Bulk Approval
The Bulk Approval feature lets you process multiple pending workflow submissions at once using a single form submission. Instead of opening each submission individually and actioning it one by one, you can apply the same decision (approve, review, or process) to all pending items in a workflow task simultaneously.
Processing runs in the background, so you can submit the bulk action and continue other work while the system handles each submission automatically.
Key Benefits
- Save time — Action dozens or hundreds of submissions with one click
- Consistency — The same decision and form data is applied uniformly across all submissions
- Non-blocking — Processing runs in the background; you are not locked out while it runs
- Live progress — A real-time progress bar shows how many submissions have been processed
- Error visibility — If any submissions fail, you can see which ones and why
Who Can Use Bulk Approval
Bulk Approval is available to any user who has pending action queue items of type Approve, Review, or Process. The feature only shows workflows and tasks where you have at least one pending submission assigned to you.
Getting Started
Accessing Bulk Approval
There are two ways to reach Bulk Approval:
- From the Dashboard — Look for the Bulk Approval shortcut link in the action queue section of your dashboard.
- From My Action Queue — At the bottom of your action queue list, there is a Bulk Actions link. Click it to go to the bulk approval list.
You can also navigate directly to:
- Bulk Approvals:
/bulks/approve - Bulk Reviews:
/bulks/review - Bulk Processing:
/bulks/process
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1 — Choose a Workflow
After opening Bulk Approval, you will see a table listing all workflows that have pending submissions assigned to you.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| System | The system/department the workflow belongs to |
| Workflow Name | Name and version of the workflow |
| Pending Tasks | Number of distinct tasks with pending items |
| Pending Submissions | Total number of submissions awaiting action |
Click View Pending Tasks on the workflow you want to process.
Step 2 — Choose a Task
You will see a list of tasks within the selected workflow that have pending submissions. Each row shows:
- Task Name — The name of the approval/review/process step
- Submissions — How many submissions are waiting for this task
Click Process next to the task you want to bulk-action.
Step 3 — Review Submissions and Fill the Form
The bulk action page is split into two panels:
Left panel — Submissions
- Shows all pending submissions for this task
- Each card displays the submission ID (TID), the submitter's name, and any ISO tag
- Click any submission card to open it in a new tab for review (optional)
Right panel — Action Form
- Fill in the form fields as you would for a regular approval
- Add any remarks or form data required by the task
- This same form data will be applied to all submissions listed on the left
- A single Submit All button (e.g., Approve All, Review All, Process All) is shown — there is no per-submission action choice
Review a few submissions in the left panel before submitting to make sure the bulk decision is appropriate for all of them.
Step 4 — Submit the Bulk Action
Once you are satisfied with the form data, click the Submit button.
- The system will confirm the number of submissions being processed.
- Processing begins immediately in the background.
- You will be redirected back to the same page where a progress banner will appear.
Step 5 — Monitor Progress
While the bulk action is running, the page shows a live progress banner:
⏳ Bulk action is being processed
12 / 45 submissions processed
[████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░] 27%
- The progress bar and counts update automatically every 3 seconds.
- You do not need to stay on the page — the job runs in the background even if you navigate away.
- If you navigate away and return, the progress banner will reappear if the job is still running.
Step 6 — Review Results
Once all submissions have been processed, the progress banner is replaced by a result banner:
| Result | Banner Colour | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Completed | Green | All submissions were processed successfully |
| Partially Completed | Yellow | Some submissions succeeded, some failed |
| Failed | Red | The job encountered a critical error |
If there were failures, the banner lists each failed submission by its TID along with the error message.
⚠ Bulk action partially completed — 43 succeeded, 2 failed
WF-2026-001: Submission already closed
WF-2026-007: Form validation error
After reviewing the results, click Back to action queue to return to your queue, or navigate to the failed submissions individually to action them manually.
Important Notes
One Bulk Action at a Time
You can only run one bulk action per task at a time. If a job is already running for that task, you will see a warning:
"A bulk action is already being processed for this task"
Wait for the current job to finish before submitting another.
No Submissions Available
If there are no pending submissions for a task (because they were already processed or picked up by someone else), you will see an empty state message. Return to the workflow list and choose a different task.
Actionee Selection Not Available
Actionee (delegate) selection is disabled for bulk processing. Because the next actionee often depends on the specific content or criteria of each individual submission, it cannot be determined uniformly across a batch. If a task normally requires selecting an actionee, you must action those submissions individually from your action queue.
Reject and Revert Are Disabled
The Reject and Revert actions are not available in bulk mode. Only the primary action for the task type (Approve, Review, or Process) can be applied in bulk. Submissions that need to be rejected or reverted must be handled individually through the normal action queue.
Cannot Undo
Bulk actions are processed the same way as individual actions — they cannot be undone in bulk. If you need to reverse a decision, you must do so submission by submission through the normal workflow revert process.
Large Batches
For very large batches (hundreds of submissions), processing may take several minutes. The progress bar will reflect real-time progress. The system will wait up to 20 minutes before considering the job as timed out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Will bulk approval send notifications to submitters?
Yes. Each submission is processed individually in the background, including any notification steps configured in the workflow (email, Teams, etc.).
Q: What if I filled in the form incorrectly?
The form data is applied to all submissions. If you submitted with incorrect data, you may need to individually correct affected submissions through the normal action queue.
Q: Can I bulk-approve submissions from multiple workflows at once?
No. Bulk actions are scoped to one workflow task at a time. Repeat the process for each workflow/task combination.
Q: Can two users run bulk approval on the same task at the same time?
Each user's bulk action is independent. Two users can both initiate a bulk action on the same task simultaneously; each will process the submissions that are assigned to them at the time the job runs.
Q: The progress bar stopped updating — is something wrong?
If the banner disappears and shows a result (green/yellow/red), the job has finished. If the spinner is still showing but the numbers are not changing, wait a few minutes — the system may be handling complex submissions. If it appears stuck for more than 20 minutes, contact your system administrator.