Overview
Message moderation adds an approval step before a sendout. When an author who is not allowed to send creates a message for a moderated group, the sendout does not start right away. It waits until an approver approves the message.
Use message moderation when messages must be reviewed before they reach your contacts, for example to apply the four-eyes principle, to check messages from new team members, or to meet compliance requirements.
How It Works
An administrator assigns an approvers list to the group. The list names the system users who can approve messages for this group.
An author without permission to send in this group creates an email or SMS message. In the Summary step, the author clicks Send to Managers instead of sending the message.
The message appears in the Outbox with the status Moderated. Every member of the approvers list receives an email with the approval request.
One approver approves or rejects the message, either from the email or in the Outbox. One decision is enough.
If the message is approved, the sendout starts at the scheduled time, or immediately if no time was scheduled. If the message is rejected, the sendout does not start, the status changes to Rejected, and the author receives a notification with the approver's comment.
Who Needs Approval
Whether a message needs approval depends on the author's permission to send in the group, not on their role:
Authors without send permission need approval. For email, this is group permission 601 (Messaging: Send email messages). For SMS, it is group permission 701 (Messaging: Send SMS messages).
Authors with send permission send directly, even in a moderated group and even if they are on the approvers list.
If a group has no approvers list, authors without send permission cannot send to this group at all. Mapp Engage shows an error instead.
A user can get group permissions from their group role or from their system role. For details, see Group Roles and Group Permissions List.
Approvers Lists
An approvers list is a named list of system users who can approve messages. You create approvers lists centrally under User Management > System Users > Approvers Lists. You then assign one list to each moderated group in the sendout options of the group. You can use the same list for several groups.
Only members of the assigned list can approve or reject messages for the group. Approvers do not need a role in the group.
Four-Eyes Principle
By default, an author who is also on the approvers list can approve their own message. To prevent this, select Four-eyes principle required in the sendout options of the group. The author then does not receive the approval request, and another member of the list must decide. If the author is the only member of the list, the message cannot be sent until another approver is added.
Where Message Moderation Applies
Message moderation works for email and SMS group messages, including split sendouts. Single messages, such as transactional messages, are not moderated. For the difference, see Group Messages and Single Messages in Mapp Engage.