Configure approval settings

Project admin users configure approval settings and flows by defining project teams, field mappings, state transitions, approval levels, routes, and approval policies.

Available for: Web Client

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

  • You have a valid e-signature license.

  • Your site administrator has enabled the ALM E-signature Extension for your project. For details on enabling extensions, see Manage projects.

  • To view and configure e-signature settings, users must belong to a group with Approval Settings permissions or must have a TD_Admin role.

  • Desktop Client only: To enable the e-signature solution on Desktop clients, set the site parameter ENABLE_ESIGN = Y (Default = N).

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Access approval settings

You define a controlled approval flow for electronic signatures in the Approval Settings.

To access the approval settings:

  1. Log in to Web Client with admin credentials.

  2. Click the Settings button settings in the banner and select Approval Settings.

Note: The Approval Settings option only appears when the e-signature extension is enabled for the project.

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Configure project teams

Project teams are groups of users who participate in the approval flow. Teams can include members from multiple OpenText Application Quality Management user groups.

To create a project team:

  1. Open the Approval Settings, and select Project Teams.

  2. Click + New Team.

  3. Enter the Team Name.

  4. Select User Groups from which you want to add members.

    • User groups are the default global OpenText Application Quality Management groups used for managing permissions and privileges. For details, see Manage groups and permissions.

    • One project team can have members from multiple user groups.

    Note: User permissions and privileges are determined by their user group membership, not by project team membership. These are ALM global permissions, not e-signature specific.

  5. Add specific users from the selected groups into the team by clicking the right arrow button, or click the double right arrow button to add all users to the team.

  6. Click Submit.

You can modify project teams by deleting the entire team or by adding or removing individual members.

  • Add Users: Select a team and click + Add Members. Add additional users from the list and click OK.

  • Delete Members: Select the team in the left panel. In the list of users, click the Delete link in the corresponding row in the grid or select one or more users and click Delete Selected.

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Configure field mapping

Field mapping tells the system which fields contain your entity subtypes, states, and compliance types. This enables the system to identify entity types and states for your approval flows.

To map fields: 

  1. Open Approval Settings, and select Field Mapping.

  2. For each entity you want to map, such as Requirements, Test Plan, Test Set, Test Instance, Test Runs, and Defects, do the following.

    • Select the Sub Type

    • Select the State Transition Field. The values of this field will be used to track the transition states for the approval flow. For details on state transitions, see Configure state transitions.

    • Select the Compliance Type

  3. Click Save for each mapping.

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Configure state transitions

For each state, you specify which other states it can move to. The order and transitions determine the logic of the approval flow.

To configure state transitions:

  1. Open Approval Settings and select State Transitions.

  2. Select the entity and the sub type.

    The available states from the state transition field mapped in Field Mapping are displayed. For more details, see Configure field mapping.

  3. Reorder states by dragging and dropping them into the correct order.

  4. For each state, define possible next states. For example, Draft can move to Approved, Routing for Approval, or Rejected.

  5. When you have defined the state transitions, click Update.

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Configure the approval process

The approval process consists of several components that work together. The table below details these components.

Component Details
Approval Levels An approval level represents an authority tier in your approval flow where specific teams or individuals review and approve entities.
Approval Routes

An approval route is an ordered sequence of approval levels that an approval request will follow.

Approval Policies

Approval policies define the conditions that determine when a specific approval route is used.

Policies are useful for:

  • Different scenarios that require different approval flows.

  • Allowing conditional routing based on entity field values or linked entity properties. For example: High-severity defects follow a different approval route than low-severity defects.

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Approval Levels

Approval levels define who can approve and how many approvals are required at that stage.

To create an approval level:

  1. Open Approval Settings and select Approval Levels.

  2. Click + Add Level.

  3. Enter a name for the level. For example, Level1_QA. Optionally, enter a description for the level.

  4. Configure the Teams section:

    • Click + Add Team to add a team. Select a Team from the project teams list. For details on project teams, see Configure project teams.

    • Select which members from that team can approve.

    • Set the minimum number of approvals needed.

    • Specify the purpose of the signature. For example, QA Approval.

  5. Configure Individuals approvers (optional):

    • Add individual approvers who are not included in a project team to the approval level.

    • Set the minimum number of approvals needed.

    • Specify the purpose of the signature.

  6. Click Save Level.

  7. The approval level is added to the grid. The grid displays the name and description of the level, the number of teams and individuals included in the level, and when the level was last modified.

Managing Approval Levels

You can perform the following actions on approval levels:

Action Details
Edit Click the Edit button Edit to modify approval level details, teams, or members.
Clone Click the Clone button to create a copy of an existing level.
Delete

Click the Delete button Delete button to remove the level.

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Approval Routes

Routes are the paths that are used by approval policies.

To create an approval route:

  1. Open Approval Settings and select Approval Routes.

  2. Click + Add Approval Route.

  3. Enter a name and description for the approval route.

  4. In Teams allowed to initiate state transition, select the teams permitted to start the approval flow for that particular approval route.

  5. Enter Purpose of State Transition (e.g., "QA & Compliance Approval").

  6. Configure Approval Levels section:

    • Click + Add Level

    • Select an approval level from the dropdown list.

    • Add additional levels as needed. Levels are processed in the order listed (top to bottom).

  7. Click Submit.

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Approval Policies

Approval policies define the conditions that determine when a specific approval route is used.

Policies are useful for:

  • Different scenarios that require different approval flows.

  • Allowing conditional routing based on entity field values or linked entity properties. For example: High-severity defects follow a different approval route than low-severity defects.

To create an approval policy:

  1. Open Approval Settings and select Approval Policies.

  2. Select the Entity for which you want to add a policy and click + Add Policy

  3. Enter a name for the approval policy and an optional description.

  4. Select the entity sub type and compliance type.

  5. Configure the states that correspond to:

    • From State: The initial state of the entity (For example, Draft)

    • To Approved State: Final state when the entity is approved (For example, Approve)

    • Rejected State: The state assigned if rejected (For example, Reject)

    • In Approval State: The state assigned when the approval flow is in progress.

  6. Configure Fields to be locked. Select the fields that will be locked during and after approval. These fields become read-only.

  7. (Optional) Select Disable Attachment Modification to lock attachments during and after approval. Users cannot delete or modify attachments when this option is enabled. If approval is withdrawn, attachments can be edited again.

  8. (Optional) Select the Single Approval per approver if users who belong to multiple teams should only approve once. This prevents the same person from approving multiple times across different teams. If not selected, a user can approve from each team that they belong to.

  9. (Optional) Test runs module only: Select the Tester(s) as Approver Level 1 to enable an approval flow specific to test runs: after all steps are completed and the run is submitted, notifications are sent first to testers who executed test steps. After tester approvals are complete, notifications are sent to approvers and the flow continues through the configured approval levels. The Run status should be Passed/ Failed/ N/A to initiate test run.

  10. Define the default route.

    An approval policy requires at least one default route.

    • Click the Edit button Edit at the end of the first row of the approval route list.

    • Select the approval route that should be used by default.

    • Add any events if required.

  11. Add Conditional Routes (optional):

    • Click + Add Condition

    • Select the approval route to use when the condition is met.

    • Define the conditions.

    • (Optional) Define actions to be taken.

  12. Click Save.

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Email notifications and templates

Email notifications are sent automatically for e-signature events.

The following default email templates are provided by the system:

  • Request approval notification

  • Final approval notification

  • Revision notification

  • Reassign notification

  • Rejection notification.

The project administrator can override the default templates by customizing them.

To customize an email template: 

  1. Open Approval Settings and select Email Templates.

  2. Click + Create Email Template.

  3. Select the template you want to customize and select the entity type.

  4. Customize the subject, description, and body of the email template.

  5. Click Save.

Project level audit trail

Audit trails provide a complete history of project approval activities, including entity status, approvers, decisions, timestamps, and approval flow progress. Use them to track approval activity for compliance and reporting, and download the data when needed.

To view audit trails:

  1. Open Approval Settings and select Audit Trails.

  2. Filter approval records by:

    • Approval Status: Pending, Approved, Rejected, Disabled, Re-assigned

    • Entity Type: Requirement, Test Plan, Defect, etc.

    • Approvers: Filter by specific requestors

    You can add additional columns to the view if required.

  3. (Optional) Click Download to save an Excel file of the data for reporting or compliance documentation.

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See also: