Nonconformance records stuck in review workflow and no approval notifications sent

QMS MasterControl Quality Excellence
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1

We’re experiencing a critical issue with our nonconformance workflow in MasterControl 2022.1. Records are getting stuck in the ‘Under Review’ status and not progressing to the approval stage. What’s more concerning is that approval notifications aren’t being sent to designated approvers at all.

I’ve checked the workflow routing rules and they appear configured correctly with proper approval step assignments. The notification triggers are enabled in the workflow template, but reviewers report never receiving emails when items need their attention. This is causing significant compliance delays as nonconformance records sit unaddressed for days.

Has anyone encountered similar routing or notification issues? I’m particularly concerned about whether this could be related to our recent user group changes or if there’s a configuration setting we’re missing in the approval step setup.

2

Thanks for the suggestions. I checked the auto-advance setting and it is enabled. However, when I looked at the notification settings more carefully, I noticed the ‘Send notifications’ checkbox is checked but the email template field shows ‘None selected’. Could this be the root cause?

3

Let me walk you through a comprehensive solution that addresses all three areas causing your workflow issues.

Workflow Routing Rules: First, verify your routing configuration in Admin > Workflow Templates > [Your NC Workflow]. Each transition between workflow steps must have explicit routing rules defined. Open the transition from ‘Under Review’ to ‘Pending Approval’ and confirm that:

  • The routing condition is properly set (e.g., ‘When review is complete’)
  • The target step is correctly specified
  • Any conditional routing has valid criteria

If you recently changed user groups, you MUST update the routing rules to reference the new groups. Old group references will cause silent routing failures.

Approval Step Configuration: In your approval step properties, verify these critical settings:

  1. Approver assignment method - should be ‘Role-based’ or ‘User Group’ depending on your setup
  2. If using User Groups, ensure the group exists and has active members
  3. Enable ‘Require all approvers’ or ‘Require any approver’ based on your business rules
  4. Set appropriate escalation rules if approvals aren’t completed within your SLA timeframe
  5. Verify the ‘Auto-advance on approval’ checkbox is enabled so records progress automatically

Notification Triggers: This is likely your primary issue based on your findings. For each workflow step that requires notifications:

  1. Navigate to the step properties > Notifications tab
  2. Verify ‘Send notifications’ is checked
  3. Critical: Assign an email template from the dropdown - ‘None selected’ will cause silent failures
  4. If no suitable template exists, create one under Admin > Email Templates with placeholders like {RecordNumber}, {AssignedTo}, {DueDate}
  5. Test the template using the preview function before assigning it
  6. Set the notification timing - ‘On entry to step’ for immediate notifications
  7. Configure reminder notifications if needed for overdue items

Additionally, validate your SMTP settings under Admin > System Settings > Email Configuration. Use the ‘Send Test Email’ function to confirm your email server is accessible and authentication is working.

After making these changes, create a test nonconformance record and track it through the workflow to verify routing works correctly and notifications are sent. Check the System Logs (Admin > System Logs > Email Logs) to confirm emails are being queued and sent successfully.

If notifications still fail after template assignment, check that recipient users have valid email addresses in their user profiles and haven’t disabled workflow notifications in their personal preferences.

4

That’s definitely part of your problem! The notification trigger being enabled without an associated email template means the system tries to send notifications but has no content to send. You need to assign a proper email template to each notification trigger in your workflow steps.

Go to Admin > Email Templates and create or select an appropriate template for approval notifications. Then go back to your workflow template and assign that email template to the notification trigger on your review step.

5

I’ve seen this exact behavior before. First thing to verify - go to Admin > Workflow Templates and open your nonconformance workflow. Check if the approval step has the ‘Auto-advance on approval’ option enabled. If it’s disabled, records won’t move forward even after approval.

Also check your notification settings under each workflow step properties. There’s a checkbox for ‘Send notifications’ that sometimes gets unchecked during template modifications.