When an event is submitted, it appears in the approval dashboard of everyone in the first approval group. As an approver, you decide whether the event moves on, returns to the organiser, or needs more work.
Finding requests waiting on you
- Approvals dashboard — lists every event currently waiting on a group you’re a member of. Each row shows the organiser, event type, requested dates and the action buttons.
- Actions list — events you’ve already taken action on. Useful for re-opening a decision or following up.
You only see events that are at your step in the chain. If an event is still waiting on an earlier approver, it won’t appear in your list yet.
Opening a request
Click the event title to open the request summary. From here you can see:
- All event details (description, location, year groups, audiences).
- Catering, ICT, maintenance and admin support requirements.
- The full approval trail — every previous approver’s decision and notes.
- Conflict warnings if the event clashes with another approved event.
- The action buttons for your group.
The five actions
You have five ways to respond to a request:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Approve | Moves the request to the next approval group. If yours is the last step, the event becomes Approved and is published to the calendar. |
| Decline | Rejects the request. The event status returns to Declined. The organiser sees your note and can revise and resubmit. |
| Request more info | Sends the event back to the organiser with a question. Status returns to Draft so the organiser can edit and resubmit. |
| Propose new date | Send back with a suggested alternative date and time. The organiser can accept or counter. |
| Propose new staff | Send back with a suggestion to change the staff involved. |
Each action takes a note. Notes are visible to the organiser and to every subsequent approver — keep them clear and useful.
Approving
When you approve, you can also tick:
- Confirm display on website — gives explicit sign-off that the event is suitable for the public website calendar. The event still won’t go public unless the organiser also ticked Show on website on the event itself.
- Add to staff notes — pushes the event into the daily staff notes summary on the date it runs.
Declining
Decline when the event is not going to happen as proposed. Provide a reason in the note. The organiser may resubmit with changes.
Proposing a new date or new staff
These are softer than a decline. The event returns to the organiser as a counter-proposal. The organiser can accept your suggestion (the event is updated and resubmitted) or come back with a counter.
Retracting an action
If you took the wrong action — e.g. you approved an event that you meant to send back — you can delete your action from the approval trail. The event returns to Pending and your group’s decision is required again.
Endorsement vs. approval
Approval is about whether the event runs. Endorsement is about whether additional staff agree to be involved. See Adding locations and additional staff. An event can be Approved without being Endorsed.
What approvers can change
Approvers can edit the event in the same way the organiser can. Changes you make are tracked in the approval trail. Be conservative — small wording fixes are fine, but anything substantive should go back to the organiser as a More info or New date action so they own the change.