Multiple Approvals Per Row

Frances Kerr

Hello, 

I am looking for a workflow solution to our document approval process. Currently we have a Confluence page where five individuals attach a picture of their signature. 

I would like to set up a sheet to manage approvals of several project documents. The approvals function can currently do this, however, when I send the approval for the row to multiple individuals, each persons response is not captured.

What I would like is demonstrated in the attached screenshot. When the Status column is marked complete, an approval request is sent out to three users. The responses from those users are tracked in the three separate approval columns marked with their names. 

Is there a way to do this that I am not seeing, or should I submit a Product Enhancement Request?

Andrée Starå

Hi Frances,

This is possible.

Copy the the rule and just change the contact and add the Approval column for each person.

I hope this helps you!

Best,

Andrée Starå - Workflow Consultant / Get Done

 

Frances Kerr

Thanks so much!

This will revolutionize our document approval process across the whole company.

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!

Best,

Andrée

Mgehan217

Trying to figure out a similar workflow. Is this best done with an approval request or a form??

 

Thank you!

Andrée Starå

Hi,

I would recommend an Approval Request because it's more clear, both externally and internally.

I hope this helps you!

Best,

Andrée Starå - Workflow Consultant / Get Done

Mgehan217

it does, I think! So I would select the row and select "Send update request"- in the scenario that I want to send to multiple users and have it populate in separate rows, do I need to send a new update request to each user?

Andrée Starå

Hi again,

Update request and approval request are not the same. Depending on your use case and which subscription level of Smartsheet you use (Approvals are available on Business/Enterprise) you could use one or the other.

Which subscription do you have and what's your use case in more detail?

Best,

Andrée

Mgehan217

I have the business plan. I am looking to use this for policy approvals- I envisioned attached final policy PDF to each row (titled as the policy) and sending it for review/approval by multiple people. Also building it so that once all first level members approve it, it moves on to senior leadership approval. Hope that is enough information!

 

Andrée Starå

Hi again,

Yes, that is doable. It's quite advanced. How many first level approvers are there? How many senior?

Another option could be to use Smartsheet together with DocuSign.

Best,

Andrée

Mgehan217

Hmmm. that is unfortunate, I was given impression that it would be simple before purchasing.

Will be 8-10 first level approvers and likely 3-5 beyond that. Will vary depending on what is being sent for approval.

 

Thanks so much for your help!

Andrée Starå

Hi again,

I'd happily work with you and help you with setting up a solution.

There are a few different ways to do this, and I need some more information to see what would work best for your particular situation.

If you'd like we can book a time for a free discovery call. How does that sound?

Please e-mail me at andree@getdone.se and well take it from there.

I hope this helps you!

Best,

Andrée Starå - Workflow Consultant / Get Done

Mgehan217

Sent you an email! thanks!

Mariniel Bautista

HI there.  I am only a month old Smartsheet user and currently under the Business Plan.

i am building the New Hire Request Form for our company and I came across with problem in the multiple approval as well as the things to do before a request will be approved.

When the requestor filled up the request form, it will prompt an approval request to his/her department head.  If the department head disapproved the request due to incomplete attachments, the head will put a comment in the approval form that its disapproved due to incomplete attachments.  This will prompt an update request to the requestor (I used an update request if the head press the disapproved button).

I encountered my FIRST PROBLEM here.  In the update request form, the requestor can only add attachments but can't remove the initially uploaded documents (by the way, requestors aren't privy with the summary sheets, only the forms).

Anyway, if the requestor updated the request information and attached the necessary/lacking attachments and submit the update, the rationale should be it will notify the department head again for the re-approval stage. (I made an Update request again here so the head can change the "disapproved" status to "approve" status).  This is where I encountered my SECOND PROBLEM.  The Update request condition I put was "when a row changes and an attachment is added and changed, it will send an update request to the department head".  When I put the said rule, at the initial stage of my request where the requestor filled up the request including attachment, it already send the first rule of sending an approval request to the department head and the rule I made about added and changed attachment which was supposed to happen in the re-approval stage which confuses the heads if a request is for approval or reapproval.

Just to complete the process, in case the request is approved by the department head, the Talent Acquisition Team will be notified (they are the team who have access to the summary sheet).  This will be the next approval stage where the TA check if all attachments are complete (which will be my problem again in connection with my FIRST PROBLEM about attachments).

Hope someone can help me with my concerns.

Andrée Starå

Hi Mariniel,

First problem.

Unfortunately, as you've noticed, it's only possible to add attachments in a request.

Second problem

You could add a condition to the update request rule that it should only trigger if the approval status is disapproved.

Would that work?

Have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting

Stacey Rodriguez

Hi,

I'd like to follow Frances' lead but instead of having an individuals name for the approver, I'd like to set it up with a functional group e.g. DM, Clinical and R&D as three separate columns. During the approval workflow setup I only see a select number of columns as an option where I can "save response in". Unfortunately, the listed columns aren't the ones where I want the approval captured.

1) Why do only a handful of columns appear for saving the response?

2) How can I route the approvals to three different people given that these may not be the same folks every time? e.g. Jane from Data management will approve this request for this study but Mark will approve the request for another study.