Best practices for approval process - contact list or no contact list?

Crabe

Scenario: we are using smartsheets as a single-source tool for job/position requests.
Each request submitted creates a row and all information pertaining to that request is held within that row.

We need to get approvals from Department Heads for each request submitted.
However, we don't necessarily want to create a contact list - but instead have the Department Head Email address entered in as a separate entry on the smartsheet request form.

Can we create an approval workflow to send the notification to the Department Head Email address listed in that particular cell?

We have around 25 departments and creating a Contact List may be hard to keep up with due to staff/personnel and email address changes.

Additionally, none of these Department Heads will be set up as smartsheet users.

THANK YOU!

kowal

hi @Crabe,

Unfortunately not. You can only send something (Request for Update, Request for Approval, Notification) to a column that is Contact List - Smartsheet will not recognise other columns to send sth to.

If you have 25 email addresses as a Department and you want to send to them you will not be able to keep their email addresses in any cell and send to this cell.

You can send to all the people with whom the sheet is shared (so you will need to share this sheet with those people only) or you can create email alias in your company and put there all email addresses like: department_heads@yourcompany.com you will need to ask your IT department to create such email alias for you.

Hope it helps.

kowal

hi @Crabe,

Unfortunately not. You can only send something (Request for Update, Request for Approval, Notification) to a column that is Contact List - Smartsheet will not recognise other columns to send sth to.

If you have 25 email addresses as a Department and you want to send to them you will not be able to keep their email addresses in any cell and send to this cell.

You can send to all the people with whom the sheet is shared (so you will need to share this sheet with those people only) or you can create email alias in your company and put there all email addresses like: department_heads@yourcompany.com you will need to ask your IT department to create such email alias for you.

Hope it helps.