adding multiple approval stages for request form

Transforman

Hi,

I need to create a service request form that goes through different approval stages in our company.

Stage 1 would be this: Co-worker fills out the request form which then goes to our accounts payable guy (AP) to check the budget.

Stage 2: AP then decides if there's enough budget. If not, the co-worker receives a message that it's been denied due to insufficient funds. If there is enough in the budget he forwards the request to the service department head to review.

Stage 3: If service department head does not approve the service, the co-worker receives a note saying the request has been declined. If approved, the specialist executing the service receives a new row in his job sheet with all the columns needed to complete the job. The specialist can not be included in the approval process and must not know the budget. Once the job is completed the specialist enters a link to the result which automatically gets forwarded to the co-worker that requested the service.

Is that workflow even possible to create in smartsheet?

 

Andrée Starå

Hi,

I would have to look at it in more detail but at a glance, it seems like it would be possible.

I hope this helps you!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting

Transforman

Thanks. I still don't know how to accomplish that and at this point I'm not ready to pay for help.

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!

I'll take a look a little later and get back to you!

Best,

Andrée

Andrée Starå

In short:

Coworker - Fills in Service Req. Form

An approval request gets sent to AP who checks the budget and approves or declines.

Approved - Approval req. sends to the service department.

Declined - Notification sends to the employee that it’s denied due to insufficient funds.

Service department - Approval request from AP

Approved - Specialist gets a message that there is a new job

Declined - Notification gets sent to the employee that the request has been denied

Specialist - Notification or update request from AP (if that works)

Otherwise, there are several ways to set this up. (It all depends on how sensitive the information is and if there has to be no possible way for the specialist to see the budget)

1. Thru a third-party service like Zapier that sends the row information to the specialist's job sheet.

2. Report that only shows the approved jobs.

3. Cell-linking / Cross-sheet formulas.

4. Manually sending the row to another sheet.

Would that work for you?

Best,

Andrée

Transforman

Thank you so much for your help Andree!

That looks great. Most important is that the specialist gets notified when there's a job in smartsheet that has been approved by both AP and Service Department head. Antything after that would be a big plus but not absolutely necessary.

It's fine if the specialist sees the budget since he's a contractor that dictates the prices anyway.

Do I need to set up multiple sheets for that or can we have everything in one?

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!

You can keep everything in one sheet and maybe add a filter so that the specialist can easily see the approved jobs or have a report for the specialist to only see the approved jobs and relevant columns.

Would that work?

Transforman

Sure that would work.

Andrée Starå

Great! Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Transforman

Well I'm completely new to smartsheet. We've established what it's supposed to do but not how to set it up...

Andrée Starå

Please e-mail me at andree@getdone.se, and we can continue there.

Best,

Andrée

Transforman

Sorry for the late reply. I'll write you an email now.