Have a design checked and approved

A design carries three signatures: prepared, checked and approved. The engineer who last saved it prepared it. Someone else in the firm checks it, and an owner or admin approves it once it has been checked.

1. 1

   Save the design in Cycle. You are now its preparer.

2. 2

   A colleague opens it: on Engineering Projects, with the arrow at the start of its row, or on the page of a request it is linked to.

3. 3

   In Sign-off, they choose Mark as checked. Kelvin records the check in their name, with the time.

4. 4

   An owner or admin then chooses Approve in the same block.

When an action isn't open to you, the foot of the Sign-off block says why, rather than leaving a button missing.

• –Any member of the firm may check a design except the engineer who prepared it. Reviewers can check it, though they can't edit it.
• –Only the firm's owners and admins approve, and only a design that has been checked.
• –The checker, or an owner or admin, can choose Withdraw check. The approval goes with it, because an approval only stands on a check.
• –The approver, or an owner or admin, can choose Withdraw approval. The check stands, so the design can be approved again.

An owner or admin can turn on Allow an engineer to check their own work under Settings → Your firm → Firm, then choose Save firm profile. Reports still name who prepared the work and who checked it. Left off, which is the default, a design is checked by someone other than the engineer who prepared it.

Saving the design again clears both its check and its approval, because the figures they signed for have changed. The version it replaces keeps them: its row in Version history shows the sign-off it was given. Cycle's save hint warns you before you save over a checked design.

Writing a note on a version is not an edit and clears nothing, and nor does recording a signature.