Approvals

Approvals let a designated approver review a completed inspection before it finalizes. When a template has approval enabled, an inspection moves to Pending approval after the inspector submits it. No report is finalized and no sign-off is triggered until an approver records a decision.

See Templates to enable the approval requirement on a template, and People & access to assign the approver role to a member.

The approvals queue

Open Approvals from the main navigation. The page shows three sections.

Each section header shows a count. Assigned to me and Open queue are always visible. Recently decided is collapsed by default; select Show (N) to expand it and Hide to collapse it again.

The queue refreshes on its own. It re-fetches when you return to the tab and once a minute while it is open, so newly submitted inspections appear without a manual reload.

Each item in Assigned to me and Open queue shows:

• The template name, or "Inspection" when no template name is available
• The client account, or "No client" when none is set
• The inspector names, or "No inspector" when none is assigned
• The time since the inspection was completed, shown as a relative value such as "2h ago"

Each item in Recently decided shows the template name, the client account, the decision that was recorded, and the time since the decision was made.

Select any item to open the review screen for that inspection.

Empty states

When a section has no items, it shows a short message in place of the list: "Nothing assigned to you." for Assigned to me, "Open queue is clear." for Open queue, and "No decisions in the last 30 days." for Recently decided.

Who can decide

The inspection's assigned approver can always record a decision. If the inspection has no assigned approver, any member who reaches it from the open queue can decide it. This is first-come: once one approver submits a decision, the inspection leaves the queue and the others can no longer act on it.

If an inspection is assigned to a different approver, you can still open it and read all the tabs, but the Decide card does not appear. A note reads "This inspection is assigned to another approver." instead.

See People & access for how to grant the approver role.

The review screen

Selecting an item opens the inspection in a read-only review screen. All tabs are available so you can see everything the inspector recorded before you decide.

Every tab is read-only on this screen. You cannot edit responses, change findings, or reassign inspectors from the approval review screen.

If the inspection cannot be loaded, the screen shows "Inspection not found or no longer available." with a Back to Approvals link.

The Decide card

When you can act, either because the inspection is assigned to you or because it is in the open queue, a sticky card titled Decide appears at the top of the review screen with three buttons: Approve, Request changes, and Reject. The card stays visible as you scroll through the tabs. Select a button to open the decide dialog.

If the inspection is assigned to another approver, the card is replaced by the note "This inspection is assigned to another approver." If the inspection has already been decided, the note reads "Decided" followed by the current status.

Recording a decision

Selecting Approve, Request changes, or Reject opens the decide dialog for that action. Each option has its own comment rule and consequence.

In every case the comment is trimmed before it is saved. When a comment is required and you leave it blank, the primary button stays disabled and the dialog shows "A comment is required." A comment over 2,000 characters shows "Comment is too long (max 2000 characters)." and also disables the button. The text area itself stops you at 2,000 characters as you type.

Each dialog has a Cancel button that closes it without recording anything. The primary button shows "Saving..." while the decision records.

Approve

1. Select Approve in the Decide card. The dialog asks "Approve this inspection?"
2. Optionally enter a comment. The note is saved with your approval.
3. Select Approve.

Auditmark shows a confirmation toast that reads "Approved" with the inspection name and returns you to the approvals queue. The inspection moves out of Pending approval.

Request changes

1. Select Request changes in the Decide card. The dialog asks "Send back to inspector?"
2. Enter a comment that tells the inspector what needs fixing. This field is required.
3. Select Send back.

Auditmark shows a toast that reads "Sent back to inspector" with the inspection name and returns you to the approvals queue. The inspection goes back to the inspector. When they resubmit, it re-enters Pending approval and appears in the queue again. The Approval & Sign-off tab accumulates all rounds of history.

Reject

Rejection permanently closes the inspection. Use it when the inspection cannot be remedied and should not finalize.

1. Select Reject in the Decide card. The dialog asks "Reject this inspection?"
2. Enter a comment explaining why the inspection is being rejected. This field is required.
3. Select Reject.
4. A second confirmation appears: "This closes the inspection permanently. You cannot undo a rejection." Select Yes, reject to confirm, or Cancel to back out.

Auditmark shows a toast that reads "Rejected" with the inspection name and returns you to the approvals queue. The inspection is closed and no longer appears in the active queue.

When two approvers act at once

If two approvers open the same open-queue item and one submits a decision while the other is still reviewing, the second submission returns a conflict. Auditmark shows "This inspection was already decided", closes the dialog, and returns you to the queue. No partial decision is recorded.

The notification bell

The bell in the top bar surfaces approval work without opening the queue. When an inspection enters Pending approval, the bell shows "An inspection needs your approval"; selecting it opens that inspection's review screen directly. When a decision is recorded on an inspection you are involved with, the bell shows "An approval decision was made".

The pending-approval alert is always shown because it is an action you need to take. The approval-outcome alert respects your notification preferences and can be turned off under Account. See Your account for the preference toggles.

Viewing a report from the review screen

The Report tab is available on the review screen regardless of your decision status. From it you can:

• View the instant HTML preview of the inspection report.
• Select View on a ready revision to open the full preview in a dialog.
• Select Download to save the PDF.
• Select Email to open the email dialog and send the report to one or more recipients.

This is useful when you want to review the formatted output as part of your decision, particularly for inspections whose report layout includes a scoring summary or findings appendix.

After you record a decision, you can still open the inspection from Recently decided and reach the Report tab.

Lifecycle summary

The steps below show where the approvals queue fits in the full inspection lifecycle.

1. The inspector completes the inspection and submits it. Status: Pending approval.
2. The inspection appears in the approvals queue: in Assigned to me if an approver was set, or in Open queue otherwise.
3. An approver reviews the tabs and records a decision.
   • Approve: the inspection advances to Pending sign-off or Completed.
   • Request changes: the inspection returns to the inspector. Repeat from step 1 when it is resubmitted.
   • Reject: the inspection closes permanently.

For the full inspection lifecycle, including how to create an inspection and set an approver, see Inspections.