We have multiple change control records stuck at the QA approval step in our workflow. The QA reviewers can see the tasks in their inbox and click ‘Approve’, but nothing happens - the record stays in ‘Pending QA Approval’ state. There are no error messages displayed to the users, and the approval comments are being saved. We’re on Vault QMS 23R2. I checked the workflow configuration and the QA approval step looks correctly set up with the right user group assigned. The workflow was working fine two weeks ago, and we haven’t made any configuration changes. Has anyone seen workflow steps get stuck like this without throwing errors?
Good suggestions. I verified the user group membership and everyone is still in the QA Approvers group. I also checked the required fields on the change control object, but nothing was changed recently. Could there be a workflow rule that’s blocking the transition even though the approval is recorded?
This sounds like a field validation issue. Even if the approval action succeeds, if there’s a required field that’s empty or invalid, the workflow won’t transition to the next step. Check if any fields were recently marked as required in the QA approval step’s entry conditions. The lack of error messages suggests a silent validation failure.
I’d look at the workflow audit log to see what’s happening behind the scenes. Go to the stuck change control record, click on the Workflow tab, and check the Workflow History. You should see entries for each approval action. If the approval is recorded but the transition didn’t occur, there will be a log entry explaining why. This is often more informative than what users see in the UI.
I can help you diagnose and resolve this workflow blocking issue by examining the three key areas: workflow step configuration, user group assignment validation, and field validation rules that might be silently preventing transitions.
Workflow Step Configuration Analysis: The fact that approvals are being recorded but not triggering state transitions indicates a configuration gap in the QA approval step’s transition logic. Here’s what to check:
- Navigate to Admin > Business Admin > Change Control > Workflows
- Open your change control workflow and select the ‘QA Approval’ step
- Click on the ‘Transitions’ tab
- Verify the ‘On Approve’ transition has these settings:
- Target State: Next step in your workflow (likely ‘Pending Closure’ or ‘Implementation’)
- Condition: Should be ‘All Required Approvals Complete’
- Required Approval Count: Match this to your QA approval requirements
The critical issue in 23R2 is that if ‘Required Approval Count’ is set to a number higher than the actual number of approvers in the user group, the workflow will never transition because it’s waiting for more approvals. Verify this count matches your QA Approvers group size.
User Group Assignment Validation: Even though group membership looks correct, there’s a subtle permission issue that can cause this behavior. Each approver needs both group membership AND the correct role permissions:
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Admin > Security > User Groups > QA Approvers
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Click on each member and verify they have:
- Role: Quality Reviewer or higher
- Permission: ‘Approve Change Control’ enabled
- Object Access: Read/Write on Change Control object
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Check the group’s configuration:
- Group Type: Should be ‘Approval Group’
- Approval Authority: ‘Any Member Can Approve’ (not ‘All Members Must Approve’)
- Active Status: Enabled
If the group type is set to ‘All Members Must Approve’ but some members haven’t taken action yet, the workflow will wait indefinitely.
Field Validation Rules: This is the most likely culprit for silent workflow failures. Field validation rules can block state transitions without displaying errors to approvers. Check these configurations:
- Admin > Configuration > Validation Rules
- Filter by Object = Change Control
- Look for rules that reference workflow states or the QA approval step
- Common problematic rules:
- Rules requiring fields that aren’t on the approval form
- Rules checking related object statuses (like requiring all linked documents to be approved)
- Rules validating date ranges that might be invalid
For each validation rule, check:
- When it fires: ‘On State Transition’ rules are the ones that would block workflow progression
- Error message: If blank, this explains why users don’t see errors
- Field dependencies: Ensure all referenced fields are populated
To test if validation rules are the issue, temporarily disable all validation rules on the Change Control object, then have a QA approver try to approve one of the stuck records. If it transitions successfully, you’ve confirmed a validation rule is blocking the workflow.
Immediate Resolution Steps: For your currently stuck records, you’ll need to manually advance them:
- Open one stuck change control record
- Click Actions > Admin Actions > Force State Transition
- Select the target state (next step after QA approval)
- Add a comment explaining the manual intervention
- Complete the transition
This administrative action bypasses validation rules and workflow conditions, allowing you to unstick the records while you fix the underlying configuration issue.
Root Cause Investigation: Based on your description that this started two weeks ago without configuration changes, check if:
- A system update or patch was applied around that time (even if not initiated by your team)
- User group membership changed (someone left the company or changed roles)
- A related object’s lifecycle changed (like a dependent document workflow)
- Field-level security was modified, making certain fields read-only when they need to be editable
Review the System Audit Log (Admin > Logs > System Audit) for the two weeks before the issue started. Filter by:
- Object Type: Change Control, Workflow, User Group
- Action: Update, Modify
- Changed By: System or Admin users
This will reveal any automatic system changes that might have triggered the issue.
Prevention and Monitoring: To prevent this from recurring, set up workflow monitoring:
- Create a report showing change controls in ‘Pending QA Approval’ for more than 5 business days
- Schedule this report to run daily and email you
- Add workflow performance metrics to your QMS dashboard
- Enable verbose workflow logging (Admin > System Settings > Workflow Logging = ‘Detailed’)
This will give you early warning if workflows start getting stuck again, and the detailed logs will make troubleshooting much faster.
I’ve experienced similar workflow blocking. Verify that all QA approvers are still active members of the assigned user group. If someone was removed from the group but still has pending tasks, it can cause the workflow to hang because the system can’t validate their approval authority. Check Admin > Security > User Groups and confirm the QA approval group membership is current.
Check the workflow step’s exit conditions. In 23R2, exit conditions are evaluated after the approval action completes. If an exit condition fails (like checking if a related document is approved), the workflow stays in the current step even though the approval is recorded. Look at Admin > Business Admin > Change Control > Workflow Configuration > QA Approval Step > Exit Conditions.