Each document in Plexus includes a status to show where a document sits in its workflow.
A quick background on statuses in Plexus
Document statuses are automatically determined in the system based off an action made by a user (ie send for approval, send for signature). They provide a quick summary of where the document is in their workflow.
A document status is not always sequential in its workflow, meaning that a document may move back and forth among the different statuses.
A document may not necessarily pass through all statuses in its workflow. For instance, some documents may not require approvals or signatures and will never have this stage assigned in their workflow.
Locating a document's status
A document's status can be found in two places:
Document list
Document key facts
Document List
You can find the document status in the status column in your documents list. Note that you may need to customise or reset your view in order to see it in your list.
Document key facts
You can also find the document status in the key facts section, on a document detail page. To find a document's key facts section, click on a document name from the documents list, and click the Key facts tab to view its status alongside other key details.
Status definitions
Authored
The document has been created. The document may have reached the end of its workflow if the document type has no other workflow stages configured (ie when you have used the Store a document app to upload an unexecuted file).
Awaiting approval
The document is awaiting one or more approvals in the Approval stage of the workflow. The approvers are defined either through pre-configured delegation rules, or when the author submitted the document.
The phase may end when the file is approved by all required parties in the Approve stage.
Awaiting signature
The document is awaiting signature from one or more signers in the Signature stage of the workflow. The signers are defined either through pre-configured delegation rules, or when the author submitted the document.
Needs review
The document requires review because an amended version has been uploaded, a version has been edited, or the document type requires legal review before the remainder of the workflow can commence.
Plexus will have emailed the necessary people to notify them.
Legal review is typically conducted by a member of your in-house legal team, but in some cases, such as in the case of a custom application, this reviewer could be another pre-defined person in your organisation.
In review
This status follows the Needs legal review phase. At this stage, the document has been Marked in review by either the document-specific approver mentioned above, or a member of your legal team.
The status ends when the required party clicks the Accept button in the Review stage of the document's workflow.
Paused
The document workflow has been paused by somebody with internal access to the document. Click Resume workflow to move the document out of this status.
Declined (by approver)*
Document approval has been declined by one or more approvers. Possible final status in a document workflow.
Declined (by recipient)
Document signature has been declined by one or more signatories. Possible final status in a document workflow.
Possible end-point statuses
The following statuses are typically end-point status and will be shown at the end of the document workflow.
Approved*
The document has been approved by a Legal user at the Review stage. If a document only requires review and does not require approval or signing, Approved is the final status it will be given.
Declined*
The document has been declined by a Legal user at the Review stage. Documents will stay on this status until they are sent back for review.
Cancelled
Document workflow has been Cancelled entirely. This might take place at any of the first three stages of the workflow. This is the last stage in a workflow unless you click the Restart Workflow button.
Executed*
The most common status for a document that has been signed by all required parties. A document needs to successfully complete the Signed stage in order to obtain this status. A document can, but does not necessarily have to, pass through the review and approved stages ahead of reaching and completing the Signed stage.
Other statuses
The following statuses are less commonly used in Plexus.
Voided*
The document workflow has been Cancelled, often due to a change or expiration of the document at the signing stage. Typically the last status in a document workflow. There is the option to send a voided document back for Legal review to restart the process.
Completed*
A less common status for a document that has been approved by all required parties. It does not include a Signing Stage, so is often used in place of Executed. A document needs to pass through one, but not necessarily both of the review and approved stages ahead of reaching Completion. It is a possible final status in a document workflow.
Still have questions about your document statuses? Get in touch with our team via live chat or [email protected].