sequential across groups.
To add the first responsibility, click Add Responsibility (or Add New Responsibility if the list is empty). Each new responsibility appears as an accordion that you can expand to configure.
To reorder responsibilities, drag the move handle. Drop into an existing sequence group to add to it, or drop into the gap between two groups to create a new sequence position.
Step 4: Configure each Responsibility
Expand a responsibility to edit it.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| NameRequired | The functional role being reviewed by (for example, Code Quality, MRM, Fair Lending, Compliance). |
| Veto Power | Checkbox. If on, a single reject from this responsibility rejects the whole request, and the object is locked for editing while this responsibility is in review. |
| Editable by Reviewer | Checkbox. (Visible only when Type is Registered Users.) If on, the reviewer can edit the object as part of their review. Useful for code-style responsibilities that may need a small fix. |
| Type | Registered Users: a person or role reviews. External Tools: a third-party tool (configured by the Platform Admin) captures the decision and reflects it back. External Tools is shown only if at least one tool is configured. |
| ReviewerRequired | Depends on Type. See below. |
When Type = Registered Users, the Reviewer options are:
- Anyone: anyone with approve access to the object types in the Details tab can act on this responsibility.
- Specific Users: pick one or more named users. Only they are notified and can act.
- Specific Roles: pick one or more roles. Anyone in those roles can act.
When Type = External Tools, pick the tool name from the dropdown.
Click Save inside the accordion to persist that responsibility, then expand the next one (or click Add New Responsibility) to add another.
Step 5: Verify and Activate
Once you've added every responsibility, set Status = Active on the Details tab if it isn't already. The workflow now shows up in the workflow dropdown on every object of the matching object types.
Veto Power in Detail
Veto changes both what a reject does and whether the object can be edited:
- A reject from a Veto responsibility rejects the whole request, regardless of how other reviewers vote.
- As soon as the request reaches a Veto responsibility, the object becomes locked for editing.
- Once a Veto responsibility accepts, that version of the object is locked from further changes (any edit creates a new version that goes back through approval).
Non-Veto responsibilities can still ask for changes (Need Change, Need Info), and a rejection from them blocks the overall approval, but they do not unilaterally lock the object.
Usage Statistics
Once the workflow has been saved at least once, the Details tab shows a Usage Statistics table summarizing every object currently linked to this workflow, grouped by Approval Status (Draft, Pending Approval, Approved, and so on) and Object Type.
This is the place to manage cleanup when retiring a workflow:
- Look at the counts to see what's still linked.
- Click VIEW in the actions column to drill into the list of objects in a given status × object type.
- For draft objects, use the action dropdown:
- Remove: detach the workflow from every draft object (sets their workflow to None).
- Change: pick a successor workflow to assign to every draft object.
Warning
Bulk Remove and Change actions cannot be undone. They affect every draft object in that status × object type combination.
For objects in non-Draft statuses (Pending Approval, Approved, and so on), the workflow stays attached for governance and audit; you cannot bulk-detach those.
Editing a Workflow in Use
You can keep editing a workflow's Details (description, status) at any time. However, Responsibilities are locked from editing once any object is using the workflow in a non-Draft status (Pending Approval, Need Change, Approved, and so on). The Responsibilities tab shows a warning listing the blocking objects.
This protects in-flight approvals from changing under reviewers' feet. To restructure responsibilities on a workflow already in use, the typical pattern is:
- Create a new workflow with the changes.
- Set the old workflow to Inactive once everything in flight has finished.
Change History
Every workflow has a Change History tab that records every edit (Details and Responsibilities), with timestamp and author, for audit.
What's next
- Requesters use the workflow you configured through Send an Approval Request.