Assign Approvers to a Review

An Approver is someone assigned to one or more specific objects in a review to monitor the review of those objects and ensure it is conducted satisfactorily. If you intend to assign an Approver to an object under review, you can do this through the 'Review' tab of the Discuss & Review window, after adding the objects to be reviewed to the Review diagram.

Assign an Approver

In a review that you have joined, work through these steps:

1. Press Ctrl+9 to display the Discuss & Review window, and select the 'Review' tab.
2. In the Review diagram, or in the Browser window, or in the right-hand panel of the Reviews view, click on the element to be reviewed.
3. The element name displays on the 'Review' tab; right-click on the name and select the 'Create Approver' menu option. The 'Create Approver' dialog displays.
4. Click on the Add button and - in the list - double-click on the name of the required Approver. If you want to add more than one Approver, click on the Add button again and select the next Approver.
5. Click on the Create button. The name of each Approver is added as a separate item to the element in both the Reviews view and the 'Review' tab; if this is not visible, click on the expansion arrow for the element. The Approvers are listed in alphabetical order.

When an Element Has Approvers

In the 'Review' tab the message 0 out of <n> Approvals displays under the element name, followed by a user name item for each of the assigned Approvers. In the message, 0 is the count of approvals registered, and <n> is the number of Approvers required to approve the review of the element. If no Approvers have been assigned, no message displays.

As the review progresses, the Approver(s) will monitor the process until the appropriate point to change the status (from 'Open' to 'Alert' or 'Accept', usually) is reached. The Approver changes the status by right-clicking on their name in the 'Review' tab and selecting the appropriate value.

If there are two or more Approvers, when one changes the status a standard message is automatically sent by Model Mail to the other Approvers, in this form:

<approver name> has updated the Approval Status for <element_name> in the review Review - <name>.

The status has changed from <original status> to <new status>.

Please check the Review item and action as required.

A link to the element under review enables the Approver to access the element directly.

Alternatively, rather than send a message to indicate they have taken action, an Approver might want to remind another Approver to take action. In this case, in the Reviews view, the first Approver would right-click on the required Approver name and select the 'Send Approval Reminder' option. A standard message is displayed and, if required, the sender can add further text and/or additional addressees. The standard message has this format:

A reminder that you are an Approver on the item <element name> and action may now be required as part of that Review.

Please check the Review item and action as required.

Again, the recipient has a link to the element under review, to access it directly.

Learn More

• Join a Review