Why does the process remain in the status "Ready for release" and cannot be edited further?

A process or an object can get stuck in the status "Ready for release" and cannot be edited further.

This is the case if the permissions of the Responsible (at least "Approver") have been downgraded (to "Author" or "Viewer") after the start of the approval workflow. This means that the approval task of the Responsible remains in place and he/she can - as can be seen here in the example - still grant approval. Afterwards, however, the status of the process remains unchanged in "Ready for release" and can no longer be edited. 

There are the following possibilities to solve the problem:

1. Upgrade the permissions of the Responsible back to "Approver" (via the administrator or according to the internally valid permission process). Then reopen the status dialogue window as a user with the authorisation "Architect" or "Administrator" and confirm with OK (without making any other changes). This ends the release workflow and the process or object is released.

2. If the release has not yet taken place, the release task can be assigned by an Administrator to another person for release, who then completes the release workflow.