Starting the approval process

What you'll learn#

• When and where to find the Start Approval button
• How to pick a workflow
• What happens during and after you confirm
• What to do if something goes wrong

When the button is available#

You can start the approval process only when your document is in Active status — the starting point of the lifecycle. If the document has already moved to Approving, Approved, or Rejected, the button isn't shown (there's nothing to start).

Typically, you'll start the approval right after creating the document.

Step-by-step#

1. Go to Document Flow → Documents in the sidebar.
2. Click the document you want to send for approval — you land on its detail page.
3. Near the top of the page, click the green Start Approval button.
4. A small dialog opens asking you to pick a workflow.
5. Open the Workflow dropdown. You'll see one or more options:
   • Default (auto-select) — this is what you want in almost all cases. VAT Portal picks the right approval flow based on how your admin configured this document type. If your document has filter rules (for example, "amounts over 10,000 AZN go to the CEO"), those rules apply automatically.
   • Specific workflows — if your admin has set up more than one workflow for this document type, they appear by name. Pick one only if you know a specific flow fits better than the default.
6. Click Start Approval in the dialog to confirm.

While the approval is being started#

After you click Start Approval, the dialog switches to a loading state:

• A spinner appears with the message "Starting approval process…".
• The dialog is locked — you can't close it, click outside, or press Escape.
• This usually takes a couple of seconds while VAT Portal sets up the approval tasks in the background.

Three things can happen from here:

Success#

A green checkmark appears with "Approval process started successfully." The dialog closes automatically after about a second and a half. The document's status updates to Approving — the approval is on its way.

Error#

A red alert icon appears with an error message explaining what went wrong. You can click:

• Try Again — goes back to the workflow-picker step so you can retry.
• Cancel — closes the dialog.

Most errors are configuration issues on the admin side (a missing workflow, a broken filter rule). If you keep seeing the same error, contact your admin.

Timeout (taking longer than expected)#

If the process takes longer than roughly 30 seconds, VAT Portal stops waiting and shows an amber clock icon with "Taking longer than expected." The dialog tells you the process is still running in the background. Close the dialog, wait a moment, and refresh the page — the status should have updated to Approving by then.

After the approval starts#

Once the document reaches Approving status:

• Tasks are sent to the assignees — everyone who needs to act on a step of the workflow sees their task in their My Tasks list.
• You can track progress — go back to the document's detail page any time to see which tasks have been approved, which are still pending, and any comments approvers have left.
• You can still use the discussion board — if an approver asks a question, you can respond right on the document page.
• The document is locked for editing — you can't change the fields, title, content, or attachments while it's in approval. If you notice a mistake, you'll need to wait until it's either approved or rejected, then correct it.

See Tracking approval progress for more on what to do while waiting, and Using the discussion board for how to answer questions from approvers.

Common questions#