Reviewers

Reviewers are subject matter experts (SMEs), who validate the document content and provide feedback. Depending on the review requirements, one or many reviewers can participate in a review stage at the same time. Reviewers can be optional or mandatory (required). Required reviewers determine whether the document proceeds to the next level in the review.

Keep in mind that the actual review and approval workflow (as defined in the review template) determines the meaning of the term next level. The next level can mean performing one of the following tasks:

• Start next review stage: More than one level of reviews can be conducted, such as legal, management, external, peer, or executive.

• Send document for approval: No more changes are required and the document is sent to an approval stage for sign-off.

• Publish the document: The document under review is ready to be published. No additional review or approval stages are required. In this case, publish can mean the initiation of any number of business workflows as follows:

  • Check the reviewed content into a submissions management, ECM, or version control system.

  • Pass the content to another system as part of another business process.

If reviewers cannot finish a review in a single session, they can publish their comments and complete the review at a later time. When reviewers complete a review, they can add final comments or observations about the content. The final comments and observations are recorded in an optional review tracking sheet (RTS). The RTS generated in a previous stage is typically attached to the review document for the next stage.