Approvals, sign-offs and exceptions

Two different things are signed off in Workflow. An approval is RealAdvice's own: Legal, Accounting or an Executive approves a release, and records what they read. A sign-off is an outside party's, such as the client's attorney: RealAdvice records their answer, but never gives it for them. Anything still open when a release goes out is written down as an exception, with a person who owns it. When it is closed, someone marks it resolved, and the next approval no longer carries it.

• Who approves. A person given that approval on Workflow roles. Legal approval also needs a bar admission on the Staff List. Any executive may give an Accounting or an Executive approval, with no grant. Managing the project does not allow it, and being on the task is not enough. You may approve your own work. The approver must also be able to open the work. Anyone else is refused, and the message names the approval.
• What they approve. Approve on the task's card opens Approve the release. It lists every document on file under Documents read, each one ticked. On a property's work, the list also holds the PSA and its amendments received on the work of the property's engagement. A document is on file when it was marked received with its file. One marked Received without a file is listed only if it is a PSA amendment, ending in no file. Two documents of the same name show the date each was received. The approval covers all of them: to approve, every box must stay ticked.
• What it unlocks. As Workflow is set up at first, a task that waits on an approval cannot move into an ending that sits in Finished until it is approved. A task that waits on two roles needs both. At cutover, an approval FileMaker shows as given is carried over as done, and no WarpCore approval is recorded for it.

The dialog, as Legal opens it for one task:

• The task's card shows Cleared, or the number of exceptions still open. Each exception stays on the card, with its owner.
• When an exception is closed, its owner, or a person who may give an approval that named it, selects Mark resolved on the card, and says how, if they want to. The card then says who resolved it and on which day, and lists it below the open ones. Reopen opens it again. See Mark an exception resolved, or reopen it.
• When a PSA amendment is marked received on the work, every approval on it goes stale. When it is marked received on an engagement's work, every approval on the work of each property of that engagement goes stale too, except work that is canceled or whose property is deleted. When that work is reactivated, or its property restored, an approval given before the amendment goes stale then. The card shows Stale: new amendment and a line that starts Blocked, and the approval is asked for again, even on a done task. A new approval starts with the exceptions still open on the old one, so none is lost by accident, and a resolved one is not carried. An open exception the new approval leaves out stays on the card as history: “Removed when Legal approved again”.
• If a document arrives while the approver has the dialog open, Workflow does not record the approval. It says “Something on file changed while you were approving. Read it again and approve once more.” The new document shows unticked.
• If someone marks resolved an exception the approver kept while the dialog is open, Workflow does not record the approval either. It says “An exception you kept was resolved while you were approving. Read it again and approve once more.” The list is read again, without it. In the same way, if someone reopens an exception the approval leaves out, it says “An exception was reopened while you were approving. Read it again and approve once more.”, and the list is read again, with it.

The template can say that a task waits for an outside party, such as the client or the buyer's attorney, to reach an answer. RealAdvice records each answer as it hears it, with Record answer on the task's card. The answers, from first contact to a written sign-off:

• “Not introduced”
  RealAdvice hasn’t been introduced to them yet.
• “Awaiting response”
  RealAdvice has reached out and is waiting to hear back.
• “No response”
  RealAdvice reached out and hasn’t heard back.
• “On board”
  They’ve agreed to work with RealAdvice on this engagement.
• “Verbal yes”
  They’ve said yes, but not yet in writing.
• “Signed off”
  They’ve signed off in writing.

A party who was asked and has not answered moves from Awaiting response to No response by itself, after the time your company sets.

Each answer keeps who said it, who at RealAdvice heard it, when, and an optional note. A department manager or above corrects an answer recorded wrong with Correct, and says why: the correction is kept as a new answer, the earlier one stays in the history with who corrected it, when and why, and the audit log keeps the answer before and after. Where the party stands, and every report that reads it, uses the correction. A closed wait stays closed, even when its answer is corrected to a weaker one; the next release approval then lists the party again.

When an approver opens Approve the release, Workflow writes in every outside party's sign-off that is not finished, on this work and on any other work for the same property or engagement that the approver can open. Each one becomes an exception. The approver keeps it with an owner, or removes it. Workflow never refuses a release because a party has not signed: the approver decides, and the exception keeps the risk on the record.

A kept item stays linked to its outside party. When the party's answer finishes it, for example when the escrow officer comes on board or a sign-off is signed, the exception resolves itself: the card says so under its words, and nobody marks it. A sign-off marked Not needed resolves it too.

To give an approval: Approve as Legal, Accounting or Executive. To record an answer: Record an outside party's answer.