What is the Under Signing by Author status?
The requirement in any document approval workflow is that everyone signs off on the same version of a Document.
The Under Signing by Author status ensures that when all Reviewers have signed off on a document that the Author(s) can sign off on the same version that one/all Reviewers have signed off on.
If you have configured that all Reviewers need to sign-off on a document then all the reviewers will need to review and sign-off on a document before it can move forward in the workflow.
A document will go to the Under Signing by Author status if a Reviewer(s) have made changes to a document and when all reviewers have signed-off on the same version.
In addition, if there has been any version increase during Under Review the Reviewers who signed off before the version update will need to sign off again as will the Document Author(s).
This is to ensure that the Document will only go to the Approver once all relevant updates have been made and agreed upon by the Reviewer(s).
Documents will have the 'Under Signing by Author' status in the following scenarios:
- Edits have been made in Draft and/or Under Review by Author.
- In Under Review, Reviewer(s) does not make any edits and signs off.
- Document moves to Under Signing by Author status.
- Edits have been made in Draft and/or Under Review by Author.
- In Under Review, Reviewer(s) makes edits and signs off.
- Document moves to Under Signing by Author status.
It is also worth noting that if one Reviewer rejects any changes made, the item is sent back to Draft, even if all the Reviewers are required to sign off on the document.
This allows the author to make the required changes and then the document will go back to the Reviewer(s) for review once again.
During the review cycle the Author(s) can equally reject the document, (which will send it back to Draft), then make further edits and set the Document to Under Review again.
What can an Author do at the Under Signing by Author Status?
- 'Set to Under Signing by Approver' - this means they agree with the changes made by the Reviewer(s) and sign off on the new version and the document moves forward to the Approver(s).
- 'Reject to Draft' - the Author does not agree with the version signed off by the Reviewer(s) and wishes to push the Document back to Draft where only Author(s) can work on it.
- 'Reject to Under Review' - the Author wishes to push the Document back to Under Review where both the Author(s) and the Reviewer(s) can work on it.
This article explains what options are available to each role in a document's workflow?