How do I mark my approval on a pending policy when I'm not part of the workflow? (Optional Approval / Review)

Issue/Objective

To add an approval without being part of a workflow

Environment

PolicyStat

Procedure/Resolution

Users with permissions to mark their approval on a policy (Area Editor, Approver, Area Manager, Site Administrator) but may not be the current, active Approver on the Workflow can record an optional Approval.

For example, an Area Editor or Manager who is not a part of the Approval Workflow for the current policy may want to mark their optional approval for the historical record.

Procedure: 

1. Open the pending version of a policy (of which you are not the current Approver).  A document in draft status will NOT have the option to Approve/Review until it is started into the approval workflow process.
2. Scroll past the content to locate the section titled Record My Optional Approval/Review
3. Click the + symbol to expand the selection.
   
4. Provide optional feedback or comments (as desired) to explain the justification for marking Approval.
5. Click the Record My Approval Without Advancing the Approval Workflow button.
   

As noted in the description text, this records your name, title, and the current time in the history and the list of approvers, but no changes will be made to the Approval Workflow, the policy's status, or any dates attached to the policy.

If you are an Approver on a subsequent step, you will need to mark your approval when your turn has been reached.  In other words, the optional approval does not replace or remove the assigned approval in the workflow.

Site Administrators can also complete an Approval Simulation to register approval on behalf of users who are not a part of the Workflow but also do not have Approval permissions.