Multistage Disposal Approval

To send records for disposal approval, you need to be assigned to either the Application Administrator or Records Manager role. To approve or reject disposal requests, you must be assigned as an approver.

When records reach the end of their retention period and are ready for disposal, they require approval before any disposal action can be carried out. 

Multistage Disposal Approval lets you define a sequential approval workflow with multiple stages, each with its own set of approvers. Items progress through each stage in order Stage 1 approvers must act before Stage 2 approvers are notified, and so on.

This is useful when your organisation's disposal process requires sign-off from multiple parties in a defined sequence. For example, a departmental records officer, followed by a senior records manager, then a compliance officer.

You can also continue to use the single-stage approval mode, where any of the listed approvers can approve the request without a defined order.

Send items for multistage disposal approval

1. Navigate to the Disposal view and select the items you want to send for approval.

2. Click Send for Approval. The "Send for approval" popup opens.

   

   

3. Under Choose items, select either Selected items only or All items.

4. Under Approval process, select Users must approve in order.

   The Stages grid appears, replacing the single approver list.

   

5. Click Add stage. The "Add approvers for a stage" popup opens.

   

6. Add one or more approvers for Stage 1. You can add approvers by:
   a. Email account: enter the email address of the approver directly.
   b. Security profile: select a pre-configured security profile that contains the relevant users or groups. Security profiles without any members cannot be added as disposal approvers. If a user is later removed from a security profile after the approval request has been sent, the remaining users in that profile will still be able to see and action the items.

7. Click Add to save the stage.

8. Repeat steps 5–7 to add additional stages. Each stage is numbered sequentially (Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, etc.) and appears as a row in the Stages grid.

   

9. Optionally, enter a message in the Message to approver (optional) field. This message is included in the email notification sent to approvers. The field accepts up to 1000 characters.

10. Click Send.

The selected items are now sent for approval. Stage 1 approvers receive an email notification with a link to review the items. The items appear under the Approval Pending tab with a status of "Pending."

Edit or remove a stage before sending

Before clicking Send, you can modify the stages you have configured.

1. To edit a stage, select it in the Stages grid and click Edit. The "Edit approvers" popup opens, where you can add or remove approvers for that stage.

2. To remove a stage, select it in the Stages grid and click Remove. A confirmation message appears: "Are you sure you want to remove the selected disposal approval stage(s)?" Click Remove to confirm.

When you remove a stage, the remaining stages are renumbered automatically.

Send items for single-stage approval

If you do not need a sequential approval workflow, you can use the single-stage mode.

1. Navigate to the Disposal view and select the items you want to send for approval.

2. Click Send for Approval. The "Send for approval" popup opens.

3. Under Approval process, select Any user can approve.

   The Approvers list appears instead of the Stages grid.

   

4. Click Add Approver and add one or more approvers by email account or security profile.

5. Optionally, enter a message in the Message to approver (optional) field.

6. Click Send.

All listed approvers receive an email notification. Any one of them can approve or reject the request.

Approve or reject items

When it is your turn to act on a disposal approval  either as a single-stage approver or as the current stage approver in a multistage workflow you receive an email notification with a link to RecordPoint.

1. Navigate to the My Approval View tab in the Disposal area, or click the link in the email notification.

   

2. Select the item or items you want to action.

3. Click Manage Approval. The Manage Approval sidebar opens.

   

4. Select one of the following:
   a. Approve: the item advances to the next stage (if there is one) or proceeds to disposal (if this is the final stage).
   b. Reject:  the item is rejected and the approval workflow stops. No further stages are actioned.

5. Enter a Reason. This is a required field.

6. Click Save.

A confirmation message appears: "The decision has been saved successfully."

In a multistage workflow, when you approve an item:

• If there are remaining stages, the next stage's approvers receive an email notification and the item remains under Approval Pending.

• If this is the final stage, the item is approved and moves forward for disposal.

If you reject an item at any stage, the entire approval workflow stops and the item is marked as rejected.

As an approver, you can only see items in the My Approval View when they are at your stage. You will not see items that are at earlier or later stages in the workflow.

View approval status and history

You can view the stage-by-stage approval status for any item that has been sent for multistage approval.

1. Navigate to the record and open its Disposal tab.

   

2. The Disposal Details section displays the overall status and core disposal information, including:

   • Disposal Action

   • Disposal Date

   • Disposal Approved By / Disposal Rejected By

   • Disposal Approved Date / Disposal Rejected Date

   • Disposal Approval Comments

3. The Approvers section displays the approval history for each stage. For each stage, you can see:

   • Disposal Requested Approvers: the approvers assigned to that stage.

   • Approval Status: Pending, Approved, or Rejected.

   • Approved By / Rejected By:  the user who actioned that stage.

   • Approved Date / Rejected Date:  when the action was taken.

   • Approval Comments / Rejection Comments:  the reason provided by the approver.

For single-stage approvals, the Approvers section displays a single group without stage headings.

Monitor items pending approval

The Approval Pending tab in the Disposal area shows all items currently awaiting approval.

From this tab you can:

• View the current approval status for each item.

• Select items and click Resend for Approval to resend the approval request. Resending resets the approval workflow back to Stage 1, and all stages must be completed again from the beginning.

• Select approved items and click Dispose to carry out the disposal action.

Key benefits

• Structured approval process ensures disposal decisions are reviewed by multiple stakeholders in the correct sequence before any action is taken.

• Audit trail each stage records who approved or rejected, when, and why, providing a complete history for compliance purposes.

• Flexible configuration, you can define as many stages as your process requires, with different approvers at each stage, using either individual email accounts or security profiles.