Contents

• Overview
• What Are Progress Report Approvals?
• Important Notes
• Before You Begin
• Step-By-Step Instructions
  • Step 1: Enable Progress Report Approvals
  • Step 2: Add Approval Groups and Approvers
  • Step 3: Choose a Completion Rule and Minimum
  • Step 4: Select Report Fields to Show Approvers
  • Step 5 (Optional): Allow a Group to Request Revisions
  • Step 6 (Optional): Require a Certification Statement
  • Step 7: Save Changes
• What Happens Next?
• Related Articles

Overview

This guide shows Program Admins how to set up progress report approvals in an award cycle in Next.

🔍 Setting up approvals for awarding, disbursements, or reimbursements? See ➡️ How to Set Up Approvals for Awarding, Disbursements & Reimbursements.

What Are Progress Report Approvals?

When progress report approvals are set up in a cycle, each submitted progress report is automatically sent to one or more groups of approvers. Approvers then approve or reject the report, or request a revision (if your setup allows it).

• Who can set up progress report approvals: Organization Owners, Client Admins, Program Owners, Program Managers

⚠️ Important Notes

• Program Admins can't approve, reject, or request revisions on progress reports. When approvals are enabled, the Admin Controls button won't appear on progress reports. (In contrast, when approvals are disabled, Program Admins review reports themselves).
   
• Revisions only happen through approval groups: To send reports back to awardees for changes, you must allow at least one approval group to request revisions.
   
• Changes apply to future approvals only: Changes to approvers and your approval setup apply to future reports only, not ones already submitted. To change approvers on a report already in approval, open the report and click Manage Approvers. See ➡️Track & Manage Progress Report Approvals

Before You Begin

Decide who your approvers will be:

• People already in your organization (Organization Members, Organization Owners, and Client Admins) can be approvers as they are. They keep all the permissions from their current role.
   
• People outside your organization must be invited to the program as Approvers first. They only see the approval requests assigned to them.
  • For steps, see ➡️Enable the Approver Role & Invite Approvers.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1: Enable Progress Report Approvals

1. Open the program, then click the gear icon on the far right of the cycle to open Cycle Settings.
   
   
    
2. In Cycle Settings, go to Post-Award > Report Approvals. Switch the Report Forms Approvals toggle to Enabled.
   
   

Step 2: Add Approval Groups and Approvers

1. Decide how many approval groups you need to set up:
   • One group: All approvers get the report at the same time.
   • Multiple groups: Groups review in order. A report moves to the next group only after the group before it approves it.
      
2. Click +Add group at the bottom of the screen.
   
   
    
3. (Optional) Click the pencil icon to rename the group.
   
   
    
4. Use the Assign approver dropdown to select one or more approvers.
   
   

Step 3: Choose a Completion Rule and Minimum

The Completion Rule decides what counts toward the group’s decision: only approvals, or any response (approve or reject). The Minimum Required sets how many are needed.

1. Use the Completion Rule dropdown to select an option (available once the group has more than one approver):
   
   
    
   • Minimum Approvals Required: The report moves forward once a set number of approvers approve it.
   • Minimum Decisions Required: Whichever reaches the set number first, approvals or rejections, decides the outcome.
      
2. Use the Minimum Required dropdown to set how many approvals or decisions finish the group's review.
   
   

Step 4: Select Report Fields to Show Approvers

1. In the approval group, click Show Fields to open the pop-up.
   
   
    
2. In the Show application fields to approver pop-up, select the fields approvers need from:
   
   

a. Profile form(s): Select profile fields if approvers also need applicant details.

b. Report forms: Each report form in the cycle is listed by name. Select fields from each report form awardees submit in this cycle.

• To show a full form, select the checkbox next to its name. Best when approvers need to review the full report.
• To show only some fields, click the arrow on the far right of the form to expand it, then select the fields the group needs. Best when the approval group has a specific role. (Example: A compliance group might only need the certification section.)

3. Click Show fields in the bottom-right corner of the pop-up to save your selections.

Step 5 (Optional): Allow a Group to Request Revisions

Let a group's approvers send a report back to the awardee for changes, instead of only approving or rejecting it. This is off by default.

1. In the group, select the checkbox next to "Allow this group to ask revision."
   
   

What approvers see:

• Request a revision to this report appears in the Approver Controls panel. Approvers select the fields that need changes and can leave a comment on each. When the awardee resubmits, the report comes back to the same group.
  
  

Step 6 (Optional): Require a Certification Statement

1. Select the checkbox next to "Require approvers to acknowledge a certification statement before approving."
   
   
    
2. Enter your statement in the text editor.
   
   

Step 7: Save Changes

➜ If you only need one approval group: Click Save Changes in the upper-right corner.

➜ If you need multiple approval groups: Repeat Steps 2–6 above for each group, then click Save Changes in the upper-right corner.

What Happens Next?

• Once reports are submitted:
  • They go to approvers in your first group automatically. Those approvers get an automatic email.
  • To check a report’s progress or change its approvers, see ➡️ Track & Manage Progress Report Approvals 

Related Articles

➡️ How to Set Up Approvals for Awarding, Disbursements & Reimbursements
➡️ Track & Manage Progress Report Approvals 
➡️ Enable the Approver Role & Invite Approvers
➡️ Post Award Communications: Email Trigger Guide


 

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