---
title: Approving a Change Request
slug: neurons-for-itsm/admin-user-help/enu/latest/approving-a-change-request
createdAt: 2026-07-14T19:16:38.180Z
---

When a change request is set to the "Pending" status, the approval workflow starts. Depending on how the workflow is configured for a change request type, it can be approved by a user or group.

- By default, the approval is set up for a group; more than half of the group must approve the change before the change request status is set to "Approved". Change Managers can override all votes and change the status to "Approved".
- By default, minor and standard change types are not included in the approval process.
- If you are a change approver for a specific type of change request, you are notified when that type of change request is updated to the "Pending" status.
- You can approve a change request through email or by using the self service portal.
- After you approve the change request, the status is not updated until all the users identified for the specific Change Approval Board have responded, unless the approval workflow is configured to accept at least a 51% approval. By default, a change request is not approved until all the group members have approved it.
- The **Approval Vote Tracking** record for the approval instance of the change request is updated to show your response.
- You can access the **Approval Vote Tracking** tab from the **Approval** tab by clicking **Go To**. A vote that is assigned to you (as a logged-in user), and that is still pending can be changed as follows:

| Button  | Icon                                                                                                                                                                     | Description                             |
| ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------- |
| Approve | :inlineImage[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/parib0MC3hVoUNdfQdnac/9ofvmOqj8Mt1fL9YF5lx2_approvalapprove.png" alt caption size="11" width="106" height="32"} | Approve a pending vote assigned to you. |
| Deny    | :inlineImage[]{src="https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/parib0MC3hVoUNdfQdnac/yQcM3HNtXBC1fAIs07fFC_approvaldeny.png" alt caption size="10" width="89" height="32"}     | Deny a pending vote assigned to you.    |

## Responding to a Change Request Approval by Email

You can accept or reject a change request approval by responding to the email. When you are notified of a change request approval via email, do the following:

1. Click **Reply**. Do not modify the subject line of the email when sending your response through email.
2. In the body of the message, enter either **approved** or **denied** to indicate your acceptance or rejection of the change request. The approval keywords are configured in the **FRS Approval Status Keyword** tab records in the **Email Configuration** form. By default, the keywords to approve or reject via email are approved and denied.
3. If you reject the change request, enter the reason for rejecting it in the second line of the body of the message.
4. Click **Send**.

## Responding to a Change Approval Request using the Self-Service Portal

Click the link that appears in the email to go to the Self-Service Portal or directly log into the Self-Service Portal. When using the Self-Service Portal for approvals, you must log in using the Self Service role. Contact your administrator to add the Self Service role to your employee profile if you are unable to log into the portal.

1. In the Self-Service portal, view the change request approval in one of the following ways:
   - Click **My Open Items** in the Self-Service portal. Then, click the link to go to the change request record.
   - Click **My Items**. Then select **Approval Request** from the drop-down list.

:::Paragraph{indent="1"}
If you have a single item, the change request record is displayed.
:::

2. Click **Approval Request for Change**.
   - To approve the change request, click **Approve**, then click **Approve** again to dismiss the change request approval confirmation message and confirm the change request approval.
   - If you deny the change request, click **Deny**, then enter the reason for denying the change request in the **Deny Approval-Reason** field and click **Submit**.

## Viewing Approvals for All Change Requests

1. Log in to Neurons for ITSM as a Change Manager.
2. Open the **Approval Vote Tracking** workspace. The list of approval votes is displayed.
3. Sort by the **Name** column to view the Change Approval Board and management committee approvals.
4. Double-click the change request approval record to view its details.

## Tracking Approvals for a Specific Change Request

1. Log in to Neurons for ITSM as a Change Manager.
2. Open a change request.
3. Choose the **Approval Vote Tracking** tab.
4. View all of the approval records for that change request.
5. Double-click to open a specific change request.

## Viewing Approvals Linked to a Specific Change Request

1. Log in to Neurons for ITSM as a Change Manager.
2. Open a change request record.
3. Click the **Approvals** tab.

:::hint{type="info" indent="1"}
The **Approvals** tab does not appear until after the change request record is in the pending approval state.
:::

:::Paragraph{indent="1"}
The number of approvals depends on the type of change. For example, if the change is major, the two contact groups that are defined to approve it are the Change Approval Board and management committee.
:::

4. To view a tally of the votes, open a change request approval by selecting and double-clicking it.