approval: add approval workflow docs

docs/approval/approval.md

@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+# Committee approval process
+
+Some records on CDS require the approval of specific committees before they can be published.
+This mainly applies to research publications from CERN experimental collaborations, which usually need to be reviewed by a committee from the Experimental Physics (EP) department.
+
+This approval process happens within CDS and can be managed in a few easy clicks.
+
+At the moment, the following committee approval processes are available in CDS:
+
+<!-- We can remove this table, just thought it would be useful for if/when we add support for other approval processes -->
+
+| Process name                                                                           | Applies to                                                                   | Estimated waiting time             |
+| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
+| [Experimental Physics (EP) Approval](https://ep-dep.web.cern.ch/ep-publishing-policy/) | Most research publications created in experimental collaboration communities | 1 week (2 days for rapid approval) |
+
+## Typical workflow
+
+### 1. Upload a record
+
+To start, [create and submit a record](../deposit/upload.md) to your experimental collaboration's community.
+Ensure that the record is set to **fully restricted**.
+This ensures its contents are not publicly visible until the approval process is complete.
+
+Depending on the community's settings, [a review might be required](../review/review.md) by your collaboration's curators.
+This review decides whether the record should be included in the community — it is distinct from the committee approval process and happens before it.
+
+### 2. Request committee approval
+
+On the record's page, an approval request workflow tracker will be shown.
+
+![The workflow tracker on the record page in its initial state, with the current step highlighted as "Request for approval"](./images/workflow_1.png)
+
+Click the **Request approval** button and answer the questions.
+The "Additional information" field is optional and can be used to provide more details for the approval process.
+
+![The "request for approval" modal with some basic questions needed for the approval process.](./images/request_modal.png)
+
+Once you are ready, click the **Request approval** button.
+The request will be submitted to the relevant committee.
+
+!!! info "Required permissions"
+
+    The approval request workflow tracker is visible to all members of your collaboration's community.
+
+    The button to submit an approval request is only available to [**Managers and Owners**](../communities/communities.md#members-and-roles) of the community.
+
+    If you cannot see the button, please check to ensure you have the necessary permissions.
+    If it is still not visible, please [contact the CDS team for support](https://cern.service-now.com/service-portal?id=service_element&name=CDS-Service).
+
+### 3. Wait for committee approval
+
+In the workflow tracker, click the **View request** button to view the approval request.
+The submitted details as well as the latest comments will be shown.
+[Various advanced commenting features](../review/comments.md) are available to help make discussing the approval request easier.
+
+![The approval request workflow tracker with the request submitted and waiting for review.](./images/workflow_2.png)
+
+During the review, your record will still be restricted, and will only be visible to members of your collaboration's community, as well as the approval committee.
+
+The review can be viewed by the community's [Curators (and above)](../communities/communities.md#members-and-roles), the approval committee, and any [manually invited reviewers](../review/review.md#who-takes-part).
+
+### 4. Create the final public record
+
+After the committee approval has been granted, the record still remains restricted and is not publicly visible.
+A **Report Number** is automatically generated, which uniquely identifies the approved record.
+
+A final, public version of the record still needs to be created manually.
+This can done by [Curators, Managers, and Owners](../communities/communities.md#members-and-roles) of the collaboration's community.
+
+To do this, simply click the **Publish** button in the workflow tracker on the record's page:
+
+![The approval request workflow tracker with the approved request, awaiting the final publishing step](./images/workflow_3.png)
+
+Follow the instructions in the modal that appears, and click **Publish**.
+The public record will be created; click **View public record** in the workflow tracker to view it.
+
+The new public record will be included in both your collaboration's community and the [CERN Research](https://repository.cern/communities/cern-research/records?q=&l=list&p=1&s=10&sort=newest) community.
+The Report Number will be visible on it, as well as a link back to the original restricted record (for users who are allowed to access it).
+
+## New record versions
+
+When you submit a record for committee approval, only the submitted version will be visible to the committee, and only this version will be taken into account for the review.
+**To avoid confusion, it is not recommended to create a new record version while the approval is pending.**
+
+Once the approval is completed, new record versions can still be created.
+When you create the final public record, the latest record version will be published (not necessarily the one that was approved).
+
+## Waiting too long for approval
+
+If your approval request has been pending for a longer time than expected (see the estimated wait times at the top of this page) and your record needs to be published urgently,
+please [contact the CDS team for support](https://cern.service-now.com/service-portal?id=service_element&name=CDS-Service).

mkdocs.yml

@@ -122,6 +122,8 @@ nav:
   - Reviews:
       - About reviews: review/review.md
       - Commenting: review/comments.md
+  - Committee approval:
+      - About the approval process: approval/approval.md
   - Reference: reference/reference.md
   - Glossary: glossary.md
   - FAQ: faq.md