Approvals

What it’s for

• Documents: a new procedure, policy, or guide that someone should check before the team relies on it.
• Purchases: new equipment, a supplier change, anything over a spending limit.
• Access: a new account, a key, permissions to a system.
• Time off: leave and shift swaps.
• Anything else where someone has to sign off first. Your System Admin can add a type for it.

Turn on Approvals

1. As System Admin, open Admin console → Modules.
2. Switch on Approvals and save. The change applies to everyone in your company.
3. Approvals now appears in the sidebar, with four ready-made types: Document approval, Access request, Purchase request, and Time off.

Turning Approvals off later only hides it. Your requests and their history stay, and come back if you turn it on again.

Ask for approval

1. Open Approvals from the sidebar and click New Approval.
2. Give it a clear name and choose its type.
3. Pick an assignee (the person who decides) and any reviewers who should weigh in.
4. Optionally link a Knowledge Center page, or a file on that page, so the approver has the details in front of them.

The request starts in its type’s first stage. Everyone with access sees it in the list, which you can filter by type and by Open, Approved, Rejected, or Withdrawn, or search by name, type, or person. Open a request to edit it and to see its activity log: who created it, who moved it, and when.

Approval types

Every request has a type, and each type has its own stages. These four come ready to use:

How a request moves

A type has two kinds of stage:

• Open stages are where a request sits while people work on it, like Requested or Under Review.
• Closing stages end the request. Each one ends it one of three ways: approved (yes, go ahead), rejected (no; leave a note so the requester knows why), or withdrawn (no longer needed).

Change a request’s stage straight from the list. When a request reaches an approved stage, Worklynq records the approval date.

Document approvals

A Document approval linked to a Knowledge Center page or file decides whether it shows as Verified. Once the latest document approval for a page or file reaches an approved stage (Final Approval or Published), it shows as Verified. Until then, it shows as Un-verified, so your team knows what has been checked.

You can also start a document approval from Knowledge Center: use Approval next to a file on a page, or tick Start approval workflow when you save a document from a template. Track it under Approvals.

Verified tags and these options only show while the Approvals module is on. Other types can link a page too, for context, but only document approvals verify it.

Add your own types

Your System Admin manages types in Admin console → Work Configuration → Approval Types:

• Add a type (say, Expense claim or Menu change) or duplicate one to start from its stages.
• Edit stages: rename them, pick colours, change the order, add open stages (for example, a second approver), and choose the stage new requests start in.
• Every type needs at least one open stage and at least one approved, one rejected, and one withdrawn stage. A stage that still has requests in it can’t be removed until they’re moved.
• Archive a type to stop new requests of that kind. Existing requests stay, and you can restore the type later. Document approval can’t be archived, because Knowledge Center uses it to verify pages.

Changes apply to everyone in your company.

Approval tickets (APR)

If your company also uses Tickets, you can raise approvals as tickets too. Worklynq creates an Approvals ticket space with the ready-made Approval Request ticket type. Those tickets get numbers from one company-wide sequence (APR-1, APR-2, and so on) and move from Requested to Under Review to Approved, Rejected, or Withdrawn.

Use them when an approval belongs with other ticket work, such as on a board or a dashboard of tickets. To create one, choose the Approvals space and the Approval Request type when you create a ticket. You can change that ticket type, or add more, in Work Configuration → Ticket types, and map them to the space in Ticket Type Mapping. Without Tickets, you don’t need any of this: the Approvals page does the job on its own.

Tips

• Put the cost or the dates in the name (“New espresso grinder, $1,200”) so approvers can decide at a glance.
• Filter the list to Open to see everything still waiting on a decision.
• Write your approval rules (who approves what, and spending limits) in Knowledge Center, so AI Search can answer “Who approves purchases over $500?”