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Each workspace defines the lifecycle that its projects follow. In a governance-mode project, select Lifecycle in the project sidebar or command menu to see its current stage, requirements, approvals, intake information, and risk scorecard. Lifecycle stages are separate from a compliance checklist. Stages control how a project progresses through your workspace’s review process. Checklists come from governance frameworks that you activate and scope to projects.

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Define the workspace lifecycle

Workspace admins configure stages under Settings › Governance › Lifecycle stages. Other members can view the configuration, but Openlayer redirects them away from the editor. The default starting point is the Openlayer template, or you can start from scratch. The template provides four editable stages: Each stage selects requirements from a catalog evaluated against project data. For example, you can require an owner, completed intake fields, passing tests, recent data, configured alerts, or a minimum record count. Some requirements have parameters that you set for the stage. Stages can also name reviewers and use one of two approval orders:
  • Concurrent — all reviewers can approve at the same time.
  • Ordered — reviewers approve in sequence, and each reviewer is notified when it is their turn.
Requirements determine whether a project is ready for review. Openlayer only accepts approvals after every requirement in the current stage is met; unmet requirements cannot be overridden.
Removing a stage sends projects currently in that stage back to the nearest earlier stage that remains.

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Progress through stages

The stage bar on a project’s Lifecycle page shows its position in the workspace lifecycle. If an earlier stage is reopened, the bar warns you that the project needs attention there. Requirement cards under each stage show which conditions are met and what remains. After every requirement in the current stage is met, submit the stage for approval. The project can advance after its required reviewers approve. To return work for another review, use Send back and choose an earlier stage. Lifecycle history records stage changes, their actors, dates, and reasons. Submitting a stage sends a Lifecycle review requested notification to the reviewers whose turn it is. A transition sends a Lifecycle stage changed notification. You can send a reminder from the approval view, but reminders are rate-limited to one per hour by default.

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Review pending approvals

Select Review in the workspace sidebar to manage lifecycle approvals. Its count badge shows outstanding reviews, and the page separates Needs your review from Pending other approvers.

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Customize stages for one project

Use the project stages view to override the requirements or approvers for any stage in that project. You can reset a stage to inherit the workspace configuration again. A project-specific configuration changes what the stage requires or who reviews it. It does not allow the project to advance with unmet requirements.

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Retire and reopen a project

Open the project’s options menu (⋯) and select Retire to take it out of its active lifecycle. Retired is not a workspace-defined stage: it appears in the stage bar only after the project is retired. Reopen the project to return it to the active lifecycle. When critical risks block a lifecycle requirement, open Risk exceptions on the Lifecycle page to review the exceptions associated with those risks.

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Intake overview

Below the lifecycle section, the page has two tabs: Intake overview and Risk. The Intake overview tab renders one card for each section in the workspace’s intake form. Use Search intake information… to find a section or field. If the workspace does not have an intake form, Lifecycle shows an empty state. A workspace admin can define one under Settings › Governance.

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Draft intake with the AI Assistant

In Register your project, the optional context step before the questionnaire can use the AI Assistant to draft the project description and owner, intake answers, and risk scores. For a registered project, open Lifecycle → Intake overview and select AI Assistant. Before generating suggestions, enable Intake assistant and choose its model under Settings → AI features. Add the model provider’s API key under the workspace or project Settings → Environment. Openlayer uses your configured provider key rather than its own. If the feature, model, or key is not configured, the warning links to the Intake assistant settings. You can still select Skip and register the project without the assistant. You can provide a description of the AI system, a supporting document, or both as context. Documents can be PDF, DOCX, MD, or TXT files up to 25 MB. Openlayer does not store the uploaded file; your browser extracts its text, and the assistant uses up to approximately 60,000 characters. Review the suggestions and accept only the fields you want. A suggestion remains a draft until you accept it and save the corresponding section; the assistant never saves answers automatically.
Canceling analysis stops the wait in your browser, but generation may finish in the background and incur charges from your model provider.
Members with permission can arrange intake cards into two columns. Saved layouts remain tied to section IDs and reconcile with the sections currently defined in the workspace form.

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Risk

Select the Risk tab to open the Risk scorecard. Its categories, dimensions, and descriptions come from the workspace’s risk template. Scoring and re-evaluation use that template rather than a fixed set of metrics.