Time Stamping a Document within an Approval Workflow

Question

We currently have a workflow in which a Payment Contract is automatically generated using a PDF template and attached to the row. An approval workflow is then started (when the attachment is added) that is sent to the Payee to review and approve (by way of clicking the Approve button).

We do not have a license to a tool such as DocuSign that would require the Payee to digitally sign the Payment Contract.

Finance can access the PDF and while they are fine not requiring a signature but asking the Payee to click "Approve", they feel they need to save a PDF version of the alert they receive once the Payee approves the Payment Contract and attach this PDF to the row.

In the sheet, I even have a a date column next to the approval status column so they can see the date the Payee approved the Payment Contract.

Any thoughts?

Melissa Yamada · Accepted Answer

You’re already pretty much doing this the “right” way in Smartsheet.

When someone clicks Approve, Smartsheet is already capturing:

who approved

when they approved (timestamp)

and logging it in the Activity Log

That is your audit trail.

If they really want a PDF record:

Set an automation to email Finance when approved, and they can save that email as PDF and attach it. It’s manual, but it’s the only way to get that exact artifact without extra tools.