Approval Process - Ignoring Requests

mmclaughlin

Hello,

I feel like I should know this (or be able to find it elsewhere in the community), but I cannot find the answer I need.

(See screenshot)  Basically, we have an approval process set up that works perfectly.  As soon as HR submits a document, it is forwarded to Executive Approval.  Once approved, it then auto-sends the request to Finance, and so on.  

However, we are having an issue with our Finance person ignoring the automated email.  The flow stops with her and the rest of the team does not know there was a request put through.  (And we want to avoid several people checking the form daily as this is not an everyday thing where one of these documents comes through.)

I want to place an alert that will auto-send a reminder email if one of the approvers has not looked at the approval request - let's say, if the approval request has not been done within 24 hours, a reminder is sent.

I have placed a ton of reminders, update requests, etc. on several other sheets, but for some reason, I am having a hard time trying to figure this out.

Please help!

Shaine Greenwood

Hi,

You might consider adding a Modified Date system column to your sheet and creating another approval request rule that will send a new approval request to Finance when the row still says "submitted" and the Modified Date system column is in the past x amount of days.

The long term solution is getting Finance on board with your process since if they've ignored one approval request email, they may just continue to ignore your follow up approvals.

 

mmclaughlin

This actually looks like it will work well!  However, thought it's Finance usually the culprit (of ignoring the requests), we want this notification to happen for all persons in the approval process should they forget.

This will probably mean I have to set up a new approval request for each person, huh?

I'll test this out.

Thank you!

Shaine Greenwood

If you have their names in a contact column on your sheet that stores the correct names/emails then you can have the notification send from contacts in that column.

Otherwise, yeah, you'll need to create a new notification for everyone.

Yessica

How can I get to this screen (shot)? 

Is that in Conditional Formatting? 

Shaine Greenwood

Hi Yessica,

This is an automated alert and action rule, available to people on a Business or Enterprise plan that have Admin or Owner access to a sheet. More info on this can be found in our help center: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2476191-alerts-stay-on-track-with-automatic-notifications-and-reminders

We're specifically referring to an automatic update request: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/504779-using-update-requests