Acceptance paths

An Acceptance Path is a predefined decision-making process used to approve key project documents, such as the Project Charter or Project Plan. It ensures that organizational standards are met before a project proceeds to the next phase.

Workspace Context

Every Acceptance Path is strictly linked to a specific Workspace. This ensures process isolation between business units.

• When creating a new path, you must assign it to a Workspace.
• The path will only be available for selection in projects that belong to the same Workspace.

Note: You can only manage paths for the workspaces you have access to.

Creating acceptance path

1. Go to the PMO tab and select Acceptance Paths.
2. Click the Add button.
3. In the new window, enter the Name of the path.
4. Select the Workspace. (This determines where this path can be used).
5. Define the approval flow by adding Levels and Approvers (at least one approver with the “Decision” role is required).
6. (Optional) Add a description.
7. Click Add. The new path is now available for projects within the selected Workspace.

Acceptance levels and approvers roles

Levels

You can structure the process into sequential levels. Approval at Level 2 can only start after Level 1 is fully approved. If a level requires “All decision makers,” everyone must approve before the process advances.

Types of Approvers

• Decision Role: Binding. This person’s vote is required to move the process forward.
• Opinion Role: Advisory. This person can leave comments but cannot block the process.

Dynamic vs. Specific Assignment

You can assign a specific person (e.g., “John Doe”) or a Dynamic Role (e.g., “Project Manager”). If you choose a dynamic role, the system automatically assigns the request to whoever holds that role in the specific project.

Refer to Project Charter Acceptance for more details on how to approve project plan

Requiring an acceptance path

The system administrator can decide whether the organization allows baseline plans and project charters to be approved without an acceptance path. Enabling the requirement ensures that every approval of key project documents goes through a defined decision-making process.

Configuring the acceptance path requirement

1. In the main menu, expand the Administration group and go to the System Settings module.
2. Go to the Acceptance tab.
3. Tick or untick the Require acceptance path option separately for the baseline plan and separately for the project charter.
4. Changes are saved automatically.

Behavior after enabling the requirement

Once the option is enabled, the “No acceptance path” option disappears from the send-to-acceptance window — users must choose one of the defined paths. This applies to all projects in the organization, regardless of workspace.

For more information on creating acceptance paths: Creating acceptance path.

Enhanced approval comment window

The comment field used in the approval window has been redesigned into a full text area. In the comment you can now:

• Format text — bold, italics, lists, headings.
• Paste links to external documents and resources.
• Paste images — for example screenshots that clarify the decision.

The added content is visible in the approval window and is included in PDF exports of the approved document, so reviewers can later see the full context of the decision.