· 4 min read
How does the BOQ approval lifecycle work?
Draft, in review, approved, locked — the exact transitions, who can approve, and why the approver can't be the person who built it.
A BOQ moves through four statuses, in order, and every transition is a deliberate button click — never an automatic or timed change.
| Status | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Draft | Fully editable. Click “Submit for review” when it's ready for someone else to look at. |
| In review | Still editable. Either “Send back to draft” (more changes needed) or “Approve BOQ” (confirmed with a “Approve this BOQ?” dialog). |
| Approved | Read-only. Either “Reopen for review” (if something needs to change) or “Lock BOQ” (confirmed, and described as final: “Lock this BOQ?”). |
| Locked | Permanently read-only — there's no revision flow from here. A locked BOQ that needs to change becomes a new BOQ document, not an edit to the old one. |
The approver can't be the creator
Approving a BOQ (moving it from in review to approved) enforces four-eyes verification: whoever clicks “Approve BOQ” can't be the same person who originally created that BOQ document. This is checked on the server, not just hidden in the interface — see what four-eyes verification means.
You also need the right role to approve at all: Owner, Admin, or Estimator. Project Managers can view a BOQ but can't edit or approve it.
Exporting doesn't depend on status
“PDF” and “Excel” export buttons sit at the top of the BOQ regardless of status — you can export a draft to share informally just as easily as a locked, final version.
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