Managing certificate approval requests

TLS Protect users can manage the approval requests that have been assigned to them. This involves reviewing the details of each request, making an informed decision, and then either approving or rejecting the request based on its merits.

Users with the Master Admin role can view and approve any request in the system. On the page displaying a user’s approval requests, they are able to filter between their assigned approval requests and all approval requests in the system. See Managing certificate approval requests.

NOTE  Unlike the Policy Tree, TLS Protect's modern interface requires the approver to have both View and Read permissions to the certificate, and/or the installation that is being reviewed and approved. Be sure to set the permissions before you continue.

For information about how users can see their approval requests in the Policy Tree, see Managing approval requests in the Policy Tree.

To approve or reject a pending Approval Request

  1. Log in to the TLS Protect product, and browse to the All Certificates (dashboard).

    TIP  You can also open the Certificate list, and use the Pending My Approval quick filter, then skip the next step.

  2. In the Certificate Totals widget, locate the Pending My Approval section.

    If there are items you can approve, the Pending My Approval section will have a number greater than 0. Click the number to view those certificates that are pending your approval.

    NOTE  If there are no items you can approve, the Pending My approval section will show 0.

    When you click the number, you are taken to the Certificate list, with a filter applied that shows you items needing your approval.

  3. The certificate list shows either certificates that need your approval, or certificates that have a pending installation that needs your approval.
    • If the certificate itself needs, approval, you can use the quick action to either approve or reject the certificate.
    • If the certificate has an installation that needs approval, you won't see a quick action to approve or reject the certificate. Instead, click the down arrow next to the installations field to see the certificate installations. If there are more than one installations, the item(s) that require approval show Approve/Reject on the quick action button.
  4. Click the Approve/Reject button.
  5. In the modal window, review the request. If the request is for a certificate installation, then determine if you want to Approve Now (default), or Schedule Approval. (Scheduled approvals are only available for certificate installations.)
    • [Optional] In the Comments field, enter your reason for rejecting or approving this request. Especially if you are rejecting the request, this information will help the requester know what needs to be changed or why the request was rejected.
    • To approve now, select the Approve Now option at the top of the form, and then click Approve.

    • To schedule the approval to happen at a later time, select the Schedule Approval option at the top of the form, and then click Approve.

      The scheduling option appears. Enter the date and time (in your current time zone) when you want the approval to occur, then select the approval duration (in hours).

      For more information on approval duration, see About approval duration

  6. Click Approve or Reject.
  1. From the TLS Protect menu bar, click Inventory > Certificates.

  2. In the Common Filters > Status field, filter on Approval Scheduled.

    If there are scheduled items you can edit, they will be displayed in the certificate list.

  3. The certificate list shows either certificates that have been scheduled for approval, or certificates that have a pending installation that is scheduled for approval.
    • If the certificate itself is scheduled for approval, you can use the quick action to Edit the approval.
    • If the certificate isn't scheduled for approval, but has an installation whose approval is scheduled, you won't see a quick action to Edit the Approval for the certificate. Instead, click the down arrow next to the installations field to see the certificate installations. If there are more than one installations, the item(s) that are scheduled for approval show Edit Approval on the quick action button.
  4. Click the Edit Approval button.
  5. In the modal window, you can change the approval to Approve Now, or you can modify the schedule for the approval.
    • To approve now, select the Approve Now option at the top of the form, and then click Approve.

    • To modify the approval schedule, modify the date and time (in your current time zone) when you want the approval to occur, then select the Approval duration (in hours).

      For more information on approval duration, see About approval duration.

    NOTE  If you change the approver for an item that is pending approval, the update may take up to four hours to complete. Changing this setting can adversely affect performance of the system. If you need to change this setting contact Venafi Support.

  6. Click Approve or Reject.