Approvers

This chapter guides approvers through their tasks.

SPMS Approvers are the Executive Directors of SPMS Divisions, or a nominated person of their choice.

They have to approve Documents related to Projects of their SPMS Division.

Manage SPMS emails

SPMS lets users opt into sending emails about requested Actions. At the level of an approver, these can add up considerably. Email inbox rules help to manage the stream of SPMS notifications:

  • SPMS prefixes the subject of all emails sent from the system with [SPMS].
  • This allows to create an inbox rule to e.g. move all SPMS emails into an inbox subfolder, e.g. named “SPMS”.

Approve a Document

Whenever a Document turns up in the “My TODOs” list (and optionally sends an email about this), an approver has the options to:

  • Edit any text where appropriate - e.g. small typos or formatting.
    • Click into any text block to toggle the editor.
    • Edit any number of text blocks.
    • After editing, save the document with the green save button at the bottom.
    • Saving a Document creates a new revision in the Document history (top right). Changes are reversible.

Take actions on the Document:

  • Avaliable actions are offered in the sidebar at the top right under “Actions”.
  • Request a revision from the reviewers (level 2) or authors (level 1) for bigger changes. We expect that communcation regarding these changes can happen through fastest and preferred channels outside of SPMS, such as MS Teams, email, or a simple chat.
  • Once happy with the Document, the approver must approve or reject the Document.
  • Approving a Document will make the Document’s text read-only. The life cycle of a Document is explained at Document Life Cycles.
  • Approving a Document will move its Project into the next life cycle stage. The life cycle of Projects is explained at Science Projects and Core Functions.
  • If a button was pressed unintentionally, the approver can reverse the action with an opposite action.
  • Every Document’s approval status can be reset, and the Document can be fast-tracked to the desired life cycle stage.
  • Every action will create a new TODO item for involved staff. They will see this when they next visit SPMS in their TODO list.
  • Every action will offer to notify involved staff via email.

If an action is not available or something seems odd, contact the system administrators to rectify the situation.