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Suppose you work in a marketing department, and your team creates various types of content, such as blog posts, social media posts, and email newsletters. You want to establish a streamlined approval process to ensure that all content goes through the necessary stages before publication. Here's how you can set up a content approval workflow in Smartsheet:

Define Workflow Stages (Statuses):

• Draft
• Review
• Revision Needed
• Final Approval
• Published

Create Columns:

• Content Title
• Assigned To (for assigning tasks to team members responsible for the review)
• Due Date
• Status (dropdown column with the defined workflow stages)
• Comments (for feedback and communication during the review process)

Create Workflow Rules:

• Rule 1: When the status is set to "Draft," assign the task to the relevant team member for the initial review and set the due date.
• Rule 2: When a team member sets the status to "Review" and adds comments, automatically change the status to "Revision Needed" if any revisions are required.
• Rule 3: When a team member sets the status to "Final Approval," assign the task to the appropriate approver for final review and set the due date.
• Rule 4: When the approver sets the status to "Published," notify the team that the content is approved and ready for publication.

Collaborate and Track Progress:

• Team members can access the Smartsheet, review assigned tasks, and update the status and comments as needed.
• Approvers can easily view pending tasks, provide feedback, and approve the content for publication.

By implementing this content approval workflow in Smartsheet, you can streamline the review process, ensure proper feedback and revisions, and maintain visibility on the progress of each piece of content. The automation saves time by assigning tasks, triggering notifications, and keeping everyone involved in the loop. Additionally, the history and comment features in Smartsheet enable transparent communication and provide an audit trail of the entire approval process.