Create and review requests

Requests are used to request changes to access controls, such as creating or revoking an entitlement, and creating or updating a group.

Who needs to approve a request

When creating a request, any required checks will be listed under Approvals. A check is a requirement for the change request to be applied, and could include an approval from a specific user or group.

By default, a request has a check that requires the change to be approved by the owner of the directly affected object, or by an Oblique admin:

A request to join or leave a team group needs to be approved by a team owner or an Oblique admin.
A request to create a team group needs to be approved by a team owner or an Oblique admin.
A request to assign a role on a resource needs to be approved by an Oblique admin.
A request to edit the owners of an attribute-based group, team group, reporting group, resource, or integration needs to be approved by a current owner or an Oblique admin.

A requester cannot select themselves as a reviewer, and creating a request never counts as approving it, even for an owner or Oblique admin. However, if the requester passes the check requirements for their own request, they can approve it themselves from the request detail page.

Each check only needs a single approval.

Create a request

You create a request by starting the change you wish to make. As part of the request, you will need to:

Fill in necessary information for the request. For example, the team’s name, description, and members for a team group request.
Assign reviewers for the request and make sure these reviewers pass the required checks.

Assign reviewers

When creating a request, checks will be listed under Approvals.

A reviewer is automatically selected for a check in the following priority order:

The requester, if they have approval permissions. No reviewer is selected, since the requester can approve the request themselves once it’s created
The object owners, all of whom are selected if multiple owners exist
The Oblique admins, all of whom are selected if multiple admins exist

The requester can change the assigned reviewer by selecting a different person from the list of eligible reviewers. Select the dropdown with the list of reviewers, and then select the desired reviewers.

If the selected list of reviewers is insufficient for the checks, the check won’t show an associated reviewer. To add reviewers, select the appropriate reviewer from the list of options under Select reviewers, or choose Add reviewer to add a reviewer for passing each check.

You can add multiple reviewers to a request. You can add or edit reviewers both before and after creating the request.

If your organization has the Oblique Slack app installed, it will notify reviewers via Slack of new requests assigned to them for review.

You can also copy a link to the request to share with a reviewer out of band:

From the request detail page, select More.
Select Copy link.

Apply your request

Auto-apply is enabled by default, so Oblique automatically applies new requests when all checks pass, unless you disable auto-apply.

Manually apply your request

If auto-apply is disabled, you can apply the request manually:

Navigate to the request detail page.
Select Apply change.

Disable auto-apply for a request

Only the requester or an Oblique admin can change auto-apply behavior for a request.

You can disable auto-apply for a request until it is approved.

Navigate to the request you wish to disable auto-apply for.
Select Disable auto-apply.

Enable auto-apply for a request

Only the requester or an Oblique admin can change auto-apply behavior for a request.

You can enable auto-apply for a request until it is applied or closed. If the request is already approved, enabling auto-apply applies it immediately.

Navigate to the request you wish to enable auto-apply for.
Select Enable auto-apply.

Close your request

If you made a request, but no longer need it, you can close the request.

From the detail page for the request you wish to close,

Select More in the upper right.
Select Close request.

Oblique will automatically close a request if it is obsolete, that is, if it has been made redundant by another request that already makes the same change.

Review a request

When your approval is needed for a check, or when you’re explicitly selected as a reviewer, you’re sent the request to review. You can see the request in your Requests inbox, and approve it, apply it once it’s approved, or close it.

Approve a request

Approve a request if you accept the change.

You can only approve a request if you have the permissions necessary to approve it. You don’t need to be assigned as a reviewer to approve a request.

Once every check passes, you can apply the change.

To approve a request, navigate to the request you wish to approve. You can navigate to a request directly, for example from a URL shared with you, or by going to the Requests page and selecting the request from the list.

Review the request from the request detail page. You can see request details including when the request was made, by who, and any required checks. You can see the change details under the Changes tab, and the users whose access this will affect under the Affected users tab. You can also see the timeline and summary of the request under Activity.
Select Approve and apply, or Approve if auto-apply is disabled for the request.

Approve a request in Slack

When approvals from Slack are enabled, from a request notification:

To preview the impact of the change before approving, select the request title in the Slack notification to open it in Oblique.
Approve the request by selecting Approve.

The request is approved in Oblique without any further action, and all other Slack messages for the same request update to reflect that it’s approved.

Close a request

You can close a request if it’s no longer needed. Both the requester and reviewers (including Oblique admins) can close a request.

Navigate to the request you wish to close.
Select More.
Select Close request.

Oblique will automatically close a request if it is obsolete, that is, if it has been made redundant by another request that already makes the same change.

Close a request in Slack

When approvals from Slack are enabled, from a request notification:

To preview the impact of the change before closing, select the request title in the Slack notification to open it in Oblique.
Close the request by selecting Close.

The request is closed in Oblique without any further action, and all other Slack messages for the same request update to reflect that it’s closed.

Manage your requests

The Requests page lists requests that you made or are a reviewer for. You can filter these to find specific requests that need action from you.

See the state of a request

You can see the state of a request in multiple places:

On the request detail page, the state is displayed in the header underneath the request title.
On the Requests page, the state is displayed in the request row.

See the history of a request

The timeline of a request, including open requests, is displayed on the request detail page under Activity. This shows the history of the request, including when it was created, and when any changes to the request were made and by who.

You can also see the timeline of requests affecting a user, group, or resource from the user, group, or resource’s detail page.

Changes to the request state are also recorded in audit logs.

Requestable changes

Requests let users ask for changes to access controls. This includes changing access to resources, managing teams and their members, and changing ownership of objects. Requests aren’t for administering Oblique itself, such as adding integrations. Not every change is requestable.

Permission matrix