Assigning, approving and rejecting a document

Three actions move a document through review: giving it to someone, clearing it for release, and refusing it. All three are recorded against the document and the request.

How to assign a document to a reviewer

1. Open the document from the request's Case/Media tab or from Document Workspace.
2. Set the assignee on the document.
3. They are notified, and the document appears in their work.

Assigning matters on any case with volume. Without it, two officers can open the same document and review it twice, or both assume the other has it and neither does.

Approving a document

Approving clears a document for release. Set its status to Ready for Release once review and any redaction are complete.

Only a cleared status lets a document be packaged, shared or delivered, so approval is the gate. A document that has been redacted but not approved will not go out.

Rejecting a document

Rejecting means the document will not be released. The decision stays on the record rather than removing the document.

Use it where a record is genuinely not responsive, or where it is withheld in full. Record why in an internal note on the request, because "rejected" on its own does not explain anything to whoever reads the file later.

Approval on the document is not the same as an approval workflow

Setting a document to Ready for Release is a review decision an officer makes.

An approval workflow is a separate sign-off step your agency may require before release, routed to an approver who may hold no casework permissions at all. Where a workflow applies, your approval is not the last word: the workflow still has to clear.

Both are recorded, and the two together are what separation of duties means in practice.

What no permission overrides

A document whose redaction verification comes back unclean will not release automatically, whoever approves it and whatever permissions they hold. It waits for a person.

Approving such a document does not push it out. Resolve what verification flagged first.

Everything here is logged

Each assignment, approval and rejection is written to the request's history with who did it and when. Decisions are not edited afterwards; a changed mind is recorded as a new decision alongside the old one.