Your approval queue

Where sections waiting for YOUR approval appear, and how to approve or ask for changes.

The approval queue is your personal to-review list. While the Pending Tasks page shows everyone's outstanding work, this page shows only the sections waiting on you. You can approve a section or ask for changes right here, without opening the full editor.

Open it by clicking Approval Queue in the menu on the left.

What lands in your queue#

A section appears here when all of these are true:

• You were assigned as one of its reviewers.
• The writer has submitted the section for review.
• It is your turn. If your organization uses multi-level review workflows, a section only reaches you when your review level becomes active.

Protocol sections, consent form sections, and other reviewable artifacts all follow this pattern.

Reading the page#

At the top is the heading My Approval Queue with the note "Sections awaiting your review and decision".

If there is nothing to do, you'll see a green check mark with All caught up! and "No sections awaiting your review." — a good sight.

Otherwise, each waiting section appears as its own card. From top to bottom, a card shows:

• The section title, with a blue In Review badge on the right.
• The word count and when the section was last updated.
• If other reviewers share this section: a row of names, each with a small colored dot — green for approved, orange for changes requested, gray for still pending. You can see at a glance whether you are the last one holding things up.
• A yellow Golden Thread Alert box, if one applies (explained below).
• The action buttons: Approve, Request Changes, and — on the far right — View Section.

Approving a section#

1. Read the section first. Click View Section on the right of the card to open it in the protocol editor, then come back here.
2. Click the blue Approve button.

What you'll see: the card disappears from your queue. If every required reviewer at your level has now approved, the section moves forward — either to the next review level or to Approved.

Asking for changes#

1. Click Request Changes.
2. A text box appears with the hint Describe what needs to change before approval…. Write what the author should fix. Be specific — this comment is what they will read.
3. Click Send Feedback. (Click Cancel if you change your mind.)

What you'll see: the card leaves your queue and the section returns to the writer with your comments. When they resubmit, it comes back to your queue for a fresh look.

The golden thread acknowledgment#

Some sections carry a yellow warning box titled Golden Thread Alert. A golden thread links related sections — for example, the objectives and the endpoints — and the alert means a linked section changed after this one was written, so they may now disagree.

The box explains which section changed and when it was flagged. Below the explanation is a checkbox:

I have verified cross-section consistency for this golden thread

Trelice will not let you approve past this warning blindly:

1. Open the affected sections and confirm they still tell the same story.
2. Tick the checkbox.
3. Click Approve.

Note: While the checkbox is unticked, the Approve button is dimmed and cannot be clicked. Its tooltip reads "Check the golden thread acknowledgment box above before approving". This is deliberate — your approval includes a statement that you checked the consistency, and that statement becomes part of the record.

Troubleshooting: If you spot a real inconsistency while verifying, do not tick the box and approve anyway. Click Request Changes instead and describe the mismatch, so the writer can bring the sections back into agreement.

Good habits for reviewers#

• Deal with your queue regularly. Writers cannot move forward until reviewers decide, and due dates are tracked — an overdue review shows up on the Pending Tasks page for everyone to see, and Trelice sends reminder notifications as the date approaches.
• Use View Section before deciding. The card shows a summary, not the full text.
• Write change requests you would be happy to receive: name the paragraph, say what is wrong, and if you can, suggest the fix.

For the broader picture of how reviews work — statuses, levels, and what the writer sees — read Reviewing and approving. Every decision you make here is recorded permanently in the audit trail.