Restarting Stage Gates

Stage gates are checkpoints in your project workflow that control whether a project can move forward to the next phase. Sometimes a gate decision needs to be revisited — for example, when new information comes to light, documents need updating, or an approval was made prematurely. Restarting a stage gate reopens it so that the approval process can run again from the beginning.

This article explains who can restart a gate, what happens when they do, and what to expect afterwards.

Common reasons for restarting a stage gate include:

• ❌ An approval was given based on incomplete or incorrect information

• 📝 Supporting documents have been updated and require re-review

• 🔄 A rejected gate needs to be sent through the approval process again with changes

• 🔁 Organisational or project scope changes require a fresh decision

Note: Only gates that have been closed (approved or rejected) can be restarted. Open gates that are still awaiting a decision do not need restarting.

Not everyone can restart a stage gate. Each gate has a Restart Policy that controls who is allowed to restart it. This is configured by an administrator when setting up the stage gate template.

• If you can see a restart button (circular arrow icon) next to a closed gate, you have permission to restart it.

• If no restart button appears, either:

  • The gate's restart policy is set to Not Restartable, or

  • Your role does not meet the permission requirement for that gate.

Tip: If you need to restart a gate but don't have permission, contact your project administrator or portfolio administrator to either restart it on your behalf or adjust the restart policy.

1. Navigate to the project detail page for the project containing the gate.

2. Scroll to or open the Stage Gates section.

3. Locate the gate you want to restart — it will show as either Approved ✅ or Rejected ❌.

4. Click the restart button (circular arrow icon) next to the gate.

5. A confirmation dialog will appear:

   "Are you sure you want to restart this gate? This will restart any existing decision and reopen the gate for a new approval."

6. Click Yes to confirm.

7. The gate will reopen and a success notification will appear: "Gate has been restarted successfully."

When you restart a stage gate, several things happen automatically:

• The gate status changes from Closed back to Open.

• The gate becomes blocking again — the project cannot progress past this gate until a new decision is made.

• The previous approval or rejection decision is cleared.

• If the gate has an associated approval action (task card), that action is reset to its initial Request state.

• Any existing approval workflow on the action is cancelled.

• The action is reopened so that a new approval cycle can begin.

• For gates using a Process Board workflow, the action card returns to the board's starting column.

• After the gate reopens, the system re-evaluates the current project phase.

• If the gate was the reason the project advanced to a later phase, the project may move back to the phase where the gate sits.

• This only affects phase progression controlled by blocking stage gates.

• Restarting a gate does not delete or modify any documents already synced to the project.

• Documents attached to the approval action remain available.

• If you upload new or updated documents and the action is re-submitted, document versioning and archiving will apply.

• A success notification confirms the gate has been restarted.

• If the gate uses a Named Approver, you are automatically navigated to the action edit page so you can review and resubmit.

Q: Can I restart a gate that was never closed? A: No. Only gates that have been approved or rejected can be restarted. If a gate is still open and pending, it does not need restarting.

Q: What happens to the approval history when I restart a gate? A: The previous decision is cleared from the gate. However, an audit trail of changes is maintained in the system. The previous approval or rejection is recorded via the action's history.

Q: Will restarting a gate affect other gates in the same phase? A: No. Restarting affects only the specific gate you selected. Other gates in the same phase remain unchanged.

Q: Can I restart the same gate multiple times? A: Yes, provided the restart policy allows it. Each time the gate is closed (approved or rejected), it can be restarted again if you have the appropriate permissions.

Q: Does restarting a gate send notifications to approvers? A: The restart itself does not trigger approval notifications. Notifications are sent when the associated action is resubmitted through the normal approval workflow.

Q: Who configures the restart policy on a gate? A: Portfolio or system administrators configure restart policies when setting up stage gate templates in the administration area. The restart policy is set per gate and can differ between gates in the same phase.

Q: What if I restart a gate by mistake? A: You can simply re-approve or re-reject the gate through the normal approval process. There is no "undo restart" action, but completing the approval cycle returns the gate to a closed state.