Approval Work Process

ECH’s and Schedules are required to be Final Approved before being in effect. The Approve and Disapprove buttons in the Approval sidebar can be used to change the Approval Status for the Event. 

Approve or Disapprove buttons in the Approval sidebar.

The prerequisites to Approve Events is set out in Approval Levels. The flow / process for Approval is schematically shown below.

Draft

By default, an object (e.g. Schedule, ECH) is created in DRAFT status. Only when there is a ‘Preferred’ User for the applicable Unit and the User has at least Approval Level 0 authorization within that Unit, the object can be approved to Writer Approved.

Note that when the User has both a Level 0 and Level 1 Approval level assigned, the Writer Approved status will be ‘skipped’ during Approval; the Status will go immediately to Level 1 Approved.

Writer Approved

The prerequisites (e.g. Preferred) as described for Draft also apply for the Writer Approved. Only Users, with a Level 1 Approval level, can Approve an object to Level 1 Approved.

Level 1 Approved

Level 1 Approved objects can only be approved to Final Approval when the User has a Level 2 approval level.

The Approval process flow

Schematic illustration of the Approval process. 

RBI reassessment Schedule example

The Approval Status for an RBI Reassessment Schedule changes as follows:

Steps	Action	Approval Status
Step 1	Input and Save data	Draft
Step 2	Review data and Approve	Level 1 Approved
Step 3	Approve again	Final Approved

When the Schedule is Final Approved, it is seen as “Approved and on the books”.

Disapproving an Event

The IMS disapproval function is typically used when someone other than the unit inspector creates an Event, e.g., an ECH. When this ECH is forwarded to the unit inspector, the unit inspector may discover that some of the data is incorrect or missing. The unit inspector would then Disapprove the ECH and usually ask the originator to update this record. 

Here’s how the DISAPPROVAL process works. Suppose during a recent turnaround another inspector inspected a column, but the inspector forgot to record in the ECH that Nozzle N-3 had been replaced. The unit inspector wants this fixed!

To disapprove an ECH:

• Open the ECH details page:
• Click the status button:
• Click on Disapprove:
  • The Approval Status goes back to “Draft”.
  • The ECH is again editable.