The Approvals interface

The Approvals interface is the same for both parties: it shows every request sent or received, with the complete history of the steps, so the process can be traced end to end.

Step and status

The two are not the same thing, and the filters treat them separately:

• the step is a single action within the process;
• the status is the overall condition of the request.

	Values
Step	New · Approved · Rejected
Status	In progress · Completed

When a request is created, the step is “Creation” and the status “In progress”. At the end — after an approval, for example — the row shows step “Approved” and status “Completed”.

Search filters

Filter	What it does
Text search	free text
Status	filters on the overall process status
Step	filters on the individual phase

The detail tabs

Clicking a row opens the details:

Tab	Contents
Details	the specific information of the approval
Events	every step carried out: who did it, the type of step, the date and any notes
Attachments	the files attached to the approval, such as the certificate submitted for validation

The columns of the list

Column	Description
Name	generally “Approval” plus the name of the action
Step	New, Approved or Rejected
Status	In progress or Completed
Requested by	email of the user who performed the step
Dates	creation and modification dates of the step

A complete cycle

1. The supplier creates the request: a step with status New is generated and the request is In progress.
2. The project manager approves it: a new step Approved is generated and the request becomes Completed.

If the request is rejected, a step with status Rejected is generated instead, and the supplier has to submit a new one.