With RESPONSUM, we provide users with a change log that is available on all sub-modules by default.

For each sub-module, by default a review/validation flow is available after a version is “Frozen”. An “Accountable user” within the system can be requested to “Approve” or “Reject” this version of the item.

See it in action

Pre-requisites to get started

• The change log of an item is available for anyone with access to that item
• Have “Accountable” or “Accountable reviewer” (Ownership & Access special permission) permissions available to actually review an item (Approve or reject)

Fast-track to Brilliance

• Navigate to the item you want to review/approve
• Open the “Version history” by pressing the (Clock with arrow wrapped around it) button on the right top on the view or edit page of the item
• See the changes made on the item and select “Freeze version” to create a new version that can no longer be edited before review.
• Press “Request approval” to provide en invite for review/validation to users with “Accountable” permission or that are assigned the “Accountable reviewer” role based on a field in the item.

Step-by-step guidance

Accessing the Version history (Change log) for an item

For each item within every sub-module of RESPONSUM, we keep a change log of changes made to the item over time. We keep the previous and new text or link to show the before and after of any change.

This change log can be accessed from the item’s view/edit page by pressing the “version history” (Clock with arrow wrapped around it) button.

In the version history side window that opens you will be able to see:

• All versions of the item (in case Review/validation is enabled)
• See the changes made to all properties for each version
• Open the version in the main window by pressing the version
• Have controls for the review/validation (Freeze, request review, approve and reject) of the version (in case Review/validation is enabled)

Configuring review

By default, each main sub-module has the “Review/validation flow” enabled. This can however be configured for each sub-module to be disabled instead. In some cases depending on your organisation setup you don’t want to have a review/validation flow in our app for some sub-modules.

This can be managed by navigating to Settings (Gear icon) >> Setup >> My Fields. Here you will find an overview of all sub-modules where you can toggle the Versions & Reviews property.

When Versions & Reviews is toggled ON for a sub-module (Default):

• You have the ability to in the version history of an item “Freeze” a draft to disable editing and make it a new version;
• For that frozen version request a user with “Accountable” permission for this item or the sub-module to do a review validation;
• Review/validate the version yourself if you have the “Accountable” permission.

When Versions & Reviews is toggled OFF for a sub-module:

• Find the changes made to an item (Change log) by navigating to the version history of an item;
• Versions of an item can no longer be defined, you only see the change log;
• No approval/rejection flow is available from the version history section.

The review/validation flow

The review flow within RESPONSUM is quite straight forward but requires some configuration up front for smooth review/validation follow-up.

Freezing the version

Any user with editor rights can open the version history and create a new version for an item. When changes are made to an item that was previously “Approved”, the status will change to “Draft” and the user can “Freeze” the version to create a new version and request approval on that version. The below screen recording shows a user with editor rights “Freezing” (Creating) a new version after making changes:

Requesting a review of a frozen version

For being able to review/validate an item, you need to have the “Accountable” permission either on the entire sub-module or on the specific item granted to the user that needs to execute the review. This will allow that user to “Self approve” an item or for a user with “Editor” rights to assign the review to you and/or any other accountable user by using the “Request approval” button.

The below screen recording shows the use of the “Request approval” button and how the users with “Accountable” permissions (Power or Promoted user) are able to follow-up on such a request:

Using “Accountable reviewer” role to allow for a specific reviewer to be appointed for an item

Next to the standard “Accountable” permission for any power or promoted user, an extra “Additional role” is available via “Ownership & Access” (Settings >> User Management >> Ownership & Access) to allow a specific user selected in a field on the to be reviewed item to be the sole reviewer/approver. That inputted user will be marked as the “Accountable Reviewer” for that item specifically. More information on the use of Ownership & Access can be found in our article here.

As an example, you could use the default “Internal owner” field of a processing activity that allows you to select a user known within RESPONSUM. Based on the inputted user in our field you can give them a specific permission on the item, but additionally you can mark them as “Accountable reviewer”.

The accountable reviewer “Additional role” will allow for that specific user to be accountable for reviewing this item. Meaning that only the users inputted here will receive a notification to review this item when the “Request approval” button is used. This example is demonstrated how to setup and use below:

NOTE: The above can also be setup for any custom fields/relation pointing towards “User Account” within any sub-module. In the example above a default field is being used.

Review interval

In some instances, you want to have “Accountable” or “Accountable reviewer” assigned users review an item again after a certain period of time. Almost all sub-modules in RESPONSUM will have a “Review interval” field available that allows you to set how often a specific item should be reviewed.

When setup, the review interval will start counting down for the set interval after the item was initially created or after a new version was approved. A month before the set new review date, a suggestion will be shown to all users with access to “Suggestions”.

When this suggestion is triggered, any user with access can create a task out of it to follow-up and actually review/validate the item again. When a task is created and the “Accountable reviewer” role was set for a specific user on that specific item, that user will be suggested as owner of the task to follow-up on the review.

The below example shows the configuration and workings of this default “Review interval” field found for most major sub-modules within RESPONSUM:

If you have any further questions related to forms and/or assessments, feel free to reach out to support@responsum.eu. We are happy to help answer your questions.