Best Practice for Interdependent Approval Workflows

aschneiderheinze1025

When we generate contracts for our instructional staff, a Program Developer submits a Payment Request form, which includes a drop-down field in which they select the role of the staff member (developer, facilitator, guest speaker, instructor, mentor, or subject matter expert). The form submissions are collected in our Payments Log sheet.

A contract is required for all roles, except a guest speaker.

Here is a screenshot of the columns I've set up:

The first three payment requests are for instructional staff that require contracts, where as the bottom three are for guest speakers (so the "Approval Status (Payee)" is automatically set to "Not Needed".

The policy states that the Program Developer and Finance Representative need to approve the Payment Amount before the contact is generated and sent to the Payee for review/approval.

So, I need a way to trigger this entire workflow process. I want to lock all of the Approval Status columns, so changing a status to "Pending" wouldn't be an option. I was thinking of a checkbox that the Contracts Manager clicks when she is ready to initiative the workflow, but I am not sure how to handle if she accidently unchecks it at some points and then re-checks it (thus triggering the workflow again but then it may run again if anyone in the process Declines the Payment Amount of the contract).

The approval workflow can be sent to the Program Developer and Finance Representative at the same time, with the Payment Amount Field (and maybe some other fields). The Approval Status for each automatically updates to "In Progress".

If they Approve, the status changes automatically to "Approved". If Declined, the status changes automatically to "Declined".

The approval workflow only begins for the Payee once both the Program Developer and Finance Approval Status say "Approved", and if the Approval Status (Payee) is NOT "Not Needed".

If this happens, the PDF is generated and it, along with some additional information, is sent to the Payee for approval. The Approval Status for each automatically updates to "In Progress". There isn't a signature required in the contract. It's just a PDF. Clicking "Accept" is their signature.

What happens if the Program Developer or the Finance person decline the Payment Amount. I get I would need to update the Payment Amount, but how do I restart the approval workflow for both?

Then, what happens if the Payee declines the contract (they provide their reasons in the approval request)? If they are not approving the Payment Amount, this needs to go back for approval to the Program Developer and Finance person. And, the PDF needs to be regenerated. How do I replace the current PDF and send the new PDF to the Payee?

What are some best practices for setting up and managing these three related workflows so that they are automated as much as possible in Smartsheet?

Isaac A.

Hi @aschneiderheinze1025!

Have you had a look at the template gallery? From a quick look, I wonder if this template set may be helpful: Invoice Receiving & Routing Management - the “Received Invoice Tracker - Open” sheet contains multiple workflows that sound similar to what you’re looking for. I’d recommend downloading this template set and playing around with it to see if it might fit your needs, and if not, searching the template gallery to see if there’s a more suitable template.

Another option, if your plan includes it and you have the basic setup but would like to help optimize your sheets, would be to book a Pro Desk session so that an expert can assist with best practices. Alternatively, for full solutions, you can contact our Sales team.

Also, let's see what other community members have to say. I hope this helps! 

Cheers,
Isaac.