Set which redactions need approval, and who can give it

Approval in Govflo is two settings in two places. Redaction Rules decides what needs a second pair of eyes. Roles decides whose eyes those are. Neither works without the other.

How to require approval for a kind of redaction

Go to Settings, then Records & Compliance, then Redaction Rules.

1. Find the category you want under Default redaction rules.

2. Turn on its Approval toggle. The control reads "Require approval for" and the category name.

3. Do the same in the Approval column on Word match rules for any phrase your agency always redacts.

Changes save as you make them.

The three toggles are not the same thing

Each built-in category carries three switches, and they answer different questions.

• Detect. Whether Govflo looks for this at all when a document is scanned.

• Auto-highlight. Whether matches are applied as redacted when the document loads, or flagged for an officer to review first.

• Approval. Whether a redaction of this kind needs someone else to sign it off before the document can go out.

Detection off means the category is invisible. Approval on means it is visible, redactable, and held.

Who can approve

Approving is a role permission, set under Settings, then User Management, then Roles.

A role that can approve holds access to the Approvals area. The starter configuration ships an approver role for exactly this, and it often carries no casework permissions at all: an approver decides, they do not work the queue.

That is the separation worth preserving. If the same person redacts and approves, the approval step records a name but adds no scrutiny, and the audit trail shows one person twice rather than two people once.

Where approvals are worked

Approvals appear in two places, and both show the same items.

The Approvals page in the sidebar is the approver's queue, with Open Approvals, Due Today, Overdue and Completed Approvals.

The Request Approvals tab on a request shows what is outstanding and what has already been decided for that request alone, which is where an officer looks to find out what they are waiting on.

Everyone gets told

Notification events cover the whole cycle: Approval requested when something needs a decision, Approval decision when one is made, and separate events for approval comments and mentions.

Who receives each is set under Settings, then Agent Productivity, then Notifications. On Approval requested, the assignee means the named reviewer and the team means the approver team.

Choose what needs approval deliberately

Turning approval on for everything is the same as turning it on for nothing. A queue where every redaction waits gets cleared by someone clicking through it, and the control stops being a control.

Reserve it for the categories where a mistake is expensive and hard to undo. A withheld name released in error cannot be recalled, and neither can a signature or an account number.

Whatever you decide, every redaction is written to the audit log with the person who made it. Approval adds a second name to the ones that warrant it.