How the Document Approval Activity works in the Document Management System

Unlike a review activity, an approval activity's workflow follows a consensus model.

Getting a Document Version 'Approved'
For a document to be considered approved it must pass through a workflow with at least one Approval activity. All participants in the approval activity must approve the file for the document management system to recognize a file as approved.

A document is flagged as "not approved" if the workflow is still in progress.

If one of the participants of the approval activity does not approve - the workflow automatically ends (even if some tasks have not yet started) and the workflow is cancelled.  The document is marked as "not approved" and kept hidden.

This can happen at any step along the way in a workflow. It is even possible to have a file pass through a first approval activity only to be rejected during a second approval activity. If the participant in the second activity rejects the document the activity is terminated, the workflow is terminated and the document is flagged as "not approved".

If a version of a document in not approved by one member of the approval team, a new version of file will have to be added to the document management system and that version sent through the approval workflow before the document will be added to the document management system.