Read a change and approve it
What a change's page tells you, how to approve or decline it, and which changes our team approves instead of you.
Every change has its own page. It tells you in plain words what the change does, shows you how your application will look afterwards, and asks you to decide. To open a change, choose it on Changes, or press Review and approve on Needs you.
What the page shows
The page is laid out in the order you need to decide. The heading What this change does comes first, then these parts.
The summary
One or two sentences, for example This makes version 0.5.0; you have 0.4.0 now, followed by how big the change is:
- It only adds: nothing that exists changes.
- It changes things, and everything that works now keeps working.
- It changes things that existing pages or records depend on.
- It removes data or access.
It then says whether the change can be undone. A first version says This makes your first version, because there is nothing yet to break.
What changes
A short list follows. It always says two things, even when the answer is "unchanged" or "none":
- Who can see what: for example Staff can now add day note records. A first version names the roles that get access.
- Data leaving the application: which connected service receives which fields, or none.
Other lines appear when they apply: changes to your stored records (with how many records), anything removed, a change that can't be undone, and automations that run with more access than the person who starts them. If the change rewrites what Divvent understands your business to be, it says so and quotes the new first line. The most serious lines are marked and shown in bold.
Before and after
How your app will look shows each page the change draws differently, Now beside After this change. The pages are filled with made-up records, never your real ones. New, changed and removed parts are marked with a colour key. Use Show on to see it on a phone, tablet or desktop. Where several roles use the application, See it as switches whose view you are looking at.
If the change adds, changes or removes a flow, the flow is drawn twice at the top of the page, Before and After, with a list of what differs. See Flows: what happens on its own.
Approve a change
When the change is yours to decide, the button under the list reads Approve. For a change that needs a closer look, it reads I have read what this changes — approve it. You'll see that wording when the change:
- changes things existing pages or records depend on, or removes data or access;
- can't be undone;
- widens who can see or do something;
- has an automation running with more access than whoever starts it;
- brings a new warning;
- rewrites what Divvent understands your business to be.
Pressing it makes the change a new version of your application. Approving doesn't release it. Nothing your staff or customers use changes until you release that version from Releases, into production or a test copy first. See Release a version.
The page only shows Approve when the summary and the list above it are shown too. If either can't be shown, the page says This cannot be decided here yet and offers nothing to press.
If the proposal changed after you opened the page, for example because someone pressed Ask again, your approval is refused, so you never approve something you haven't read. Reload the page and read the new proposal.
Who can approve what
| Role | Can approve |
|---|---|
| Editor | Changes that only add, and changes that keep everything working |
| Admin | Those, and changes that existing pages or records depend on |
| Owner | Every change, including ones that remove data |
| Viewer, finance approver | Nothing |
If a change is bigger than your role allows, you see no Approve button. The change stays under In progress on your Changes list until an admin or owner approves it. See People and roles.
Decline a change
If you don't want a change, say so with Decline:
- Under Not this one? Say why, write a sentence explaining why. A reason is required, because "declined" on its own helps nobody later, including you.
- Press Decline.
Nothing is built, and the reason goes on the record. Decline is the one way to say no. It works the same whether you are turning down a proposal that is waiting for you or withdrawing something you asked for yourself. Editors, admins and owners can decline any change that is still open, unless the page says Our team is working on this one.
Details
Details: the full preview and the conversation is closed until you open it. Inside you'll find:
- where the change has got to: Asked, Proposed, then You approve or With our team, then Live;
- why it is the size it is, one line for each part that made it so, and who approves it and why;
- the full preview, section by section, including sections with nothing in them, so you know they were checked;
- whether it can be rolled back;
- the conversation with the AI, and Ask again.
Ask again runs the proposal once more on this change, against everything Divvent can build now. It counts against your AI budget.
Talk to the change
Each change is a conversation. Reply in the box under the last turn to answer a question, or to change the proposal: "Not quite: put it on the job instead." Each reply can be up to 4,000 characters, and the page shows what each turn cost.
- A conversation has a set length. The page says how many more times you can reply, and when it is used up, start a new change.
- If the change is waiting on you and nobody says anything, it closes 14 days after it started waiting. The page shows the date.
- A closed change can't be reopened. Its conversation is kept as the record, and Ask again — start a new change takes you back to Changes.
Changes our team approves instead of you
Some changes are reviewed by our team before they become a version. They show With Divvent, and the page explains why in one sentence. That happens when:
- your account has every change reviewed by our team. New accounts start this way;
- the change is bigger than the size your account approves itself;
- the change widens who can reach something, what leaves your application, or how your records are protected (for example, how long they are kept or what erasing a person does). Our team reviews every such change, whatever your account approves itself;
- Divvent couldn't work out how big the change is.
Installing one of our templates exactly as we wrote it is always yours to approve.
While our team has a change, there is nothing for you to approve. Unless the page says Our team is working on this one, you can still reply in its conversation, or decline it if you no longer want it. Once our team has decided, the change shows here: approved and ready to release, or declined with a reason.