Approval reviewer settings

Overview

Approval reviewers in a custom workflow state are managed by editing the approval using the workflow builder visual editor in the space settings document management dashboard.

Reviewers for the approval are managed by choosing one of the check buttons in the approval editor.

Reviewer settings in workflow builder

The assignment of Reviewers is configured in the workflow builder visual editor:

Anyone can approve (no restrictions)

Any user can undertake the approval.

Anyone can approve (no restrictions)	Who can approve or reject	Workflow popup on the page
	No restrictions on who can approve or reject the approval. The user must have edit permission for the page. A single reviewer's’s decision completes the approval. Use Minimum approvals to require two or more users to undertake and agree on the approval decision to complete the approval.

For further information, see Workflow builder: Anyone can approve and Content reviews: Anyone can undertake the content review.

Users can be assigned through UI

Allow one or more users to be assigned as reviewers on the page using the workflow popup.

Users can be assigned through UI	Who can approve or reject	Workflow popup on the page
	One or more users can be assigned as reviewers (using the workflow popup on the page). Only assigned user(s) can undertake the approval. A user assigned as a reviewer only requires Confluence view permission to undertake an approval and must be logged into Confluence. Until a reviewer has been assigned, any user (with view and edit permission for the page) can approve or reject and complete the approval. Automatically assign reviewers Includes the option to pre-assign users as reviewers by adding one or more user names or user group names to the Automatically assign menu options Preassigned users are assigned on the transition to the workflow state with the approval. Use Minimum approvals to require two or more users to undertake and agree on the approval decision to complete the approval. Set the Minimum approvals=1 to require a single user decision from multiple assigned reviewers to reduce blockages on non-critical approval steps.	Workflow popup displays the Add reviewer option. Assigned users are displayed in the workflow popup. Minimum approvals displays required number of users as empty avatars in the workflow popup. Reviewer decisions are appended to the user avatar in the workflow popup.

For further information, see Workflow Builder: Assignable approval in workflow builder and Content Reviews: Manual assignment of Reviewers.

Once a user is assigned as a reviewer

• the approval buttons are disabled for a user who is not assigned

• additional users can be assigned as reviewers using the workflow popup on the page

• preassigned users can be unassigned using the workflow popup on the page

If more than one reviewer is assigned

• then all reviewers must agree on the approval decision (approved/rejected) for the approval to be completed

Until the approval is complete (all assignees have undertaken and agreed on the approval decision)

• additional users can be assigned as reviewers

• assigned reviewers can be unassigned if they have not undertaken an approval decision

Set all reviewers that have to approve

Mandate chosen users or members of a user group to undertake the approval

Set all reviewers that have to approve	Who can approve or reject	Workflow popup on the page
	Preassigned reviewers must undertake the approval. Only the preassigned reviewers can undertake the approval. A user assigned as a reviewer only requires Confluence view permission to undertake an approval and must be logged into Confluence. Automatically assign reviewers At least one user name or group name must be entered in the workflow builder approval editor, Automatically assign dropdown menus. The users are preassigned as reviewers by the workflow on the transition to the workflow state containing the approval. In the workflow state, the page does not have a workflow popup option to assign additional users as reviewers or unassign the preassigned reviewers. Use Minimum approvals to require two or more users to undertake and agree on the approval decision to complete the approval. Set the Minimum approvals=1 to require a single user decision from multiple assigned reviewers to reduce blockages on non-critical approval steps.	User avatars for preassigned reviewers are displayed in the workflow popup on the page. Reviewer decisions are appended to the user avatars in the workflow popup.

For further information, see Workflow builder: Workflow assignment of approval reviewers and Content reviews: Workflow assignment of reviewers.

On transition into the workflow state containing the approval

• the approval buttons are disabled for the approval for any user who is not pre-assigned

• unless a Minimum approvals value is set, all reviewers must undertake the approval and agree for the approval to be complete

Minimum approvals

Set a minimum number of reviewers to undertake an approval decision and agree to complete an approval.

This can be set for each of the approval Reviewers settings:

• Anyone can approve

• Users can be assigned through the UI

• Set all reviewers that have to approve

Minimum approvals	Who can approve or reject	Workflow popup on the page
	Add a value for Minimum approvals to require one or more users to undertake and agree on the approval decision to complete the approval. when set the workflow popup displays empty avatars for the required number of approvals reviewer approval decisions are appended to the user avatar Minimum approvals can be set for all three Reviewers options. If the selected Reviewers option includes Automatically assign users or Automatically assign groups or manually assigned reviewers approval is set as complete when the Minimum approvals are undertaken and agree not all assigned reviewers need to undertake the approval decision to complete the approval if there are more assigned reviewers than the Minimum approvals value All reviewer decisions must agree for the completion of the approval (no contra decisions) even if there is the required number of agreed Minimum approval decisions.

For further information, see Content reviews: Minimum reviewers

Minimum approvals example

For example, if the approval is configured as

• Set all approvers that have to approve

• 4 users to automatically assign

• Minimum approvals is 2

On the page, the approval displays the preassigned reviewers.

For the following reviewer approval sequences

Scenario 1

• first 2 approval decisions by different assignees are Reject

  • Minimum approvals is 2 and the approval is complete with status as rejected

  • the related reject transition occurs

Scenario 2

• first 2 approval decisions by different assignees are Approve

  • Minimum approvals is 2 and the approval is complete with status as approved

  • any related approve transition occurs

Scenario 3

• 1st assigned reviewer chooses to Approve

• 2nd assigned reviewer chooses to Reject

  • Minimum approvals is not yet achieved

  • approval status is pending

• 3rd assigned reviewer chooses to Approve

  • Minimum approvals is 2 but no change occurs because there is a current contra decision for the approval

  • approval status is pending

• 2nd assigned reviewer changes their approval decision from Reject to Approve

The Reject contra decision for the approval is no longer current (all 3 reviewer decisions are Approve).

• Minimal approvals is 2

  • now 3 reviewer approved decisions with no contra decision

  • approval is complete with status as approved

  • any related approve transition occurs

The 4th assigned reviewer was not required to make any approval decision.

Related pages

• Page:
  Add and manage approval reviewers in workflow builder
• Page:
  Approval reviewer settings
• Page:
  Assignable approval
• Page:
  Workflow assignment of approval reviewers
• Page:
  Approval reviewer credentials