An app’s approval status records your district’s decision. It does not automatically allow or block access to the app.
Before You Begin
Your access determines what you can do:
Reviewers must be existing GoGuardian users with approval access in the applicable organization. Assigning someone to a workflow does not create an account, grant Discover access, or change their permissions.
Only the eligible reviewer assigned to the active step can approve or deny that step.
Create and Activate a Workflow
A workflow contains one or more ordered steps. Each step has a name and exactly one reviewer.- Open App Approval → Workflows.
- Select New workflow.
- Enter a unique Workflow name and, optionally, a Description.
- Enter the first step’s name.
- Use Search reviewers to select an eligible reviewer.
- Select Add step for each additional review, then arrange the steps in the required order.
- Review the configuration and save the workflow. Activate it when it is ready to accept requests.
- Verify the result: The workflow appears in the workflow list. Once active, it is available for new requests.
Edit an Existing Workflow
Administrators can edit any saved workflow, including an active workflow, directly from the workflow list.- Open App Approval → Workflows.
- Select the workflow’s edit icon (pencil and paper).
- Update its configuration and save your changes.
- Verify the result: Future requests use the updated configuration. Requests already submitted retain the version of the workflow they started with.
Deactivate a Workflow
Deactivate a workflow when you no longer want it available for new requests.- You cannot deactivate a workflow while it has open requests. Complete or cancel those requests first.
- Deactivation preserves completed request history.
- Workflows cannot be deleted.
- Only active workflows accept new requests. If none are active, request creation is disabled.
Submit an App Approval Request
You can start a request from:- App Approval
- An app’s row in App Catalog
- The Approval section of App Details
- Select an active workflow if more than one is available.
- Specify the proposed school and grade-level scope.
- Provide organizational-unit context, if applicable.
- Review the approval duration. The default is 1 Year, counted from final approval.
- Optionally add Intended use and a request comment.
- Submit the request.
- Verify the result: The request is pending review, and the first reviewer’s step is active. The app’s current approval status remains unchanged while the review is underway.
Understand the Requested Scope
Schools and Grades define approval scope. Organizational units and Intended use provide decision context; they do not override the school and grade scope. Missing scope information is not the same as an explicit Entire Organization selection.
After submission, the scope is read-only.
Your organization can have only one open request per app, even if the proposed workflow, scope, or requester is different.
Find Requests That Need Your Review
Open App Approval → Requests. The Waiting on you section contains requests where your assigned step is currently active. An assignment to a future step does not appear as actionable work. When there are no current assignments, the section displays Nothing is waiting on you. Use All Requests and its status filters, All, Pending Review, Approved, Not Approved, and Cancelled, to find other requests. Open a request to review its:- Requested scope and intended use
- Approval duration
- Workflow progress
- Active and upcoming reviewers
- Notification-delivery information
- Available request history and Activity
Approve or Deny a Request
Approve Your Step
- Open the request assigned to your active step.
- Review the submitted information.
- Select Approve Step.
- Add an optional comment.
- Confirm approval in the dialog.
- Verify the result: If another step remains, the request moves to its next reviewer. Approving the final step completes the request and updates the app’s standing approval record and approved scope.
Deny the Request
- Open the request assigned to your active step.
- Select Deny.
- Enter the required reason under Reason shared with the requester.
- Confirm the denial.
- Verify the result: The request is Not Approved, and later steps are not activated.
Manage Email Notifications
Discover sends workflow emails to help reviewers know when to act and requesters know how their request ended. App approval requests emails are on by default. Each user can manage their own preference.Review Emails Sent to Reviewers
These emails are subject to each recipient’s notification preference. Review-notification links require sign-in and open the request in the appropriate district context.
Review Emails Sent to Requesters
The requester receives an outcome email when the request reaches Approved, Not Approved, or Cancelled, subject to their email preference. For Approved and Not Approved outcomes, the email links to a read-only completed-decision receipt. The receipt preserves that request’s historical outcome and scope. Its contents depend on the recipient’s access; being the requester does not automatically grant access to internal reviewer comments or restricted attachments.Configure Your Email Preferences
- In the upper-right corner of Discover, select your name.
- Select Account Settings.
- Under Email Notifications, turn App approval requests on or off.
- Check Unsubscribe from all emails. When this setting is on, it stops Discover emails regardless of individual notification settings.
- Verify the result: Changes save automatically, and the settings show your current preferences.
Check for Missing Emails
- Check that App approval requests is enabled and Unsubscribe from all emails is off.
- For review assignments, confirm that your step is currently active. An upcoming assignment does not trigger an active-step notification.
- Check the request’s notification-delivery information. If delivery failed, an administrator can follow up outside Discover. There is no notification-retry action in the workflow.
- Continue using the request screen to review and act. An email-delivery failure does not change the request’s state.
Reassign a Reviewer
A Super User or Discover Full Access administrator can replace the reviewer for an active or upcoming step with another eligible user.- Reassigning the active step immediately transfers decision access to the replacement.
- Reassigning an upcoming step does not change the active step.
- Completed steps cannot be reassigned.
- An optional reason can be recorded with the reassignment.
Cancel an Open Request
A Super User or Discover Full Access administrator can cancel a request that is still open.- Open the request and choose the cancellation action.
- In Cancel approval request?, select a reason:
- Submitted by mistake
- Duplicate request
- No longer needed
- Review could not continue
- Optionally add a comment.
- Confirm cancellation.
- Verify the result: The request is Cancelled. The app’s current approval status and Approval Details are unchanged, and a new request can be submitted for the app.
Resolve a Request Administratively
A Super User or Discover Full Access administrator can conclude an in-flight request through administrative approval or denial, without waiting for the remaining reviewers. A reason is required. The record distinguishes the administrative resolution from an individual reviewer’s decision, and remaining steps are marked Skipped rather than credited as approvals or denials. Administrative resolution cannot be undone. Correcting an erroneous resolution requires a new request.Submit a New Review for an App
You can submit a new request for an app with any approval status once it has no open request. If the app already has approved scope, its current Schools and Grades prepopulate the form. Review and change the proposed scope before submission.- Starting a re-review leaves the standing approval unchanged.
- Approving the re-review replaces the standing status and scope.
- Denying the re-review leaves the existing approval status and Approval Details unchanged.
- Previous requests retain their original scope, decisions, and history.