Workaround for single-use request approval button

SandyV

I have created an intake form that goes out to multiple people to review and respond with two things: 1) is their area impacted, and 2) if yes, who will be assigned? If they know they are impacted but do not yet know who will be assigned, they can't go back to input the information once known. Any ideas how to get around this?

Vince Darrigo

You could create a Dynamic View of a report that pulls the data from the sheet where that information exists. Make only the fields you want them to update editable.

You could filter it by the contact identifier so each person only sees their own rows if needed, and you could paste the link to that Dynamic View in the update request email so that when they go back to it, instead of trying to click into the Approval button again, they have the link to the Dynamic View where they can make the updates.

SandyV

I have about 50 approvers - does this mean I need 50 separate columns on the sheet vs. one for all approvers?

SandyV

@Vince Darrigo I have about 50 approvers - does this mean I need 50 separate columns on the sheet vs. one for all approvers?

Andrée Starå

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/440257#Comment_440257

Hi,

I hope you're well and safe!

No, you would reference one column with the contact that should approve.

Make sense?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Vince Darrigo

@SandyV you could have all 50 approvers as contacts in one column in the sheet (let's call it Approved By). Then in the dynamic view settings, you can choose to restrict the view by that contact column, so each approver only sees the rows they are charged with approving. I would use an Update Request instead of an Approval Request in this case, so you can prompt approvers to choose Approved/Denied while also prompting them to choose themselves as Approved By contact. This accomplishes the same thing as an Approval Request, with the added ability to choose which contact approved.

Or you could leave this with no restriction and let all approvers see all rows. Then you don't need the Approved By column to be filled (in the above Update Request scenario) and as long as your approvers know which row they are looking to update the assignments for, they can update that column as needed in the Dynamic View.

I suggested sharing the link to the dynamic view within your Approval/Update Request workflow just so your people have easy access to it in their email (if they are trying to go back to the one time use button there currently, this would enhance their ability to get to the dynamic view to make the assignment updates easily - I would instruct them to flag the alerts where they approved but didn't assign, so they can go back to them and easily remember which rows require future input from them).

I hope this makes sense/helps!

Vivien Chong

I think you can set up the workflow this way:

1. Have the intake form as you mentioned: (1) affected? (2) who?
2. If they do not know the answer to (2) yet, they can still submit the form
3. Once the form populates the sheet, set up automation to trigger update request to the submitter with this condition: if affected is YES and WHO is empty.

This way, the submitter will receive an update request and can update it as soon as they know WHO.