Approve or deny updates to a repository document

Approval flow basics

The following roles can approve or deny changes made to a document:

• Repository owners can approve or deny suggested edits made to document assets and object assets in a repository they own.
• Folder owners can approve or deny suggested edits made to document assets in a folder they own.
• Asset owners can approve or deny suggested edits made to document assets they own.

Approval flow types

There are two types of approval flows you can choose from when setting up your repository:

• Standard approval: Approval requests are sent to all approvers simultaneously. The request is approved or denied as soon as the first approver responds.
• Sequential approval: Approval requests are processed sequentially. The request is only finalized once it has been approved by the following roles, in this order: asset owner, folder owner(s), and repository owner.
  • If a process resides in a subfolder, the request requires approval from both the subfolder owner and the parent folder owner.
  • Each approver will be notified in order. For example, once the process owner approves a request, the folder owner is then notified. If the process owner denies the request, it gets sent back to the requester for revisions and the folder owner is not notified.

To change the approval flow type for your repository, follow these steps:

1. Click Repository settings from the left navigation on the repository customization page.
2. Under “Approval flow type”, select a new option.
3. Click Save settings in the top-right corner.

View approval requests

To view all requests that have been submitted to you for approval, follow these steps:

1. Select Repositories from the navigation menu on the left side of the Lucid Home Page.
2. Click Approval requests underneath "Repositories" in the navigation menu.

The steps to approve edits to an asset differ between document assets and object assets. Check out the sections below for details on each.

Review and approve document asset updates

To view the specifics of a request, repository, folder, and asset owners can follow these steps from the approval requests page:

1. Under the “Requires approval” tab, select a repository to show any assets requiring approval.
2. Select the title of a document asset.
   • Document assets are indicated by either the Lucidchart or Lucidspark icon to the left of the document title.

From the document, you can:

• Review the document.
• See a comparison of the existing document and the proposed changes by clicking Compare changes from the top-right corner of the document.
• Approve and publish the changes. 
  • You also have the option to approve only, allowing the requester to publish at a later time.
• Deny the changes.

Approve edits

Approve and publish edits

To approve and publish suggested edits to a document, follow these steps from the document editor:

1. Click Approve and Publish from the top-right corner of the document.
2. Click Publish.

The edits are now published to the repository and visible to all users on your account.

Approve only
To approve suggested edits to a document without publishing them, follow these steps from the document editor:

1. Click the arrow dropdown to the right of the "Approve and Publish" button.
2. Select Approve only.
3. Type an optional message to the requester.
4. Click Approve.

The requester will be notified that their changes have been approved, and that they can publish the changes.

Deny edits

To deny suggested edits to a document, follow these steps from the document editor:

1. Click Deny from the top-right corner of the document.
2. Type a message to the requester explaining why you are declining the edits.
3. Click Deny.

The requester will be notified that their request has been denied and that they need to make updates before resubmitting.

Review and approve object asset updates

To approve or deny edits to an object assets, repository owners can follow these steps from the approval requests page:

1. Under the “Requires approval” tab, select a repository to show any assets requiring approval.
2. Select the title of an object asset.
   • Object assets are indicated by an object icon to the left of the asset title.
3. Review the edits.
4. Click Approve changes or Deny changes.

If approved, the requester can publish the updates. If denied, the requester can make changes and resubmit for approval.

Override pending approvals

If an approval is stalled (due to an approver being on leave, for example), Process Accelerator managers and repository owners can override the approval process to immediately publish an asset, move the request to the next approval step, or cancel the approval request by following these steps:

1. Select Repositories from the navigation menu on the left side of the Lucid Home Page.
2. Click Approval requests underneath "Repositories" in the navigation menu.
3. Click the three-dot menu to the right of a request.
4. Select one of the following options:
   • Move to next approval step (only appears if sequential approvals are enabled)
   • Publish asset now
   • Cancel approval request

FAQ

Do document statuses impact the approval flow of a document?
Standard Lucid documents can be assigned statuses such as “Draft”, “Complete”, and “Approved”. These statuses are unrelated to the Process Accelerator and have no impact on whether a document is approved to be added to a repository.

Can I revoke an approval after I’ve approved edits to an asset?
No. Review decisions are final. You can’t revoke an approval or denial after the fact.

Related articles

• Process Accelerator overview
• Use repositories to centralize and standardize your organization's documentation
• Request updates to a published repository asset
• Use the asset library to maintain documentation consistency

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