Approval

Feature ID: FU-1070

Document Version: 1.0

Date: 28-11-2025

Introduction

The Approval Field in Unifize enables organizations to embed digital signatures directly within checklist processes. This field drives traceability and compliance by requiring explicit approvals at defined stages in a workflow. Once configured, it delivers real-time notifications in My Inbox for all lifecycle actions: request, approve, reject, and cancel.

Capabilities

The Approval Field supports the following key actions:

• Request Approval: Triggers a digital signature request to designated approvers.

• Approval: Captures e-signature and logs timestamp, user identity, and comments (if configured).

• Reject: Declines the approval with optional comments.

• Cancel Pending Request: Allows originator to withdraw a pending approval.

• Cancel Approval: Revokes an already granted approval, logging reasons and notifying participants.

All actions are automatically logged in the record’s conversation window for auditability.

How approval works

1. Requesting an approval

To ensure the approval workflow is controlled and traceable, Unifize allows checklist approval fields to require an explicit "Request Approval" action before an approver can sign off.

How it works

1. Configure the Approval Field

   In the checklist settings, enable the "Request approval" button within the Approval field configuration.

2. Approval requester action

   Once the field is visible in the record, the requester (typically the record owner or assigned user) will see a "Request an Approval" button. Clicking this button sends a notification to the approver.

3. Conversation notification

   This request appears as a message in the conversation panel under My Inbox, so the approver is immediately alerted. The Checklist activity log update will show a message like: Final approval- Approval has been requested.

Alternate setup: auto-request via automation

For teams who want to skip the manual request step, you can configure a custom automation to trigger the approval request automatically based on specific conditions (e.g., record status, field completion). This removes the need for users to click “Request an Approval” manually.

2. Approving a request

If you're assigned as an approver, you’ll get notified in My Inbox. You can:

• Approve with an optional or required comment

• Reject the request (may also require a reason)

• Cancel the approval (if your permissions allow it)

You may also see locked fields that cannot be edited until the approval step is complete.

Approval methods

a. Password-based approval

When an assigned user goes to approve or reject the document, they are prompted to enter their registered email address and Unifize password to approve or reject the item.

Who can use it- Users with standard Unifize login and password or non-SSO users.

b. OTP-based approval

When an assigned user goes to approve or reject a document, they will be prompted to enter their email address and click "Generate OTP". A one-time password is sent to their email. They must enter the OTP to complete the approval.

Who can use it- Ideal for first-time users or SSO-authenticated users who do not have a Unifize password. SSO user can go to the “Change Password” setting in the Profile section to add password. This will allow them to do approval via passwords.

3. Viewing approval status

At any time, you can:

• Check whether an approval is pending, approved, rejected, or cancelled

• See who signed it, when they did, and any comments they left

• Review the full history in the Conversation Thread Conversation

Unifize delivers real-time notifications in My Inbox for all four approval lifecycle actions- a. Requesting an approval b. Actual approval process c. Revoking an approved approval d. Cancelling pending approval request.

This ensures all involved users receive immediate visibility into approvals they’re part of—whether as requesters, approvers, or participants.

4. Revoking an approved Approval

If an approval has already been granted but needs to be withdrawn (e.g., due to incorrect data or process change), users with “Who can cancel” access to the record can revoke the approval by clearing the approval field.

This action is logged in the conversation thread for full traceability.

5. Cancelling a pending approval request

If an approval request was made by mistake or needs to be deferred, the requester can click on “Cancel an Approval” before the approver takes action.

Configuration steps

Admins can configure the Approval Field by accessing the Process Builder in Manage:

1. Navigate to Process Settings

   • Go to Manage > Select Process > Edit

2. Add an approval field

   • Within the Checklist, click + Add Field

   • Choose Approval as the field type

   • Provide a clear field name (e.g., "Manager Approval", "QA Sign-off")

3. Configure approval field settings

   Based on your requirements, you can configure how you want your approval field to behave for the end user. There are a bunch of basic approval settings and sections like who can approve, canceling approvals, automations, etc. For detailed guide on approval field settings, go through the approval field settings.

Setting name	Description	Use case
Basic approval settings	Configure how the approval should be collected. You can choose to require a specific number of approvers (e.g. "any 1 of 3"), enable ad-hoc selection (requester selects approvers at the time of request), or display a "Request Approval" button to control when the signature request is triggered.	Useful when approvals can come from flexible sources or need to be explicitly triggered, such as in collaborative or gated workflows.
Who can approve	Define which users or groups are eligible to approve. You can choose from all participants, the record owner, or assign specific users, roles, or groups. You can also reference users from other fields in the checklist. An option is available to prevent the requester from self-approving.	Ensures accountability by restricting approvals to relevant personnel. Critical for segregation of duties or regulated processes.
Cancelling approvals	Specify who is allowed to cancel an approval (e.g. approvers, specific users, or participants), and under what conditions. You can allow cancellation of approvals that are still pending, or allow revoking approvals that have already been granted.	Allows structured rollbacks in cases of incorrect requests or change in process requirements. Helps prevent unauthorized cancellation.
Approval comments	Require users to mandatorily provide a comment when approving, rejecting, or cancelling an approval. Each can be toggled independently based on what you need to audit or document.	Promotes transparency and enforces documentation for decision rationale. Often used in corrective actions, quality reviews, or compliance.
Contingent on previous approval	Link this approval to another one in the checklist. The field can be hidden or disabled unless the linked approval is completed. You can also block the previous approval from being edited once this field is active.	Enables sequential approval chains. For example, require Manager Approval before QA Sign-off becomes active.
Lock fields	Prevent editing of specific checklist fields while the approval is active or once it’s completed. You can choose to inherit locks from previous approval steps or set custom fields to lock.	Ensures that critical information remains unchanged while approvals are in progress or finalized. Helps preserve record integrity.
Automations on start / request	Define actions that occur when the approval is requested. You can update the record's status, add or remove participants, change the owner, or send a notification. Includes a "Update Privacy" option to change record visibility: keep it unchanged, hide everything, hide only the chat, or make it public.	Kick-start processes once approval is requested. For e.g., notify stakeholders, restrict access, or assign accountability. Great for early-phase coordination.
Automations on approval	Set up what happens when the approval is granted. Options include marking a revision as current, changing the status, modifying participants, changing ownership, sending messages, and setting record visibility through the "Update Privacy" options.	Moves the process forward once approved, which is ideal for release steps, document control, or escalating to downstream workflows.
Automations on rejection	Define what happens when an approval is rejected. You can update the status, automatically cancel prior approvals in the chain, change participants, send messages, and manage record visibility using privacy options.	Handles alternate paths and cleanup when approvals are denied. Common in quality non-conformance or deviation handling.
Automations on cancellation	Trigger actions when an approval is cancelled (either pending or granted). You can change status, notify users, adjust participants, reassign ownership, and configure privacy using the same visibility options.	Useful when workflows are aborted or approvals are rescinded to keep stakeholders aligned

Set Conditions

To determine how your Approval checklist field will behave, you can configure conditions for your field.

1. Start by navigating to the Manage view section → Open any process with an Approval checklist field.

2. Open the Approval checklist field → Settings → Conditions.

3. You will see four types of Default state. You can choose any one:

   • Show until condition met

   • Hidden until condition met

   • Mandatory until condition met

   • Disable until condition met

4. Click + Add New Condition, then configure the sections below:

   • Condition: In this field, you can select which metadata or checklist field you want your condition to evaluate on.

     You can choose one of the metadata fields, such as Owner, Due date, Status, or User (Current user). Alternatively, you can pick one of the checklist fields of that process.

     Note that the AI checklist field will not appear in this dropdown, as conditions based on the AI field cannot be created. The same is true for the following checklist fields: PDF, Revision, Section, and Subsection.

   • Qualifier: Qualifiers help you select what state you want your condition field to be in for your condition to evaluate. For example, you can select when your condition field is filled, then you want the behaviour that you will select in the next step to evaluate.

     Note: If your qualifier is not met, your condition will simply stay in the Default state.

   • Behavior: Select the behaviour you want your field to apply if the condition is fulfilled. You can choose from the three options below:

     • Hide field

     • Disable/Lock field

     • Show field.

5. (Optional) If required, you can combine multiple conditions by using the “+ Add condition (AND)”. This functionality will evaluate as an AND condition, meaning that you can add multiple conditions to be true together for your chosen behaviour to evaluate as true.

6. (Optional) You can also use an OR condition in the AI checklist field. This means that you can add multiple conditions, and the system will first evaluate the 1st condition, if it’s not true, then move on to the next condition. If any one of the conditions is met, the system will evaluate the chosen behaviour.

   Note that the system always evaluates the 1st condition initially; if the qualifier in the 1st condition is met, the chosen behaviour will evaluate. Only when the 1st condition is not met, the system will move on to the next condition.

7. Once you have configured your conditions, you can click on the “Update Field Settings” button followed by the “Save & Exit” button.

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Condition and Qualifier guide

Metadata fields

Condition	Qualifier	Values (if applicable)	How the behaviour will evaluate
Owner	is any of	Specific users	True when the Owner matches any selected user you added in the Values field.
Owner	is part of	Specific groups	True when the Owner belongs to any selected group.
Owner	is empty	—	True when the Owner field has no user assigned.
Owner	is filled	—	True when the Owner field has a user assigned.
Due Date	is empty	—	True when the Due Date field has no value.
Due Date	is filled	—	True when a Due Date is present.
Due Date	is overdue	—	True when Due Date is past the current date/time.
Status	is any of	Status category (COMPLETED, PENDING)	True when the record’s Status matches any selected status.
Status	is none of	Status category	True when the record’s Status matches none of the selected statuses.
User (Current user)	is any of	Specific users	True when the logged-in user matches any selected user.
User (Current user)	is of role	Admin, External User, Org Member, Read Only, Vendor	True when the logged-in user’s role matches any chosen role.
User (Current user)	is not of role	Admin, External User, Org Member, Read Only, Vendor	True when the logged-in user’s role matches none of the chosen roles.
User (Current user)	is part of	Your org Groups	True when the logged-in user belongs to any selected group.
User (Current user)	is creator	—	True when the logged-in user is the record creator.
User (Current user)	is owner	—	True when the logged-in user is the record owner.

Checklist fields

Condition	Qualifier	Values (If Applicable)	How It Evaluates
Approval Field	is empty	—	True when no approval response exists.
Approval Field	is approved	—	True when the approval state is Approved.
Linked Record Field	is any of	List of records of the linked process	True when the Linked Record checklist field contains any selected record.
Linked Record Field	is none of	List of records of the linked process	True when the Linked Record checklist field contains none of the selected records.
Linked Record Field	is filled	—	True when the Linked Record checklist field is attached in the record.
Linked Record Field	is empty	—	True when the Linked Record checklist field is empty in the record.
Number Field	is greater than	Numeric value	True when the field value is > given number.
Number Field	is less than	Numeric value	True when the field value is < given number.
Number Field	is equal to	Numeric value	True when field value exactly matches the given number.
Number Field	is filled	—	True when a numeric value is present.
Number Field	is empty	—	True when the number field has no value.
Picklist Field	is any of	Picklist options of the current process	True when selected picklist value is one of the chosen options.
Picklist Field	is none of	Picklist options of the current process	True when the picklist value matches none of the selected options.
Picklist Field	is filled	—	True when a picklist selection exists.
Picklist Field	is empty	—	True when no picklist option is selected.
User Field	is filled	—	True when User field has a user selected.
User Field	is empty	—	True when User field has no selected user.
User Field	is current user	—	True when the selected user matches the logged-in user.
User Field	is any of	Specific users	True when the selected user is in the specified list.
User Field	is none of	Specific users	True when the selected user is not in the specified list.
File Upload Form Text Rich Text Date	is filled	—	True when the field contains data (file uploaded, text entered, date selected, etc.).
File Upload Form Text Rich Text Date	is empty	—	True when the field contains no data.

Logic guide for condition pairings

Default state	Before condition is met	When condition is met (Behavior)	Avoid
Show until condition met	Approval checklist field is shown.	Apply selected **Behavior:**a. Hide field (it disappears) b. Disable/Lock field (remains visible but locked).	Show field (no visible change as the Default state and behaviour is same.)
Hidden until condition met	Approval checklist field is hidden	Apply selected Behavior:a. Show field (becomes visible) b. Disable/Lock field (visible but locked)	Hide field (redundant as the Default state and behaviour is same)
Disable until condition met	Approval checklist field is disabled/locked	Apply selected Behavior:a. Show field (enabled) b. Hide field (removed)	Disable/Lock field (redundant)

Save & publish

Click Update Field Settings to persist the configuration and Save & Exit to publish the process.

Roles and permissions

Role	Capability
Admin	Full control over approval field config
Org Member	Can request approvals if permitted
Assigned Approver	Can approve, reject, or cancel (if enabled)

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Approval Field Limitations

1. Approval fields cannot be selected as output or input fields in the AI checklist field settings. This is because approval must be done manually by the assigned approver and not via any automation.

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