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Understanding the Problem

Workflow transition errors occur when documents cannot move between states (Draft → In Review → Approved → Published) or when validation rules block state changes. Common symptoms include error messages when clicking transition actions, disabled transition buttons, or silent failures with no status change. diagram

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Step 1: Check User Permissions

Verify you have the required role to execute the workflow action:
  1. Navigate to Administration → Project Roles
  2. Check your assigned role (Safety Engineer, Configuration Manager, etc.)
  3. Verify role permissions for the specific action:
    • Send for Review: requires document.edit permission
    • Approve: requires project_approver role
    • Publish: requires document.publish permission
    • Rework: requires document.edit permission
If the transition button is greyed out, you likely lack the required role. The sendForReview action is available to editors, but approve is restricted to users with the project_approver role. Request role assignment from your Configuration Manager.

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Step 2: Verify Signature Requirements

For documents in In Review status, check signature requirements before attempting approval:
  1. Open the risk specification document
  2. Scroll to the Signatures section at the bottom
  3. Check signature status:
    • ✅ Green checkmark = signature complete
    • Pending icon = signature required
    • Red alert = missing required signature
The approve action requires at least one project approver signature. If no signatures are present, the transition will fail. diagram

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Step 3: Check Document Workflow Configuration

Verify the document type is correctly configured for the Risk Specification workflow:
  1. Open the document in Polarion
  2. Check Document Type in sidebar metadata
  3. Expected value: riskSpecification for HARA/FMEA/HAZID modules
  4. If incorrect, the workflow actions will not appear
To verify workflow configuration in SVN: 
cat .polarion/documents/workflow/riskSpecification-workflow.xml | grep '<status id='
Expected statuses: draft, inReview, approved, published
If a FMEA module shows generic workflow actions instead of Send for Review/Approve/Publish, the document type was likely set incorrectly during creation. Use Document Properties → Type to change it to riskSpecification, then reload the page.

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Step 4: Resolve Signature Obsolescence

If rework was triggered after approval, all previous signatures are marked obsolete and must be re-acquired:
  1. Check signature status indicators for Obsolete label
  2. Request fresh signatures from project approvers
  3. Signers must re-sign the document after rework completion
  4. Only current (non-obsolete) signatures count toward approval policy
The workflow executes these functions during rework:
  • MarkWorkflowSignaturesAsObsolete — invalidates old signatures
  • ResetSignaturesVerdict — clears approval state

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Step 5: Validate Auto-Signature Configuration

For users with project_approver role, auto-signature should allow single-click approval:
  1. Verify you have project_approver role in project roles list
  2. Click Approve action button
  3. Expected behavior: document transitions to Approved AND your signature is automatically added
If auto-signature fails:
  1. Check workflow XML for <function id="signature.approve" with autoSignature="true"
  2. Verify availableForRoles="project_approver" matches your assigned role
  3. Check browser console for JavaScript errors during transition attempt

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Step 6: Inspect Workflow Logs

For silent failures with no error message, check Polarion server logs:
  1. Access Polarion server logs at <polarion-home>/data/logs/
  2. Open polarion-YYYY-MM-DD.log for today’s date
  3. Search for your username and timestamp of transition attempt
  4. Look for workflow validation errors or permission denials
Common log patterns: 
WorkflowValidator: transition 'sendForReview' blocked: missing required field
SignatureValidator: approve transition requires at least 1 signature
PermissionValidator: user lacks document.publish permission for action 'publish'

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Step 7: Fix Transition Button Not Appearing

If expected workflow actions don’t appear in the document toolbar:
  1. Verify current document status matches available actions:
    • Draft → should show Send for Review
    • In Review → should show Approve, Rework
    • Approved → should show Publish, Rework
  2. Refresh the page with Ctrl+F5 to clear cached workflow state
  3. Check document type in sidebar (must be riskSpecification)
  4. Verify workflow XML contains <action id="sendForReview" with correct targetStatus

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Verification

After resolving the issue, you should see:
  • Workflow action buttons enabled and clickable in document toolbar
  • Document status changes to expected target state after clicking action
  • Signature requirements properly displayed and validated before approval
  • Status history log shows successful transition with timestamp and user

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See Also