Creating Approval Policies
Why Approval Policies
Approval policies define who needs to review and approve content before it's published. Once you create a policy, you can apply it to documents, risk assessments, or form submissions so they go through proper review. This keeps quality high, ensures compliance, and creates an audit trail. You'll need to know who should approve, how many stages your process needs, and how many approvals are required at each stage.
How to Create an Approval Policy
Go to Settings > Governance and select the Approval Policies tab
Click New Template
Enter a Template Name (e.g. "Health & Safety Policy Review" or "Risk Assessment Approval")
(Optional) Add a Description explaining when to use this policy—helps content authors choose the right one
Configure your first stage:
Give it a Stage Name (e.g. "Department Manager Review")
Add Approvers using the selector—you can add individual users and/or groups
Set Required approvals (1 = any single approver can advance; 2+ = consensus; all = everyone must approve)
Click Add Another Stage for multi-stage workflows—stages run in order from top to bottom
You can reorder stages by editing and saving
(Optional) If your site has child sites, toggle Share with child sites to let them use this policy—they can't edit or delete it
Click Create Template
Your new approval policy appears in the list and is ready to assign to content.
Archive or delete an approval policy
Archive a policy when it has been used in workflows and you no longer want new content to use it. Archived policies stay linked to existing records and in-progress workflows continue, but the policy can't be edited and new content can't use it. Delete a policy only when it has never been used.
Go to Settings > Governance and select the Approval Policies tab
Check the Status column to see whether a policy is Active or Archived
For an active policy that has been used, click Archive to retire it without breaking existing workflows
For a policy that has never been used, click Delete to remove it completely
Archived policies remain visible in the list and linked to existing content. You cannot edit an archived policy.
Before You Start
You need the Manager or Admin role for your site to create approval policies. If you don't see the governance settings, contact your site administrator.
Common Questions
Do I need a policy for one-off approvals? No. For a single draft that doesn't need a reusable policy, you can send a one-off approval request directly from the publish screen. See Request a one-off approval.
How many approval policies should I create? Create as many as you need for different content types. Most organizations start with 2–4 (e.g. simple procedure approval, standard policy review, critical document approval).
Can I test a policy before using it? Yes—create a test document, assign the policy, and submit for approval to see how the workflow progresses and who gets notified.
What happens if I remove someone from a group that's an approver? They'll no longer receive approval notifications for new workflows. In-progress workflows where they're already assigned will continue to include them.
Can I delete a policy? You can delete a policy only if it has never been used. If a policy has been used in any workflow, archive it instead. Archiving keeps existing workflows intact while preventing new content from using the policy.