Location: Process Examples > Review and Approval
Review and Approval HomeBack Next

The review process can take different forms, depending in part on how the LCMS has been configured. However, the most common scenario is described below.

Settings

1. In the Application Settings screen, Min # of Reviewers should be 1 and Review Manager Required should be checked.
2. Users should be assigned the roles of Developer, Senior Developer, Reviewer, Review Manager and Approval Authority in the Project Management screen.
3. In the project, under the Home menu, the Manager should select Review Types and Responsibilities and set the Review Types, assigning a pool of Reviewers, Review Managers, Review Monitors and Approval Authorities to each one.
4. In the Activity Profile for the activity to be reviewed, the manager must select a pool of Developers and assign the Activity to the current Developer.
5. The manager may also select pools of Reviewers, Review Managers, Review Monitors and/or Approval Authorities in the Responsibility tab for each Review Type, or allow the Activity to use the default pools set at the project level above.

Developer Submits for Review

1. The Developer (or Senior Developer) begins the review process by submitting the activity for review, clicking the Review/Approval drop-down in the Topic List screen and selecting Submit for Review or Submit for Batch Processing.
2. The Developer selects the Review Type, and may need to select one or more Reviewer(s), Review Manager(s), Review Monitor or Approval Authority(ies), depending on the configuration of the Review Type selected.
3. The activity is now automatically locked so that the Developer cannot make further changes, and its status is shown as "Submitted for Review".

Reviewer Responds

1. The Reviewer sees the activity listed in their Review Inbox.
2. They can launch it in the viewer and add comments at the project, activity or individual screen level.
3. Once a comment has been added by the Reviewer, the activity status changes from "Submitted for Review" to "Review in Progress".
4. The Reviewer then finalizes their review, handing it over to the Review Manager. Note: If more than one Reviewer is assigned, then the activity status remains "Review in Progress" until all the Reviewers have finalized their reviews.

Review Manager Finalizes Review

1. After checking the Reviewer's comments, the Review Manager finalizes the review, if appropriate, and sets its status to either "Needs Re-Work" or "Ready for Approval".
2. If re-work is required, the Developer can now unlock the activity, make changes, add comments, change its status in Activity Profile to "In Production", and resubmit it for review from the Review/Approval drop-down in the Topic List screen. Note: Changes made by the Developer are not visible to the Reviewer or Review Manager until they have resubmitted the activity for review.
3. If the activity is ready for approval, the Developer can make a final check and then select Submit for Approval from the Review/Approval drop-down in the Topic List screen. Note: If no Review Manager is assigned, then once finalized by the Reviewer, the activity is handed back to the Developer to be submitted for approval.

Note: If the Review Manager finalizes the review before the Reviewer has made any comments, the activity is removed from the Reviewer's inbox and the status is changed to whatever the Review Manager selected. The Developer is now able to unlock the activity and make changes before submitting it again for review.

Developer Submits for Approval

1. Once all changes have been finalized, the Developer can submit the activity for approval, which will change its status to "Submitted for Approval".
2. The Approval Authority can then check the activity and make additional change requests before clicking Finalize Approval and changing the status to either "Rejected" or "Approved".
3. If the activity is approved, it should remain locked to prevent changes. The Lock this activity? checkbox is only enabled when the Activity Production Status is set to "In Production".
4. If the activity requires further changes, the Developer changes the Activity Production Status to "In Production", unlocks the activity and makes the changes. They can then resubmit it for review and subsequent approval (i.e. returning to the start of the process for another cycle).

Note: If no Approval Authority has been assigned, the project Manager or site Administrator can select Submit for Approval and will be given the message: "Warning! No Approval Authority has been assigned to this Activity. By clicking 'Continue', you will be changing the status of this Activity to 'APPROVED'."  By doing so, they may force an activity to be changed to "Approved" status without the need to submit it to an Approval Authority.