Introduction

This document provides best practices for a client user to set and document contractor approvals at the project level.

By default, projects use Highwire's Standard workflow: a client user with the right permissions opens a step (typically Safety Approval, and Finance Approval for clients using Highwire's Finance module) and sets the contractor's status independently at each one.

Projects can now also use a custom, multi-step, gated workflow, letting clients define their own sequence of approval steps (for example, Safety Approval, PM Finance Approval, VP Finance Approval), assign reviewers to each, and control the order steps unlock in — so a later step only opens once an earlier one is fully approved. Gated workflows add a Sent Back status, an Approvals tab for tracking everything assigned to you, and a Timeline of status changes and comments.

The rest of this article covers configuring workflows and setting approvals under both the Standard and gated flows.

Configurable Approval Workflows

The Projects tool now supports configurable, multi-step approval Workflows, in addition to the standard flow described below. This lets clients define a custom sequence of approval steps for a project — for example, Safety Approval, PM Finance Approval, and VP Finance Approval — and control the order in which those steps unlock.

Permissions

Access to these features is controlled through Settings > Roles. Client Admins have all of the following permissions on by default:

• Project Configure — ability to view the Configure tab within a project.
• Configure Workflows — ability to create and edit workflows (requires Project Configure).
• Project Approvals — ability to view and act on the approvals step within a project.

Creating a Workflow

Workflows are created and managed from the Configure section within Projects:

1. Click “Add Workflow,” then enter a name and description (for example, "West Coast Approvals").
2. Each workflow uses the same three steps by default: Safety Approval, PM Finance Approval, and VP Finance Approval. What varies is how you configure the gating between them, and who is assigned as the reviewer(s) for each step.
3. For each step, assign one or more reviewers.
4. Set whether each step starts immediately or waits on a prior step. For example, Safety Approval and PM Finance Approval might both start immediately, while VP Finance Approval is configured to start only once PM Finance Approval has been fully approved. This is useful because safety and finance are often handled by different departments that can work in parallel, while a step like VP Finance Approval may need to wait until PM Finance Approval is complete.

Once saved, the workflow becomes available to assign to projects, and the Configure tab shows which active projects are currently using each workflow.

Assigning a Workflow to a Project

When creating a new project, the Project Workflow drop-down lets you choose which workflow to apply. This option is also available on existing projects:

• By default, this is set to Standard, meaning there are no gated approval steps — approvals work the same way described in "Setting and Documenting an Approval" below.
• Alternatively, you can select one of your configured workflows (for example, "West Coast Approvals") to apply gated, multi-step approvals to that project.

How Gating Works

Once contractors are added and awarded on a project using a configured workflow, each approval step becomes available according to the rules set up for that workflow:

• Steps configured to start immediately (such as Safety Approval and PM Finance Approval) are open for review right away.
• Steps that depend on a prior step (such as VP Finance Approval waiting on PM Finance Approval) appear greyed out and cannot be updated — even by an assigned reviewer — until the prior step reaches an Approved status.
• Note: setting a step to a conditional status such as "Approved with Mitigation" does not count as being fully approved, so it will not unlock the next gated step. Only a status of “Approved” will unlock the next step.

Reviewers

Within a project, each gated step displays who the assigned Reviewer is for that stage. Users with the Configure Workflows permission can update the reviewer(s) assigned to a step directly from the project.

Setting and Documenting an Approval

Once a client establishes their approval criteria, there are two ways to set and document the approval status of a particular contractor in Highwire. In a separate article, we detail how to set approval in the Profile tab. Here, we will provide a step-by-step guide to setting approval status in the Project tab. We will use a fictitious project, Jellwin Technology Center, and fictitious contractors.
 

1. On the Projects tab, click on the project you want to set approvals for. In this example, Jellwin Technology Center.

2. Once you've opened the project, you will see each section of the project flow across the top of your screen (note that if you do not use Highwire's Finance module, then Finance Approval will not be available). If the project uses a configured workflow, you will see that workflow's specific steps instead (for example, Safety Approval, PM Finance Approval, VP Finance Approval).

3. Click into one of the approval steps to view the list of contractors working on the project. In the Approval column, you will notice a drop-down menu. By clicking the drop-down arrow, you can either approve the contractor or require additional conditions before approval. In this case, the client has configured their safety approval to include Approved, CAP Required, Needs Review, Approved with Cap, and Not Approved.

Sending a Step Back

On a gated workflow, reviewers now have a Sent Back option in addition to the standard approval statuses. Sent Back is used when a reviewer determines a contractor isn't ready to move forward at that step — for example, missing financial documentation.

• Selecting Sent Back requires the reviewer to add a comment explaining the reason.
• Sending a step back automatically updates the status of the prior step in the workflow to Needs Review, prompting that step's reviewer(s) to take another look.
• These actions — the comment, the Sent Back action, and the resulting status change — are all recorded and visible in that contractor's Timeline on the project, so there's a full record of what happened and why.

Project Level Comments

Client users can enter or review comments about a specific contractor at the project level. Comments provide a mechanism for client teams to share their experiences across their organization and are visible only to client users, not contractors. Common use cases for comments include:

• Documenting what went into the approval decision
• Items discussed directly with the contractor
• High-level elements included in a corrective action or risk mitigation plan
• Experience with the contractor on a past project

Adding New Comments

1. To add new comments or review past comments, click "View Comments" in the Approval column.
2. That will open a box that shows you any previous Project Comments and gives you the option to add a new comment.
3. If you want to add a comment, simply click on the blue "Add Comment" button, type in your comment, and click "Add."

Utilizing @mentions

Comments now support @mentions. Typing "@" followed by a colleague's name will bring up a list of matching users — selecting one and confirming the comment will tag them, making it easy to loop in the right person (for example, tagging the PM who approved a contractor to flag a missing item).

Approvals Tab

A new Approvals tab shows a client user all of the approvals assigned to them across every project, so they don't need to navigate into each project individually to find outstanding items. Approvals are organized by project, with the number of contractors needing review and the specific stage they're on.

The tab includes four views:

• Assigned to Me — approval steps where you are one of the assigned reviewers.
• Pending — all outstanding approvals across the account, not just your own.
• Complete — approvals that have already been completed.
• All — every approval available, regardless of status or assignment.

Most users will primarily work from the “Assigned to Me” or “Pending” views. Clicking on any item in the Approvals tab takes you directly to that step within the relevant project, and your browser's back button will return you to the Approvals tab.

Uploading Supporting Documentation

Prior to awarding work to a contractor that does not meet the minimum established criteria (or prior to allowing them on-site), plans are often developed and uploaded. This supporting documentation may include:

• Project-specific corrective action plans
• Conditional approval forms or exception documentation

Project-specific corrective action plans are typically developed by the contractor, and conditional approval forms or exception documentation may be completed by the client. The process for uploading supporting documentation at the project level is simple. Click on the upload symbol in the "Upload" column and follow the prompts.

In the next example, the client uploaded supporting documentation for Babilonia Roofing. As shown, once a document has been uploaded, a blue download link becomes visible, and the number of uploaded documents is shown.

Click the blue download link to see the list of uploaded document(s) and to download the document to their device.

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