Plugin to gather approvals / signatures on an initiative?

[fer (Fernando Scheps)]

Hello Discourse Community,

I am looking to implement a functionality within our community platform that allows users to submit requests for certain actions or permissions. Here’s what I’m envisioning:

1. Submission Process: Users can create a post (or a specific type of post) to request permission for an action. This could be related to shared community resources or activities.
2. Discussion and Clarification: Other community members can respond to these posts for further clarification, discussion, or to add supporting information. The discussion is open to the community or a specific subgroup, depending on the context.
3. Approval Workflow: A predefined group of users (e.g., moderators, a specific committee, or user group) should be able to approve or reject the request based on the discussion and the information provided. It would be ideal if this could be visibly marked on the request post (such as changing the status, adding a tag, or another clear indicator).
4. Tracking and History: We would like to keep a trackable history of these requests, including the discussion and the final decision, for transparency and future reference.

I am looking for suggestions on how to best implement this within Discourse. Are there existing plugins that can facilitate this kind of workflow? If not, could you provide guidance or recommendations on how to set up or develop this functionality?

Any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help!

[pfaffman (Jay Pfaffman)]

@fer

Submission Process: Users can create a post (or a specific type of post) to request permission for an action. This could be related to shared community resources or activities.

You can have a category where anyone can create topics.

@fer

Discussion and Clarification: Other community members can respond to these posts for further clarification, discussion, or to add supporting information. The discussion is open to the community or a specific subgroup, depending on the context.

You can configure the category so anyone can reply.

@fer

Approval Workflow: A predefined group of users (e.g., moderators, a specific committee, or user group) should be able to approve or reject the request based on the discussion and the information provided. It would be ideal if this could be visibly marked on the request post (such as changing the status, adding a tag, or another clear indicator).

You can create a category called “Approved” that allows only the committee to create topics there. When a topic is approved, a member can move it to that category.

@fer

1. Tracking and History: We would like to keep a trackable history of these requests, including the discussion and the final decision, for transparency and future reference.

The topic will have a history of all edits, including category changes.

[Lilly]

Yea like Jay pointed out, there are inbuilt features that can help you achieve what you are asking.

You may also want to peruse the plugin and theme-component topics to see if there might be some things that can enhance your forum features. I was thinking the Custom Wizard plugin might be of use to you. We also have a policy plugin, calendar and events plugin and topic voting plugin that might interest your organization. Also, topic templates are very useful.