Configure Approval-Based Reviews - Nextedy Documentation

Prerequisites

Risksheet installed and configured in your Polarion project
Access to the risksheet.json configuration file (see Find Configuration Files)
Users with comment creation permissions on the target work items

How Approval-Based Reviews Work

Approval-based reviews use Polarion’s approval comment system. Each review created through Risksheet is stored as a comment with the fixed title “Approval comment” on the underlying work item. The Reviews column filters to show only these approval-titled comments, separating formal approval feedback from regular discussion comments.

Step 1: Enable Approval-Based Reviews

Open your risksheet.json and add the reviews section with reviewManager set to ApprovalBased:

{
  "reviews": {
    "reviewManager": "ApprovalBased"
  }
}

No additional properties are required. The approval-based strategy uses Polarion’s built-in approval comment mechanism.

Risksheet supports three mutually exclusive review strategies. If multiple modes are configured, CommentBased takes the highest precedence, followed by WorkItemBased, then ApprovalBased. Ensure you only configure one reviewManager value.

Step 2: Toggle Review Columns

After configuration, display the review columns in the grid:

Open the Risksheet in your Polarion LiveDoc
Use the review toggle command in the toolbar
Two system columns appear:
- Reviews column (reviewsRendered) — displays existing approval comments
- Add Review column (reviewsAdd) — interface for creating new approval reviews

Step 3: Create an Approval Review

To add an approval on a risk item:

Locate the risk item row in the grid
Click the add review control in the Add Review column
Enter your approval comment text
Submit the review

The system creates a Polarion comment with the fixed title “Approval comment” and your text as plain text content. Validation rules are applied before creation.

Only comments titled “Approval comment” appear in the Reviews column. Regular Polarion comments added outside Risksheet are not shown. This separation lets you maintain general discussion comments alongside formal approval records on the same work item.

Step 4: View Approval Reviews

The Reviews column displays approval comments with the following details:

Field	Description
Reviewer name	Full name from Polarion user profile (falls back to user ID if unavailable)
Timestamp	Creation date and time in `yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm` format
Content	Approval comment text rendered as HTML

The system automatically filters out:

Resolved comments — approval comments marked as resolved in Polarion
Unresolvable comments — comments that cannot be loaded

Reviews are wrapped with the risk_reviews CSS class for styling customization through cell styles.

Comparison with Other Review Modes

Feature	Comment-Based	Approval-Based	Work Item-Based
Storage mechanism	Standard comment	Approval comment	Separate work item
Comment title	User-defined (optional)	Fixed: “Approval comment”	N/A
Filtering	All non-resolved comments	Only approval-titled comments	Linked work items by type
Content format	Plain text	Plain text	Rich text (work item fields)
Queryable separately	No	No	Yes (via Polarion queries)

Approval-based reviews create approval comments on work items but do not trigger Polarion’s formal approval workflow state transitions (such as draft to reviewed to approved). For full workflow state management, use Polarion’s document or work item list views. Full approval workflow actions within Risksheet are planned for a future release.

When to Use Approval-Based Reviews

Approval-based reviews are suitable when:

You need to distinguish formal approval feedback from regular discussion comments
Your audit process requires a clear trail of approval actions
You want approvals visible in Polarion’s approval comment views
Full work item-based traceability is not required

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Solution
No reviews appear despite comments on the work item	Comments do not have the “Approval comment” title	Only comments with the exact title “Approval comment” are displayed
Cannot add approval	Insufficient permissions	Verify the user has comment creation permissions on the work item
Reviewer name shows as user ID	Polarion user profile missing full name	Update the reviewer’s name in Polarion user administration
Review columns not visible	Toggle not activated	Use the toolbar toggle to show review columns

Verification

After completing configuration, you should now see:

The review toggle available in the Risksheet toolbar
Approval comments created through Risksheet appear with the “Approval comment” title in Polarion
Only approval-titled comments display in the Reviews column — regular comments are filtered out
Reviewer names, timestamps, and content render correctly

​Prerequisites

​How Approval-Based Reviews Work

​Step 1: Enable Approval-Based Reviews

​Step 2: Toggle Review Columns

​Step 3: Create an Approval Review

​Step 4: View Approval Reviews

​Comparison with Other Review Modes

​When to Use Approval-Based Reviews

​Troubleshooting

​Verification

​See Also

Prerequisites

How Approval-Based Reviews Work

Step 1: Enable Approval-Based Reviews

Step 2: Toggle Review Columns

Step 3: Create an Approval Review

Step 4: View Approval Reviews

Comparison with Other Review Modes

When to Use Approval-Based Reviews

Troubleshooting

Verification

See Also