Short Circuit an Approval (Revert to Previous Status) (D)

There is an option to change the current status of an approval request such that it reverts to its previous status. In CivilPro, this is known as Short Circuit an Approval and can happen for various reasons, for example, an approval has been rejected in error and needs to be rectified. 

Although you can delete approvals (which will then re-set the checklist), this is not recommended as it means that you will lose the audit trail of the changes that occur. Using the "short circuit" function maintains the transparency of the approval rectification process.

1. Navigate to the Approval register.

Tip: If you can't see your approval, ensure your view is not filtered by ticking "All" under the Filters tab and click "Apply".

 2. Double-click on the relevant approval whose status that you want to change.

3. In the Approval dialog box, select the "Administration" tab, then click on "Short circuit" on the top toolbar.

Tip: You can view the current status of the approval on the right panel under "Properties".

4. You will be asked to confirm. Click "OK" to proceed.

5. Complete the following fields in the "Short circuit workflow" dialog box:

• Select from the three options: Revert to unstarted, Set to first step, Set to a specific step

Complete the rest of the fields only if you have selected "Set to a specific step".

• New status - Select from the dropdown list the status that you want to revert the approval to.
• Days to complete next step - enter the relevant number of days 
• Comment - add notes so you have an audit trail of why you reverting the approval to a previous status
• Attachments - use the "Attach File" tab to attach any document to support your action, if applicable  

Click on the "Short circuit" tab. 

Note: You can only revert to a previous step in your workflow depending on how far your approval has progressed.   

6. You'll be asked to confirm. Click "Yes".

7. Click "Send". In this example, this will restart the approval request and another approval request will be sent to the approver.

8. You can see that on the right panel under "Properties - Current Status", the approval has been reverted to the status that you have chosen. Click "Save and close".