Workflow Outcomes

An outcome is the final verdict of a completed workflow — the recorded decision that the document or record has been approved, rejected, or returned. How the outcome is determined depends on the outcome determination mode configured in the template.

Terminal workflow states

A workflow instance closes when it enters one of these terminal states:

State	How it arrives	Outcome recorded
Completed	All steps resolved normally	Yes — based on determination mode
Cancelled	Admin or initiator cancelled it	No — cancellation reason is recorded instead
Returned	Recalled by admin or reviewer	No — return reason is recorded instead

Only Completed instances have a formal outcome. Cancelled and returned instances end without an approval record.

Outcome determination modes

The template setting Outcome determination controls how the final verdict is calculated from individual step results:

Final step decides

The outcome is determined solely by the result of the last step in the sequence.

• If the last step is Approved, the workflow outcome is Approved.
• If the last step is Rejected, the workflow outcome is Rejected.
• Earlier rejections are noted in the record but do not affect the final outcome if subsequent steps approve.

Best for: Sequential approval chains where later approvers have authority to override earlier ones (for example, a senior engineer overriding a junior reviewer's rejection).

Lowest of all

The outcome is the most restrictive result across all steps in the workflow.

• If any step has a Rejected result, the workflow outcome is Rejected, regardless of other step outcomes.
• The workflow only records Approved if every step was approved.
• Approval with comments results in Approved with Comments if that is the most restrictive result.

Best for: Multi-discipline approvals where every approver must agree (for example, structural, MEP, and architectural sign-off all required before a drawing is issued).

Outcome values

Outcome	Description
Approved	All required approvals received with no objections
Approved with Comments	Approved, but reviewers recorded comments that the initiator should address (non-blocking)
Rejected	One or more required approvals failed
Returned for Revision	The document was sent back to the initiator (see Return for Revision)

Completion notes

When a workflow reaches its last step and all step actions are complete, the system offers the workflow owner (the initiator or an admin) the opportunity to record:

• Outcome summary — a free-text summary of the decision (for example, "Approved for construction subject to resolution of RFI-014")
• Completion date — auto-populated but can be adjusted if the formal sign-off happened on a different date
• Attachments — any final documents to attach to the closure record (for example, a signed cover sheet)

Completion notes are optional but recommended for audit purposes.

What happens to documents after completion

When a workflow that routes a document for approval completes with an Approved outcome:

1. The document's status in the Document Register is automatically updated to Approved (or Approved with Comments if that was the outcome).
2. The workflow instance is linked permanently to that document revision — accessible from the document's detail page under Workflow History.
3. The document becomes eligible for transmittal or further status progression.

If the outcome is Rejected, the document status is updated to Rejected and the initiator is notified to upload a revised file before starting a new workflow.

Viewing completed workflows

Completed instances remain in the Workflows list indefinitely. Filter by Status = Completed to see them. Open any completed instance to view:

• The full step-by-step approval record
• Each action, timestamp, and actor
• The final outcome and any completion notes
• Links to the documents routed through the workflow
• Any attachments added during the workflow

Outcome reporting

Workflow outcomes feed into the Reports tab metrics:

• Completion rate — percentage of workflows completed vs. cancelled
• Cycle time — average time from submission to completion
• Document by status — breakdown of documents by outcome (Approved, Rejected, etc.)

See Reports for configuration options.

What's next

• Managing Active Workflows — monitor workflows before they close
• Document Statuses — how approval outcomes update document status
• Reports Reference — outcome metrics available in reporting