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Task Approval Workflow

Some projects require that completed work be approved before it is considered done. BusinessHRM supports this with a Waiting Approval step: an employee sends a task for approval, and an admin or project admin approves it (recording a reason).

When approval applies

Approval is controlled per project by the Need Approval (by admin) setting on the project (see Create a project). When it is enabled, employees (non-admins) working on that project must send their tasks for approval instead of completing them directly.

The Waiting Approval column

Every board includes a Waiting Approval column (shown in black). Tasks sent for approval move into this column. It is treated specially:

  • It is excluded from the normal status filters and quick actions.
  • Tasks generally cannot be dragged directly into or out of it on the board.

How an employee sends a task for approval

When a project requires approval and you are an employee:

  1. Open the task (or move it toward completion).
  2. Use Send Approval. The task moves into the Waiting Approval column and is flagged as awaiting approval.

When you drag a task that needs approval into Completed, you will be prompted to send it for approval rather than completing it outright.

How an approver approves or rejects

Admins and the project's Project Admin can act on tasks waiting for approval:

  1. Open the task that is in Waiting Approval.
  2. Change its status to move it out of Waiting Approval (for example, to Completed or back to an active column).
  3. A Task Status Change Reason prompt appears. Enter a Reason (required).
  4. Save. The reason is recorded as a comment on the task, and the task moves to the new status.

Permissions and roles

  • The approval flow specifically applies to employees on projects where Need Approval (by admin) is on.
  • Admins and the Project Admin are the approvers and provide the status-change reason.
  • Reopening a completed task resets its approval flag.

Tips

  • Turn on Need Approval (by admin) only for projects where a review gate is genuinely needed — it adds a step to every completion.
  • The required Reason becomes part of the task's comment history, giving you an audit trail of approvals and rejections.