Reviewing Observations
Footsteps 2 features an approval process which allows you to review observations before they are added to a child's record.
When the approval process is enabled, each user will be assigned a role:
- Approver - Users can create and publish their own observation, as well as being able to review and approve or reject other user's observations.
- Publisher - Users can create and publish their own observations without requiring approval.
- Requires Approval - Users can create their own observations but they must be approved before they are published.
The approval process can be configured on the Settings page; please refer to the Setting-up the Approval Process article for more information.
If you have been set as an 'Approver' you will have an Awaiting Approval tile on the Observations Menu page:
You can see at a glance how many observations are awaiting approval by looking at the number in brackets on the Awaiting Approval tile.
Click/tap on the 'View' button on the Awaiting Approval tile to open the Awaiting Approval page:
The new Awaiting Approval page allows you to quickly see all of the observations which need to be reviewed. Observations are listed alphabetically by child surname and subsequently ordered based on the date of the observation.
For each observation you will see the name of the child the observation is for, the date of the observation, the EYFS areas covered and a description of the observation if one was entered.
To review an observation in full, do the following:
- Click/tap on an observation to open the Observation form.
- Review the sections of the observation.
- Whilst reviewing the observation you will have the option to approve or reject it on each section of the form by clicking/tapping on the arrow next to the 'Save and Continue ' button and selecting the relevant option.
To approve an observation, do the following:
- On the Awaiting Approval page, click/tap on the thumbs-up button
for the observation you wish to approve.
- A green banner will appear across the top of your screen confirming that the selected observation has been approved.
When an observation is approved it will be added to the child's record. The observation will no longer be listed on the Awaiting Approval page.
To approve more than one observation at the same time, do the following:
- On the Awaiting Approval page, click/tap on the checkbox next to each observation you wish to approve.
- A footer will slide-up at the bottom of your screen containing three options:
- Click/tap on the 'Approve' button.
- A green banner will appear across the top of your screen confirming that the selected observations have been approved.
To reject an observation, do the following:
1. On the Awaiting Approval page, click/tap on the thumbs-down button 
for the observation you need to reject.
2. The 'Reason for Rejection' alert will be displayed with a text box to allow you to enter your reasons for rejecting the observation:
3. Once you have finished entering your reason, click/tap on the 'OK' button.
The alert will close and a green banner will appear across the top of your screen confirming that the selected observation has been rejected.
When an observation is rejected it will go into the 'Rejected Observations' tile. The reason for the rejection will be included in the Portal notification and at the top of page one within the observation.
To reject more than one observation at the same time, do the following:
1. On the Awaiting Approval page, click/tap on the checkbox next to each observation you wish to reject.
2. A footer will slide-up at the bottom of your screen containing three options:
3. Click/tap on the 'Reject' button. The 'Reason for Rejection' alert will be displayed:
We recommend entering a generic reason into the text box as the reason you enter will apply to all observations being rejected.
4. Once you have finished entering your reason, click/tap on the 'OK' button.
The alert will close and a green banner will appear across the top of your screen confirming that the selected observations have been rejected.
All the rejected observations will go into the 'Rejected Observations' tile. The reason for the rejection will be included in the Portal notification and at the top of page one on each observation.
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