Files module

File approval templates and process

The HighQ file approval process allows site and content administrators to:
  • Create custom approval workflows rather than a fixed predefined approval process
  • Allocate approvals to one or more users or a group
  • Set due dates and reminders
  • Create multiple steps in the approval process
  • Set approvals for a Site
  • Allocate selected files to an approval process
Users entered as approvers receive notifications for items awaiting approval and can see a list of approval requests in My Approvals.
As of June 2023, with One-click approval, users can approve or reject changes directly from a notification email. or, as of November 2023, directly from a Microsoft Teams message.

Setting up file approvals

Creating an approval template
On your site, navigate to site
Admin
.
The
Site admin
 screen opens. In the
Site admin
screen, navigate to
Approvals
 >
Approval templates
.
The
Approval templates
 screen opens.
To add a new template, click
Add template
.
The
Add approval template
 screen opens.
Enter the details required for the approval template. For example:
  • Template
    Name
     - Lease agreements
  • Approvers
     - Finance Team
  • Assign due date
     - 5 days after the initial request
  • Instructions
     - Please review this lease agreement for a final pricing
In this example, we are creating an approval template for lease agreements, which needs to be approved by the finance team and we have provided them with some instructions to help them do this.
Set default due date and reminder
You can set a default number of days used to calculate the due date, which is automatically added to the approval request.
Select the box next to
Assign due date
, then enter the number of days until the initial due date.
Select
Exclude weekends
 to skip counting Saturday and Sunday when the date is calculated.
You can also set one or more reminders, based on the due date. Select
Add
 to add a reminder.
Type the number of days before the due date for the reminder notification, then select the tick to confirm. Select
Add
 again to add further reminders.
Additional steps
Click
Add step
to add additional steps. Use these steps to send files for approval to multiple parties.
Click
Add
to create your new template.
A message displays that the approval template was created successfully.
Your template is now active and available.

Enabling file approvals at site level

one-
To enable file approvals on your site, select enable approvals in the
Site admin
 section. Navigate to
Site admin
 >
Module settings
 >
Files
.
The
Admin - Files
 screen opens; navigate to
Advanced
Settings
. In this section you see two approval checkboxes;
Enable approvals
 and
Require approval to add files to folders
.
If
Enable approvals
 is selected, any files in the files module can be added to an approval process.
Click
Save
 to save your changes.

Sending files for approval

On your site, navigate to the
Files
 module.
Locate the files you want to send for approval and select them. Then select
Action
 >
Sent to... Approval
.
The
Send for approval
 screen opens.
In the
Send for approval
 screen, select the template you want to use.
The template defines the default approvers.
If the template includes a default due date, the calculated date is shown in the window.
If a due date is not defined in the template, select
Assign due date
, then select the desired date. Click
Add
 to add one or more reminders.
Add a note for the approvers. For example, you could say 'Can you please review and approve these files ASAP'.
Click
Send
 once you have entered all of the required information. You'll receive a message that your files are pending approval.
Open the
My requests
 tab in
My approvals
 to see the status of your requests.

Notifications and reminders

Assigned approvers receive notifications and emails for items awaiting approval or overdue, and can see an overview of approval requests in My Approvals.
If reminders are selected for the approval request, approvers also receive one or more reminders before the due date.
HighQ notification:
Screenshot of a HighQ notification.
Email:
Screenshot of an email notification.
As of June 2023, if One-click approval is enabled, users can approve or reject changes directly from a notification email. or, as of November 2023, directly from a Microsoft Teams message.
If you have overdue approvals, you receive notifications every day until you approve, reject or reallocate overdue items.
Adjust notification settings
To adjust
notification settings
, click
Settings
 in the notification pop-up.
Set
Email
,
Online
 and
Push
 options in the
Sends content to me for approval
,
Has an overdue approval
 and
Has an approval request reminder
 rows to change how you receive approval notifications.

Approve or reject the document

As of June 2023, if
One-click approval
 is enabled, users can approve or reject changes directly from a notification email in Outlook; or, as of November 2023, directly from a Microsoft Teams message.
Set up one-click approval
As of February 2024, one-click approval is enabled by default. However, a system admin must still configure permissions in Microsoft 365 to allow users to access the service.
Set permissions
A Microsoft 365 admin must approve permissions for the app in the Microsoft admin center.
In the Microsoft Teams admin center select
Teams apps
 then
Manage apps
.
Search for
TR Legal Communication Hub
.
Click
TR Legal Communication Hub
.
Select the
Permissions
 tab.
Click
Review permissions and consent
.
Review permissions and click
Accept
.
:

Disabling one-click approvals

If one-click approvals are not required, a system admin can disable one or both approval methods. If one-click approval is disabled, please use My Approvals to approve documents.
Open
System Settings
 in
System Admin
 and change ON to OFF for
Enable one-click approvals through MS Outlook
,
Enable one-click approvals through MS Teams
, or both.
Save your changes

Approving requests in Outlook or Teams

Depending on the enabled service, you receive an email in Outlook or a message in Teams (or both). Open the email in Outlook or the
TR Legal Communication Hub
 app in Teams to see the approval request.
The current document approval status is also shown at the top of the email, as it is possible another recipient approved the document before you opened the email.
Select
View in product
 to open the document in HighQ.
After you have checked the document, return to the message and click
Approve
 or
Reject
 to change the approval status of the document.
If you
Reject
 the document, you can add a
Reason for rejection
 before you submit the update.
A notification is automatically sent to the next stage of your approval process.

My approvals

The
My approvals
 section is found in your profile drop-down >
My approvals
.
This is where you manage your requested approvals, and items you need to approve.
The
My approvals
screen
You see the following tabs:
  • To approve
  • My requests
  • My rejected
  • Site Admins also see a
    Site Admin
     tab
To approve
The
To approve
 tab shows all files in your queue, awaiting action. If the approval is directly assigned to you, then you can approve the file directly. However, if the approval is allocated to a group and you are part of that group, before you can take any action, you must 'pick up' a file from
More actions
 >
Pick up
.
A screen displays with a message asking if you want to pickup.
Click
Pick up
. The file is then picked up by you, and tagged.
You can either approve or reject files. To do so, select the files, click
Actions
 then either
Approve
 or
Reject
.
The
Approve
 screen looks like this:
Screenshot of the Approve screen.
Click
Approve
 to approve the document. The document is moved from your '
To
approve
' list.
The
Reject
 screen looks like this:
Screenshot of the Reject screen.
Enter any comments or reasons for rejection and click
Reject
. The file is rejected.
Additionally, in the
More actions
 tab, you can:
  • Return
     a file - which un-assigns the file
  • Reallocate
     a file to another user or group
  • View the
    Approval details
    , or
  • Download
     the file
My requests
In the
My requests
 tab, you see all files that you sent for approval.
In this tab, you can either
Revoke
 or
Delete
 your requests from the
Actions
 tab.
My rejected
In the
My rejected
 tab, you see all files rejected by other approvers.
In this tab, you can also delete files from
Actions
>
Delete
.
Or edit the file from
More actions
 >
Edit
.
Site Admin tab
Site administrators have access to a
Site admin
 tab, where they can view all files that have been sent for approvals for which they are site administrators, and also
Download
,
Reallocate
 and view the
Approval details
 of files.

Require approval to add files to folders

If the
Require approval to add files to folders
 checkbox is selected, approval is required to add files onto the site. This uses the approval template created earlier.
Click
Save
 to save your changes.
In this case, when a file is uploaded to the files module, it automatically enters the approval process.
After it is approved, the file is only available in the files module.

Migrating existing site approvals

HighQ includes a default site approval template. This template mimics the pre-existing site approval flow.

This article applies to:

  • Product: HighQ
  • Subject: Documents, File Exchange