How reviewers are skipped when one approves a step
When several reviewers share one approval step, the first approval advances the flow and the rest of that step are skipped, with their review notifications cleared.
When an approval step has more than one reviewer, CLVR adds every one of them as a reviewer at the same time and asks each of them to review. They do not take turns: any single approval is enough to move the report on. This article explains what happens to the other reviewers in that step once the first one approves, so a review that ends without your decision is not a sign that anything was missed.
Reviewers in a step act in parallel
A step in a flow points at a group (for example Manager, HR, Finance, or Salary). When the report reaches that step, everyone the group resolves to becomes a reviewer together. Each of them:
- gets an ADDED AS REVIEWER notification with a Review expense report button, and
- in production, also gets an email with a link to the review.
They all see the same report and can open it in any order. Only one decision is needed to settle the step.
The first approval advances the flow
As soon as one reviewer in the step selects Approve, CLVR treats that step as done and moves the report to the next step (or finalises it if that was the last step). The other reviewers in the same step no longer need to act, so CLVR marks them as skipped automatically. Their decision is recorded as skipped rather than left hanging as pending.
This only affects reviewers in the same step. Reviewers in a later step are unaffected: they are only asked to review once the report reaches their step.
A decline works differently from an approval. A single decline finalises the whole report as Declined straight away, so no further reviewers are asked. Skipping is only about an approval clearing the rest of the same step.
Skipped reviewers have their notification cleared
A reviewer who is skipped does not have to do anything. CLVR clears their pending review notification for that report on their behalf:
- The ADDED AS REVIEWER label changes from orange to grey.
- The Review expense report button disappears, since there is nothing left to act on.
- It stops counting toward the number next to Notifications.
The notification is not deleted. It can still be found on the Notifications page; it simply no longer asks for action. If a skipped reviewer opens the report anyway, it shows that no action is needed because a colleague already decided.
This is expected, not a missed review
Skipping is by design. A step that needs one decision is satisfied the moment any reviewer approves, so keeping the others active would only point people at work that is already handled. In the report's approval progress, the step shows as approved once any reviewer in it has approved or been skipped.
For who ends up in a step in the first place, see how an approval flow picks approvers. For more on notifications that clear on their own, see why a review notification disappeared.
Troubleshooting
- A reviewer says their notification went grey before they looked at it. A colleague in the same step approved first, so the rest of that step was skipped. Nothing was missed.
- One person approved but the report is still pending. The flow has more steps. The report has moved to the next step, where new reviewers have now been asked.
- We wanted every named reviewer to approve. That is not how a single step works: one approval clears the step. To require separate sign-offs, set them up as separate steps so the report passes through each in turn.