In this article, we will walk through the process of setting up Gate Decision Approvals for project stages.
Gate Decision Approvals allow organizations to require formal approval before a project can move from one process stage to the next.
Unlike Standard Approvals, Gate Decision Approvals allow approvers to select a specific decision when approving a stage transition: Go or Conditional Go. This helps organizations document whether a project is approved to proceed without additional conditions or with conditions that must be addressed.
To enable and configure Gate Decision Approvals for project stages, follow these steps:
1. Enable Gate Decision Approvals for the Process Stages.
Gate Decision Approvals are configured at the project process level by the PPM Express Administrator.
- Navigate to the Process Management page.
- Open the Process where you need to enable Gate Decision Approval.
- Open the relevant stage for editing.
- Set the Approval for Transition option to Gate Decision Approval.
- Click Save Stage.
- Repeat the same steps for all stages requiring Gate Decision Approval for completion and transition to the next stage.
You can enable Gate Decision Approvals for any combination of stages. Not every stage requires approval.
2. Add Approvers
Approvers are assigned per project:
- Open the required Project -> Process section.
- Open the Process Approvals view.
- Add one or more approvers for stages that require approval. Approvers can be added:
- individually, using the Add Approver button;
- in bulk, using the Bulk Add Approvers button. Bulk assignment is available only for stages that have not yet started the approval workflow. If a stage already has a pending approval request, additional approvers can still be added individually. Newly added approvers immediately receive an approval request.
After a stage has been approved, additional approvers cannot be added to that stage.
3. Submit an Approval Request
Simply assigning approvers does not start the approval workflow.
To begin the approval process:
- Open the Project -> Process section -> Flow Chart view.
- Navigate to the current stage.
- Click the Go to the next stage button.
The approval request is sent to all assigned approvers. Email notifications are sent to approvers when a new approval request is submitted.
The project remains in its current stage while the approval request is pending.
4. Review Approval Requests
Approvers receive approval requests in the Approval Center under the Project Stages tab.
For each request, approvers can:
- approve the stage transition by selecting a Gate Decision;
- reject the request;
- provide comments.
Approving a Request
When an approver selects Approve, a dialog opens where they must select one of the following decisions:
- Go: The project is approved to proceed to the next stage without additional conditions.
- Conditional Go: The project is approved to proceed to the next stage with certain conditions. The approver can provide a comment explaining the conditions or additional requirements.
The Decision field is mandatory, while the Comment field is optional.
The approver selects the required decision, optionally adds a comment, and submits the approval.
Both Go and Conditional Go are considered positive approval decisions. Selecting Conditional Go does not block the stage transition.
Rejecting a Request
If an approver determines that the project is not ready to proceed to the next stage, they can reject the approval request.
To reject a request:
Open the approval request in the Approval Center.
- Click Reject.
- Choose Gate Decision and enter a comment explaining the reason for rejection.
Unlike approval, rejection requires a comment. The approver cannot submit a rejection without providing one. - Submit the rejection.
When a request is rejected, the project remains in its current stage and cannot proceed to the next one through the rejected approval.
The project team can review the rejection feedback, make the necessary changes, and submit a new approval request by clicking Go to the next stage again.
The new request is sent to the assigned approvers for review.
Approval Status and Stage Transition
Once an approver makes a decision, the request status is updated accordingly.
If multiple approvers are assigned to a stage, each must approve the request. Approvers can select either Go or Conditional Go, and both decisions count as approvals.
If any approver rejects the request, the approval is rejected, regardless of the decisions made by other approvers. The project remains in the current stage, and a new approval request must be submitted.
Once all assigned approvers have approved the request, the project can proceed to the next stage.
Permissions for Using Gate Decision Approvals
Users who have permission to edit a project can:
- assign approvers;
- submit approval requests.
Only users assigned as approvers can access and respond to approval requests in the Approval Center.
Administrators can also perform administrative process actions, such as skipping stages, following the same permission model used by project processes.
A cancellation notification is sent to approvers whenever a pending approval request is removed because of actions such as restarting the process, moving to another stage, or deleting the request.