Approval Workflows

Approval workflows in CXOps Cloud ensure content meets your quality and compliance standards before publication. The workflow is built into the Cortex draft lifecycle and integrated with Govern’s compliance checks.

Draft Approval Flow

The standard approval workflow follows the Cortex draft lifecycle:

1. Draft generated — AI creates content (status: ready)
2. Review — team member reviews content in the editor
3. Compliance check — run Govern checks to validate brand consistency, terminology, and legal compliance
4. Revision (if needed) — request changes based on review or compliance findings
5. Approve — mark the draft as approved (records who approved and when)
6. Publish or adapt — approved content can be published to WordPress or adapted for channels

Running Compliance Before Approval

Before approving a draft, trigger a compliance check:

1. Open the draft in the Cortex editor
2. Click Run Compliance Check
3. Govern evaluates the content against all active rules
4. Review findings in the compliance panel:
   • Passed — all rules satisfied
   • Warning — soft rule issues that should be reviewed
   • Failed — hard rule violations that must be resolved

If hard rule violations exist, resolve them before approving.

Approval Actions

Approve

Click Approve to finalize a draft. This:

• Records the approver (user) and timestamp
• Updates the draft status to approved
• Creates an audit log entry in Govern
• Makes the draft eligible for publishing and channel adaptation

Request Revision

If content needs changes:

• Click Request Revision with notes about what needs to change
• The draft status reverts, and the revision request is logged in the activity feed
• The assigned editor can see the revision notes and make updates

Activity Feed

Every action on a draft is logged in the activity feed:

• Created, viewed, section edited
• Compliance check run (with results)
• Approved or revision requested
• Exported or published
• Auto re-optimized (if enabled)

The activity feed provides a complete audit trail of who did what and when — visible in both the Cortex editor and the Govern audit log.

Role-Based Permissions

Who can approve content depends on their role:

Role	Can Edit	Can Approve	Can Publish
Owner	Yes	Yes	Yes
Admin	Yes	Yes	Yes
Editor	Yes	No	No
Viewer	No	No	No

Editors can create and edit content but need an Admin or Owner to approve before publishing.

Tips

• Always run compliance before approving — catching issues before publication is far cheaper than fixing them after
• Use revision requests with specific notes — vague “needs work” feedback wastes time; specific notes accelerate the revision cycle
• Check the activity feed — before approving, review what’s changed since the last compliance check to ensure nothing was introduced after the check ran