Technology

Taking Action on Approval Requests in Kuali Build

Last modified 5/14/2024

Kuali Build makes it easy to approve, deny, send back, comment, and track a form. To take action on an item, you can either choose the Begin Review button from the email you received, or go to the My.IllinoisState.edu Action List and choose an item. See Kuali Build for more information on where to find your Action List.

Approval Request Notifications & Reminders


Remote Work Agreement (RWA) Request Form: Automated reminder emails will be sent every 7 business days to approvers with pending requests.

From Address: no-reply@mail.kualibuild.com

Email Subject: Approval: Remote Work Agreement

Approval Steps


Once you have selected an item that you need to approve, follow the steps below:

  1. Review the document that needs your approval.
  2. View everyone’s comments (See Checking Form Status below).
  3. Edit any sections that require you to edit if needed.
    • Not all forms will require edits.
  4. In the right-hand Actions Column, select Approve (Figure 1).

    Figure 1:

    Screenshot depicting the Actions menu in a form within Kuali Build
  5. Fill out your comments, if necessary, in the pop-up comments box (Figure 2).

    Figure 2:

    Screenshot depicting the Approval Pop-Up in a form within Kuali Build
  6. Select the Approve button in the pop-up comments box (Figure 3).

    Figure 3:

    Screenshot depicting the Approve button in a form within Kuali Build
  7. If you are not ready to approve the item, select Cancel in the pop-up comments box to go back. (Figure 4).

    Figure 4:

    Screenshot depicting the Cancel button in a form within Kuali Build


Denial Steps


If the item that you need to approve needs to be denied, follow the steps below:

  1. Review the document that needs your approval.
  2. View everyone’s comments (See Checking form Status below).
  3. Edit any sections that require you to edit if needed.
    • Not all forms will require edits.
  4. In the right-hand Actions Column, select Deny (Figure 5).

    Figure 5:

    Screenshot depicting the Deny button in a form within Kuali Build
  5. Fill out your comments with your reason for denial, in the pop-up comments box.
  6. Select the Deny button in the pop-up comments box.
  7. If you are not ready to Deny the item, select Cancel in the pop-up comments box to go back. 

Send the Form Back


If you find that the form submitted does not hold sufficient information, or is missing something that you would need to approve or deny the form you can send it back by following the steps below:

  1. Review the document that needs your approval.
  2. View everyone’s comments (See Checking Form Status below).
  3. In the right-hand Actions Column, select Send Back (Figure 6).

    Figure 6:

    Screenshot depicting the Send Back button in a form within Kuali Build
  4. In the pop-up comments box, fill out the comments explaining what is missing or needs to be edited in the form, before it can be submitted again for approval.
  5. Select the Send Back button in the pop-up comments box.
  6. If you are not ready to approve the item, select Cancel in the pop-up comments box to go back.

Checking Form Status, Viewing Comments, and Workflow Chain of Approval


When you are in a form, you will notice a View toggle in the left-hand column (Figure 7). This will be toggled on Review when you open the form.

  • Review: This view allows you to review the form, edit, approve, deny, or send back the form.
  • Status: This view shows you what steps the form has already gone through, what steps it has yet to complete, everyone’s comments, who has approved, denied, and/or sent back the form so far (See Figure 8).

    Figure 7:

    Screenshot depicting the Review toggle in a form within Kuali Build
    Figure 8:

    Screenshot depicting the Status toggle in a form within Kuali Build


Additional Information

How to Get Help

Technical assistance is available through the Illinois State University Technology Support Center at:


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