19. Event Approvals

Edited

Control which events can be published by requiring approval from designated users before events go live.

Overview

Event approvals add a review step to the event publishing workflow. Users who can create events but cannot publish them must request approval before their events can go live. Users with publish permissions can then review, approve, or reject events.

This is useful for organisations where:

  • Multiple users create events but only managers should control what goes live

  • Events need quality review before publication

  • Compliance or brand guidelines must be checked before publishing

How It Works

The approval workflow involves two user roles:

Role

Permissions

Actions

Creator

Can create events, cannot publish

Creates events, requests approval, edits after rejection

Approver

Can publish events

Reviews events, approves (publishes) or rejects with feedback

Workflow Steps

1. Creator creates event
   └── Event status: Draft

2. Creator requests approval
   └── Approval status: Awaiting approval
   └── Emails sent (if configured)

3a. Approver approves (publishes)        3b. Approver rejects
    └── Event status: Published              └── Event status: Draft
    └── Approval status: Approved            └── Approval status: Rejected
    └── Email sent to creator                └── Email sent to creator with reason

                                         4. Creator edits and re-requests
                                            └── Back to step 2

When Approval Is Required

The approval workflow activates automatically based on user permissions-no configuration is needed to enable it.

Permission

Behaviour

Create events only

User must request approval to publish

Create + Publish events

User can publish directly without approval

Publish events

User can approve or reject other users' approval requests

If a user has permission to create events but not publish them, the approval workflow is automatically required for any events they create. Configure permissions via roles and permissions.

Notification Settings

Optionally configure email notifications for approval requests:

  1. Navigate to Company Settings

  2. Find Event approval email(s)

  3. Enter one or more email addresses, separated by commas

When an approval is requested, these addresses receive an email notification with a link to review the event.

Email notifications are optional. If no approval email addresses are configured, the approval workflow still functions-approval requests are still created and approvers can still approve or reject events. Approvers can find events awaiting approval using the Status filter on the events list.

Requesting Approval

When a user without publish permissions has a draft event ready:

  1. Open the event dashboard

  2. Click Request Publishing Approval

The event remains in Draft status with an Awaiting approval badge until reviewed.

If approval email addresses are configured, notifications are sent to the configured recipients and a confirmation is sent to the requesting user.

If an approval request was previously rejected, the button changes to Request Publishing Approval Again.

Finding Events Awaiting Approval

Approvers can find events that need review using the Status filter on the events list:

  1. Navigate to the events list

  2. Open the filters

  3. Select Awaiting approval from the Status dropdown

This displays all events with pending approval requests. The Status filter also supports filtering by Approved and Rejected statuses.

Reviewing Approval Requests

Users with publish permissions see pending approval requests in the event dashboard.

Approving an Event

To approve an event:

  1. Open the event dashboard

  2. Review the event details

  3. Click Publish event

The event is published immediately and the creator receives an approval confirmation email.

Rejecting an Event

To reject an event:

  1. Open the event dashboard

  2. Click Reject

  3. Enter a rejection reason (required)-this supports rich text formatting

  4. Submit the rejection

The event remains in Draft status and the creator receives an email containing:

  • Notification that the event was rejected

  • The rejection reason you provided

  • A link to the event for editing

Approval History

The event dashboard displays an Approval history timeline showing all approval actions:

Status

Indicator

Description

Awaiting approval

Grey

Approval has been requested

Approved

Green

Event was approved and published

Rejected

Yellow

Event was rejected with a reason

Each entry shows:

  • The user who took the action

  • When the action occurred

  • For rejections, the reason provided

The approval history is hidden if the only entry is a single approval (to avoid clutter for events that were approved on first submission).

Email Notifications

The system sends emails at each stage of the workflow (where recipients are configured):

When Approval is Requested

Recipient

Email

Condition

Approval recipients

Notification with event name, requester name, and link to review

Only if approval email addresses are configured

Requesting user

Confirmation that the request was sent

Only if approval email addresses are configured

When Event is Rejected

Recipient

Email

All users who requested approval

Rejection notification with the reason provided

When Event is Approved

Recipient

Email

All users who requested approval

Approval confirmation with link to the published event

Approval Status Reference

Events in the approval workflow can have these statuses:

Status

Event State

Meaning

Awaiting approval

Draft

Approval requested, waiting for review

Rejected

Draft

Approval denied, creator should edit and re-request

Approved

Published

Approval granted, event is live

Bulk Operations

Approval requests can be submitted for multiple events at once from the events list:

  1. Select the events requiring approval

  2. Use the bulk action to request approval

  3. All selected events are submitted for review

Similarly, approvers can publish or reject multiple events in bulk.

Restrictions

  • Cancelled events cannot have approval requested or be approved/rejected

  • Already published events cannot have approval requested

  • Rejection reason is required when rejecting an event

  • Events remain editable while awaiting approval or after rejection

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