🔄 The Visit Approval Journey
Understanding the path your visit takes from creation to the final "Approved" status is essential for ensuring your trip goes ahead as planned.
The process begins with the Visit Creator. Once the visit details and risk assessments are ready, you click "Submit." This sends the visit forward to your organisation's Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC). If the creator IS the EVC, the visit approval then starts at the stage after the EVC.
If "Outline Approval" is set to ON in the system settings, the visit will be initially sent to the Head before you can complete the whole process and submit for full approval. Outline Approval would be requested when the initial "Create Visit" button is pressed. This is done so that any Head who wants the opportunity to have an initial "heads up" on planned trips or visits gets the opportunity to "REJECT" the visit before you have spent too much time filling out all 9 pages of the form. This setting is selectable along with "Trust Approve" in Admin for Key Contacts ONLY.
The EVC reviews the submission. They have two choices: "Approve" to send it to Delegated Services if the visit is Category C, or "Revert" to send it back to the Creator for adjustments.
For Category C visits, Delegated Services (DS) performs a safety and compliance check. If everything is in order, DS "Approves" it for the Headteacher to apply FINAL approval. If more information is needed, the visit is "Reverted" back to the creator.
The Headteacher is the final approver regardless of whether they are the creator and EVC; they MUST do a final check and approve the visit. Once they click "Approve," the visit status turns Green and is officially authorised. The record is then locked as View Only.
After the Headteacher has signed, some Trusts may want the option to counter-sign Category C visits. If this setting is ON, the visit would appear Light Green until the Trust approver clicks Approve for it to go "GREEN".
At any stage, an approver (EVC, DS, or Head/Trust) can choose to Revert the visit. This moves the record back to the Creator (Stage 1 - Red), allowing for necessary updates and re-submission. The approval process restarts there. All reversions create a dialogue entry to explain the actions taken to resolve the reason for reversion.