> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dirtview.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How approvals work in DirtView

> RFIs, Submittals and Change Orders all run on the same two ideas: a status and a ball in court. Learn it once.

RFIs, Submittals and Change Orders look like three different modules. They run on the same two ideas. Learn these once and all three make sense.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Status = what stage it's at" icon="signal">
    Open, In Review, Answered, Closed. A property of the **document**.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Ball in Court = whose desk it's on" icon="hand">
    A **person**. The one human who has to do something next.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Warning>
  These move **independently**, and people constantly treat them as one thing. An RFI can sit at **In Review** for a week with the ball in three different people's courts. Knowing the status tells you where the document is. Knowing the ball in court tells you who to call.
</Warning>

## The same shape, three times

|                   | RFI                          | Submittal                       | Change Order                 |
| ----------------- | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------- | ---------------------------- |
| You're asking for | An answer                    | Approval of a product or method | Agreement on cost and time   |
| It opens as       | A question                   | A package with a spec section   | A proposed change            |
| It moves through  | Reviewers in a routing order | Reviewers in a routing order    | Reviewers in a routing order |
| It ends at        | Answered, then Closed        | Approved or Rejected            | Approved or Rejected         |

## Read this next, in this order

<Steps>
  <Step title="Statuses and Ball in Court">
    The model itself, in two minutes. → [Statuses and Ball in Court](/approvals/statuses-and-ball-in-court)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review Routing">
    How the ball moves, and why some reviewers are locked. → [Review Routing](/approvals/review-routing)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Then the three documents">
    [RFIs](/approvals/write-an-rfi) · [Submittals](/approvals/create-a-submittal) · [Change Orders](/approvals/change-orders)
  </Step>
</Steps>