External Approvers

External approvers are customer contacts who approve on the COMS customer portal, reached through a secure one‑time link — no COMS account or password needed. This page is what to tell them (or to follow if you are one).

Getting the invitation

When it’s the external approver’s turn, COMS emails them (subject “COMS Approval Notification”) with a secure link. Clicking it signs them straight into the customer portal — no username or password.

The customer portal

The link lands them on External Portal → Approvals, filtered to what’s waiting on them. It has Awaiting Me, I’ve Acted On and All tabs and shows their company name.

The customer portal approvals list.

Reviewing and deciding

Opening a request shows an Action Required banner, the request details and downloadable files, the linked record (customers see the record details but no links into internal COMS pages), and the full approval chain including earlier decisions.

The external approval page — details, chain, and the decision panel.

• Add a comment (required to Reject, optional to Approve) and click Approve or Reject.
• As with internal approvers, a signature is required to approve — there’s a prompt with an “Upload your signature” link to set one; rejecting doesn’t need one.

After deciding, the page confirms it inline (“You approved this on…”) and the requester is emailed. When the external approver is the last to approve, the request completes and the Approval Confirmation PDF is emailed to them as well.

After deciding — the decision is recorded against the customer’s account.

ℹ️ Good to know: Every decision is tied to the account the secure link signed in, so the record always shows exactly who approved on behalf of the customer — the link can’t be used to act as anyone else.

💡 Pro Tip: If an external approver says their link expired or never arrived, the requester can open the request and click Resend next to their name to send a fresh one (see Tracking a request).