How do I approve someone else's deployment request?

Every deployment request in Admin Portal needs a second person to approve it before it can change a domain. As the approver, you check the plan a colleague raised, what it will create, update and permanently remove, and clear it to deploy.

Approving does not deploy anything. It unlocks Deploy now on the request, so your team still chooses the moment the change lands.

Prerequisites

• The Trigger Deployments right for the domain the request is going to. The same right lets you approve a request and deploy an approved one.

• Access to the cell that owns the domain.

• Someone else's request. You cannot approve or deny a request you raised yourself.

Which method should I use?

You can approve a request in three places. They all approve the same request, but they do not show you the same information.

We recommend Method 1, because the Review & approve deployment dialog shows you what the request will do before you approve it. Use the Approvals page when you need to deny a request.

Methods

Method 1: Approve from the Deployments page (recommended)

1. Navigate to Configuration Management > Deployments. The Activity tab opens first and lists every request in flight.

2. Find the request. Each card shows the definition and the domain (for example default/eod-holdings → acme-uat), the status Awaiting approval, who requested it and when, and the change counts.

3. Select Review & approve.

The Review & approve deployment dialog shows:

• Definition: the scope/code and the revision the plan was computed against;

• Domain: where the request is going;

• Origin: where the definition is read from;

• Requested: when, and by whom;

• Plan: how many resources will be created, updated and removed.

Read any notes beneath the plan before you decide:

• This plan permanently removes N resource(s) from [domain]. Check the removals before approving.

• N resource(s) are left alone by their write control. The run makes no call for them, so nothing about them is created, overwritten or deleted.

• N resource(s) the requester chose to keep are excluded from the removals. They stay in the domain untouched.

4. Optionally select View full plan to open the domain's detail page, where you can see the request in context with the domain's run history. This closes the dialog, so return to the Activity tab to approve.

5. Select Approve deployment.

A message confirms that the domain can now be deployed whenever the team is ready. The request's status changes to Approved and the card offers Deploy now.

Method 2: Approve from a pipeline board

Use this method when the request was raised by promoting a definition along a pipeline.

1. Navigate to Configuration Management > Pipelines and open the pipeline.

2. Find the domain showing Awaiting approval. Its node reads Needs approval · a second person with deploy rights for this domain.

3. Select Approve on the node. The same Review & approve deployment dialog opens.

4. Check the details as described in Method 1, then select Approve deployment.

The node changes to Approved · ready and offers Deploy now.

Method 3: Approve or deny from the Approvals page

The Approvals page lists every change awaiting your approval in Admin Portal, including platform version and feature flag changes as well as deployment requests.

1. Navigate to Approvals.

2. On the Awaiting Approval tab, find the card labelled Configuration Deployment. Its message reads Configuration deployment run [scope/code → domain] (approving unlocks Deploy now; it does not run anything).

3. Optionally select the link in the message to open Configuration Management > Deployments, where you can review the plan using Method 1.

4. Select Approve or Deny.

5. Select Confirm.

This page asks you to confirm but does not show the plan. If you have not already reviewed the request, use Method 1 instead.

Denying a request

You can deny a request only from the Approvals page (Method 3). A denied request shows the status Denied and moves to the History tab under Configuration Management > Deployments. Nothing is applied to the domain.

A denied request cannot be reopened. If the change is still needed, the requester raises a new request, typically after changing the definition. See how to raise a deployment request.

After you approve

The request is cleared to deploy but nothing has changed in the domain yet. Anyone with the Trigger Deployments right for the domain, including you, can now select Deploy now in any of these places:

• The request on the Activity tab of Configuration Management > Deployments.

• Beside the domain on the deployment's own page.

• The domain's detail page.

• The domain's node on the pipeline board, for a promotion.

Selecting Deploy now opens a window showing the run's progress. When the run finishes, it moves to the History tab with its plan, its log and who approved it.

Troubleshooting

The Review & approve button is greyed out. You do not hold the Trigger Deployments right. The button's tooltip says so. Ask your administrator for the right, or ask a colleague who holds it.

"This request is no longer awaiting your approval — somebody may have just resolved it." Another approver approved or denied the request, or the requester cancelled it, while you were looking at it. Admin Portal refreshes the list to show where the request is now.

"This request has already moved on — somebody else acted on it." As above: someone else acted first. Select Refresh at the top of the page.

"You do not have the rights to approve a deployment for that domain." You hold the Trigger Deployments right, but not for this domain.

"Cannot Approve or Deny own Approval." You raised this request, so a colleague must approve it.

I can't find the request. Requests are listed only for domains in cells you can access. Check the History tab too, in case the request has already been approved, denied or cancelled.

FAQs

Does approving deploy the change? No. Approving clears the request to deploy. The change lands only when someone selects Deploy now.

What exactly am I approving? The plan Admin Portal computed when the request was raised. When the run executes, it reads the latest revision of the definition from its origin, which can be newer if the definition has been edited since. The run records both revisions, so any difference is visible in History.

Can I approve several requests at once? No. Each domain has its own request, and each is approved on its own.

Is there an approver group? No. Anyone with the Trigger Deployments right for the domain, other than the requester, can approve.