Tracking approval progress

What you'll learn#

• Where to check the progress of your documents
• What each status means for "where is my document right now"
• What you can and can't see as a regular user
• How to ask for an update when the UI doesn't give you enough

Three places to track#

VAT Portal doesn't have a single "Tracking" page — tracking happens across three views, each with a different level of detail.

1. Dashboard — the high-level overview#

Document Flow → Dashboard (or just click the logo). The Documents stat card at the top shows a breakdown by status: how many of your company's documents are Active, Approving, Approved, and Rejected. The Recent Documents list below is sorted newest-first, with a colored status badge on each row.

Use this when you want a quick "are there any issues?" check.

2. Documents list — filter by status#

Document Flow → Documents in the sidebar. The page has five filter tabs at the top:

• All — every document you can see.
• Active — drafts that haven't been sent for approval yet.
• Approving — in review right now. This is where you look for in-flight documents.
• Approved — finished successfully.
• Rejected — stopped; need correction or deletion.

Each tab shows a count beside its label. The status column on each row shows a color-coded badge. Click any row to open the document's detail page.

3. Document detail — the full story#

Click into any document for the most detail. Three things on the detail page tell you about progress:

• Status badge in the header — tells you where the document is overall.
• Version badge (e.g., v2) — tells you how many times it's been corrected and resubmitted. v1 means this is the first attempt; v2 means one rejection + correction so far.
• Workflow Copies card — one row per approval attempt, with timestamps and inline comments for Approved or Rejected attempts (the reviewer's note).

See Viewing a document for the full page breakdown.

What each status means#

What you can't see directly#

If you're the creator (not an admin), there are a few things the UI doesn't show you:

• Which specific approver has the task right now. You see the document is in Approving status, but not the current assignee's name.
• Which approvers have already approved vs. who's still pending. Approval progress inside an attempt isn't visible on the document page.
• Task-level comments from individual approvers (other than the final Approved / Rejected comment).

This is a real gap in the regular-user view. If you need more detail than the document page gives you, you have two options:

1. Ask on the Discussion Board. Approvers see the board on their task page. A polite "Hi — any update on this?" usually gets a quick response.
2. Ask an admin. Admins have a Workflow Admin tool that shows per-task progress for each workflow instance (see the Administration section). If something feels stuck, an admin can investigate and even intervene.

Does the page auto-refresh?#

No — the document detail page doesn't poll for updates. If you're watching for a change in status:

• Refresh the browser page to pick up the latest state.
• Or go back to the Documents list and re-open the document.

The Discussion Board is the only thing on the page that auto-refreshes (about every 30 seconds). If an approver adds a comment or a question there, you'll see it without a page reload.

Typical tracking timeline#

For a healthy approval:

1. You create the document → status Active, version v1.
2. You click Start Approval → status Approving.
3. Approvers act one at a time. You don't see each individual action from the document page, but each approver's task moves forward.
4. Eventually either:
   • Approved — done, you're finished.
   • Rejected — read the comment, click Make Correction, edit, and Start Approval again (now v2).

If a document sits in Approving for longer than you expected, check the Discussion Board first. If there are no messages and still no progress, ask an admin whether something has stuck — Workflow Admin can diagnose it.

Common questions#