Signing off and approving investigations
Digital sign-off, approval routing, and sending a report back for changes.
An investigation is finalized by signing it. There is no separate finalize button, because a report that is locked and issued without the investigator putting their name to it is exactly the gap this exists to close.
Investigator sign-off
At the end of the finalize screen you sign on the pad and confirm the investigation is complete and accurate to the best of your knowledge. Your name, job title and the exact time are recorded with the signature and printed on the report.
Approval routing
An owner or admin sets who approves completed investigations under Organization Settings, in the Approvals section. Once you sign, the report goes to that person: it appears in their My Tasks and they receive an email with a link.
If you are the named approver yourself, or no approver is set, your signature finalizes the report on its own. That is recorded on the report and noted in the audit trail, so a reader can always tell how many people signed.
Approving, or sending it back
The approver reads the full report, then either signs it off or sends it back with a note on what needs fixing. Sending it back clears your signature, because your sign-off applied to the version that is about to change, unlocks the report, and emails you the comments. Those comments sit above the signature pad so they are read before it is signed again.
Every round is kept as review history, and summarized in the report's audit trail.
Until a report is fully approved every page is stamped DRAFT. It stays downloadable, since the approver has to read the real document, but it cannot be mistaken for the final record.