To best ensure the compliance of your work, this article explains how to manage approval tables for your documentation.
What is an approval table in Tuleap?
An approval table in Tuleap allows you to define and track a formal validation process for a document.
It is used to:
Structure the approval steps.
Identify the responsible people.
Ensure traceability (who approved, when, and with what comment).
Comply with quality or regulatory requirements (ISO, audits, etc.).
Where to find approval tables?
Approval tables are available from the document management menu.
Create an approval table
Update an approval table
Go to the approval table administration to open its settings and update them.
The settings allow you to modify the same options as during creation, as well as permanently delete this approval table.
Warning
Deletion is permanent, the table will need to be recreated if it was deleted by mistake.
Managing an approval table after assignment
Different types of approval:
Not Yet: status quo. You can comment, but no one will be notified.
Approved: sends an email to the approval requester and notifies the next approver in the sequence if needed.
Rejected: sends an email to the approval requester and stops the sequence if needed.
Comment only: sends an email to the approval requester to inform them that comments have been added. In sequential mode, the notification workflow is paused.
No opinion: sends an email to the approval requester and notifies the next approver in the sequence if needed.
Creating a new version of a document during approval
When a document is under approval, a user may still want to create a new version.
Tuleap offers three options in this case:
Copy the existing approval table with all its settings: the same approvers, comments, and commitments are copied and added to the new document.
Restart the approval cycle: approvers and commitments are completely removed from the table.
Create a new empty approval table for the new version of the document: start from scratch, selecting new approvers and settings, as no data from the previous table is retained.
Notifications and traceability / history
Notifications
Automatic sending to approvers depending on whether the document is approved or not.
Reminders can be sent to users in case of delayed approval.
Notification to the creator of the approval table after the document is approved or rejected.
Tuleap can notify approvers in two ways:
All at once: notifies all approvers who have not yet approved or rejected the document.
Sequentially: notifies approvers (who haven’t yet approved/rejected) one by one. If someone rejects the document, the sequence stops.
Once an approver is notified by the approval table, they are informed of any subsequent changes to the document.
Traceability
Complete history is maintained, showing:
Who approved.
When.
With which comment, if any.
This information is useful for audits and quality reviews.