#Manage Approval Processes

In the Terms and rules > Approval processes section, you can manage approval processes and configure approval settings. An approval process allows you to define the record reviewers who are responsible for reviewing the objects before being destroyed and specify the review order among reviewers.

• Search for an approval process – You can search for an approval process by entering keywords in the Search text box and clicking the Search button.

• Create an approval process – Refer to the Create an Approval Process section for detailed instructions.

• Edit an approval process – To edit an approval process, click the Edit button in an approval process tile to open the Edit page.

• Delete an approval process – To delete an approval process, click the Delete button in an approval process tile and click OK in the confirmation message.

• Configure approval settings – Refer to the Configure Approval Settings section for detailed instructions.

#Create an Approval Process

Refer to the following steps to create an approval process:

1. On the Approval processes page, click New process. The Create page appears.

2. In the left pane, enter a name and an optional description for this new approval process.

3. By default, an approval process has only one review step. To add multiple review steps, drag and drop the Configure reviewers action to the right pane.

4. In each review step, click the More actions icon and select Configure to complete the information:

   1. Name – Enter a name for this review step. After you configure specific users/groups as the record reviewer, this review step will be named in the format of Pending review by [reviewer name]. You can update the name again if desired.

   2. Record reviewers – Choose who will be responsible for reviewing the objects involved in this approval process:

      • Assign to specific users/groups – Manually designate individual users or groups as record reviewers.

      • Assign to site owners – Automatically assign the review task to all owners of the associated site.

        This option is only available for SharePoint Online and OneDrive.

      • Assign to members of a designated SharePoint group – Enter the name of a SharePoint group to assign its members as record reviewers.

        You can also choose to Assign to site owners if the SharePoint group cannot be found.

   3. Select an email template – Choose the email template that will be sent to the record reviewers when there are records waiting for their approval.

      Email templates for manual approval are configured in Settings > Email template management. For detailed instructions, refer to Configure Email Templates.

      You can choose from the following options:

      • Use the standard email template – Send the default email template to record reviewers.

      • Use a customized email template – Send a customized email template to record reviewers.

      • Set custom intervals and email templates – Send different email templates at different stages.

        You can configure up to 5 stages, each with its own email template and interval. For example, you can send the first reminder 3 days after the initial email notification and a second reminder 7 days after the initial email notification.

        The custom intervals configured here take precedence over those configured on the Approval settings page.

5. If a review step is no longer used, locate the review step, click the More actions icon, and select Delete.

6. When an approval process includes multiple review steps, you can configure it as follows:

   • End the approval process immediately if a record reviewer rejects the record at any review step. The final decision is Do not destroy, and the record’s approval status is Rejected.

   • End the approval process immediately if a record reviewer rejects the record at a specific review step. The final decision is Do not destroy, and the record’s approval status is Rejected.

   • Complete the approval process only after the record reviewer at the final review step submits a decision. This reviewer makes the final decision, either Destroy or Do not destroy, and the record’s approval status is Approved or Rejected.

7. Click Save to create the approval process.

#Configure Approval Settings

On the Approval processes page, click Approval settings in the upper-right corner. Configure settings detailed below and then click Save to save the configured settings. AvePoint Opus automatically runs a Manual approval settings job (at any time from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. each day) to synchronize these settings.

#Email Notification

Settings in this section determine how email notifications should be sent to record reviewers.

• Regular intervals – Select this option if you want to configure a uniform interval for email notifications.

  • Interval – Configure the frequency (in days or weeks) for sending email notifications.

  • End time – Select No end time if you want to send email notifications indefinitely; select End after _ occurrence if you want to stop sending email notifications after a specified number of occurrences.

• Advanced – Select this option if you want to set different intervals for each email notification. Configure the interval for sending the first email notification, and then click the Add button to set intervals for subsequent email notifications one by one.

#Task Reassignment

Settings in this section will work if the reviewer does not complete the task. It ensures that the manual approval process continues smoothly without delays due to inaction by reviewers.

• Do not reassign the task, even if the current reviewer does not complete it – If you select this option, the task will remain under the current reviewer.

• Reassign the task to the next reviewer, if the current reviewer does not complete it – This option is only applicable for the reviewers that are part of an approval process.

  • Reject and reassign the task – If you select this option, the task will be automatically rejected and reassigned to the reviewer in the next review step.

  • Approve and reassign the task – If you select this option, the task will be automatically approved and reassigned to the reviewer in the next review step.

• Reassign the task to the specified user/group, if the current reviewer does not complete it – If you select this option, you need to configure a user/group (supported group types: Microsoft 365 Group, mail-enabled security group, distribution group), and the task will be reassigned to the specified user/group.

#Disposal Extension

Settings in this section limit how record reviewers can extend disposal time when they choose to reject records during the review process.

• Maximum times disposal can be extended (1-10) – Defines how many times the disposal time of a record can be extended, with a maximum of 10 times.

• Maximum extension period – Defines the maximum period for each extension, with a maximum of 10 years.

#Comment Will Be Required When

This setting determines whether record reviewers must provide a comment when approving or rejecting a record, and specifies the conditions under which a comment is required. For example, a comment will be required when record reviewers approve or reject records, only when record reviewers approve records, only when record reviewers reject records, or no comment will be required.

#Reasons for Rejection

You can enable this setting and then add reasons, so that record reviewers can select a reason when they reject a record during review.

To add a reason, click the Add icon and then enter a value; to delete a reason, click the Delete icon next to the reason.

You can set a reason for rejection as inactive by clicking the Disable icon next to it, preventing reviewers from selecting it when rejecting a record in the future. This inactive reason can still be used as a value when filtering records. You can reactivate this reason later by clicking the Enable icon next to it.

#Custom Button Names

You can enable this setting and then customize the name of the Approve and Reject buttons displayed on the Records for review page > Under review tab.

#Automatically Run Enforce Rule Actions Jobs

You can enable this setting so that an enforce rule actions job will automatically start (at any time from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.) every day to finally destroy the records approved on that day.

During this process, Opus will re-check if these approved records still meet the rule. For the approved records that no longer meet the rule, Opus will hide them from the Waiting for disposal list.

#Task Duration for Users

Opus has integrated with MyHub, enabling users to complete Opus approval tasks directly within the MyHub > Tasks & to-dos > Items waiting for disposal approval page. You can set a task duration for users, indicating a time limit to finish their reviews once the tasks appear in their queue.