The approval workflow is a more formal way of working that allows for the resolution of an issue to be first checked and approved before being marked definitively as closed. This way you have more control over the resolution of an issue. With the assistance of extra issue status and colors, the management of issues can be done in a more transparent way, guaranteeing that no issue is ever closed without proper review.
⚠️ Note: The approval workflow is not available on all plans. To check if it’s included in your subscription, review the [plan comparison list] or contact your admin. If the feature isn’t available, you may need to upgrade your plan.
Enable the approval workflow in a project
The approval workflow can be switched on or off for every separate project in your space. To enable the possibility to approve issues in a project, follow the steps below.
As a Project Leader, go to the settings of the project.
Switch on the toggle 'Use approval workflow'.
Once the toggle is on, the field 'Approval' will appear in the issue settings.
The life cycle of an issue in the approval workflow
The status of an issue will change throughout its life cycle. There are three default options available for the status of an issue: Active, Resolved, and Closed. When the approval workflow is enabled, another status is added to the available options: To approve.
When creating an issue, assign the issue to the person who needs to resolve the problem, and select users who need to approve the resolution of the issue after it has been resolved.
After creation, the status of the issue will be Active.
The person to whom the issue is assigned, will implement a solution for the problem, and mark the issue as Resolved. The resolution will need to be approved by the team members who have been added to the Approval field. They will get a notification that they have to approve the issue, and the issue will be marked in purple.
The approvers can reject the solution of the issue so the status becomes Active again, or approve the solution, so the status changes to Resolved, Approved. The issue will be marked in blue for all users.
Once the issues are approved, they can be Closed.
💡 Tip: Learn more about the color of issues.
Who can approve issues?
Any user with the role of Project Leader, Editor, or Reviewer can be selected as an approver. Approvers can be added either when the issue is created, or afterwards by editing the issue. It is also possible to batch-edit issues and choose common approver(s) for multiple issues at the same time.
📝 Note: In this workflow, once an issue is resolved, it will automatically be marked as To approve for the approver(s). However, that does not prevent other users from closing the issue before the approval. To prevent that, good communication is necessary: if an issue is marked in purple, it should be agreed that it should not be closed by team members before being marked as Approved. It is also possible to limit team members from closing issues.