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Quality Management System QMS Workflow

Owned by Robert Alexander Marshall
Last updated: Sept 14, 2023
6 min read

Overview

The Quality Management Systems Workflow is bundled with the app and is a compliance review focussed workflow that has four states.

  • documents start in Draft

    • transition to In Approval 

    • then transition to Approved

  • a fourth state Obsolete is used to indicate that the document is retired - no new versions are expected

This workflow uses an e-signature process (user email and one-time password authorization) for each approval.

Users or group of users that are allowed to approve the In Approval state content are restricted

  • this list of users is configured at space level by the space administrators

  • the users as added as a value for a workflow parameter

  • the workflow will assign the workflow parameter value as reviewers for the approval.

Assigned reviewers receive an email notification on the workflow transition to the In Approval state.

A Comala Document Management workflow can be applied to pages and blog posts.

Workflow states

This workflow is ideal for teams that need to demonstrate compliance with guidelines, rules, or standards. This could include ISO standards, FDA regulations, or even internal corporate standards. The workflow utilizes multiple states.

Workflow State

Description

Workflow State

Description

Draft

  • if no one has been assigned to review the page then any user can give approval or rejection

  • if someone with page edit permissions has assigned reviewers then only those specifically assigned users can approve or reject

  • all reviewers will be prompted to enter their email and One-time Password (OTP) to complete their approval/rejection (see OTP and e-signatures)

  • if all reviewers provide their approval, then the state transitions to In Approval

  • if all reviewers reject, then the state transitions to Obsolete

In Approval

  • space admins set reviewers that are required to approve the content review by adding user and/or group values to workflow parameters in the space tools Document Control dashboard

  • reviewers assigned by the workflow from the user and/or group workflow parameter values must undertake the review.

  • workflow assigned reviewers can only be removed from the content review by editing the workflow parameter values.

  • all assigned reviewers are required to undertake and agree on the content review decision for the workflow to transition

  • users who are not assigned as reviewers will not be able to access the workflow popup

  • all reviewers will be prompted to enter their email and One-time Password (OTP) to complete their approval/rejection (see OTP and e-signatures)

  • if all reviewers provide their approval, then the state transitions to In Approval

  • if all reviewers reject, then the state transitions to Obsolete

Assigned reviewers are emailed when the state changes to In Approval. These custom notifications are created by a JSON trigger added to the workflow

Published

  • this is the final state

  • any update on the page transitions it back to the Draft state

Obsolete

  • the content of the page is obsolete

  • any update on the page transitions it back to the Draft state

If a copy of the QMS workflow is saved then for the new workflow, assigned reviewers can add (and remove) other users as additional reviewers (except those users assigned by the workflow as reviewers).

Adding or removing a label or attachment does not action the updated transition when the content is in the In Approval, Obsolete or Published state. This transition only occurs if the content is edited and published (changing the Confluence page version).

E-signature in the QMS workflow

Both approvals in this workflow is to require users to use their email and a one-time password (OTP) to confirm their identity when registering an approval.

Approvals (content reviews) are disabled in the workflow popup until the email and a token are entered.

Reviewers are prompted to setup a personal code when they first visit a page in the content review state and access the workflow popup.

As a reviewer, to be able to electronically sign for Document Approvals you will need:

  • your mobile device with a 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) app.

  • your email address that you use to login to Confluence.

This setup only needs to be undertaken by a user once in each instance. However, the 2FA app tokens from the OTP provider are time-limited.

The global administrator can configure the app use for the OTP provider and, if required, mandate that all users using an e-signature reset their user approval tokens.

You will need to use a time based token generated by the authentication app each time you approve a page that requires an e-signature approval.

If inWebo is enabled for user authentication, the workflow popup displays a request for a username and password (not an OTP token). The required password is the inWebo generated token.

The email and token are validated when the Approve or Reject decision is made by the reviewer for the content review.

The requirement for an e-signature is activated or deactivated for each individual approval in the workflow.

Set approvers using space parameters

The QMS workflow automatically assigns reviewers to the content review in the In Approval state.

This setting cannot be changed per page, and allows admins to manage who can give the final approval to the documents, before reaching the end state Published.

The parameter values are set by the space admin in the space document managment dashboard using the Edit Parameters option.

Set the parameter value(s) using the Parameters dialog box.

The individual users listed (and/or users who are members of a listed group) are automatically assigned to the approval in the In Approval state.

o

All assigned reviewers must undertake the content review and agree to Approve or Reject the content for the workflow to transition

If any edits are undertaken for the QMS workflow in space mode and a copy is saved, assigned reviewers will be able to add (and remove) additional users as reviewers to the In Approval content review using the workflow popup.

o

Workflow assigned reviewers can only be removed by editing the workflow parameters in the space tools Document Management dashboard.