Insert approvers name and date/ time of approval

Gunn_Jack

Hi all,

I have created a form and a workflow for approval.

In short:

• Somone submits a form
• Details email to an approver
• Approver either approves or declines (would also be good to have more than 2 options i.e. defer)
• The smartsheet updates to say approved or declined

What i cannot figure out how to do is show who approved it and when...any ideas?

Screenshot attached which hopefully gives a bit more context

Thanks

Jack

Andrée Starå

Hi Jack,

You can either have multiple workflows and columns for each approver or add a drop-down list where they select who it is together with the date.

You can also use the cell-history on the specific cell, I think.

Would that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please help the Community by marking it as the accepted answer/helpful. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Andrée Starå

Hi Jack,

You can either have multiple workflows and columns for each approver or add a drop-down list where they select who it is together with the date.

You can also use the cell-history on the specific cell, I think.

Would that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please help the Community by marking it as the accepted answer/helpful. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Gunn_Jack

Hey @Andrée Starå

Thanks for the reply.

I had hoped it would be automated or a field on the approval form to be completed. But as there is likely to be multiple approval levels it would make sense to have specific approver columns, date and time stamps would be nice as well though other than having to check cell history

I feel an enhancement request coming on.

Cheers,

Jack

Andrée Starå

You're more than welcome!

I'm always happy to help!

Ivan Dushime

An enhancement request is necessary to be able to record who and when approved in columns within the sheet. This information is available in the Cell History but cannot be extracted into a report for multiple records. We need to make this possible. It will help a lot for users who want to measure cycle time for approvals

Justin Reed

Was this ever resolved?

Andrée Starå

Hi @Justin Reed

Not yet, but with the store date option that was announced earlier this year, it might be improved.

In the meanwhile, please have a look at my post below with a method I developed.

More info: 

Lock or Store Date/Value Solution without using Zapier

Andrée Starå

May 24, 2020

Hi all,

I hope you're well and safe!

I've developed a solution that lets you store the date or value.

You'd use the copy-row automation and a VLOOKUP or combination of INDEX/MATCH to make it work.

We'd trigger the copy-row to another sheet and get the created date/other value and then use the VLOOKUP/INDEX/MATCH to get it back to the main sheet in another so-called helper column. As long as you have a unique id/value that we can use, it will work.

Also, this opens up more options with auto-numbering and similar.

Depending on other workflows, you could reuse one sheet for multiple workflows.

I hope that helps!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Stay safe and have a fantastic day!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Would that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please help the Community by marking it as the accepted answer/helpful. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Melani

Hi all

I was just wondering if this enhancement on Smartsheet has been done?

Regards

Melani

Andrée Starå

Hi @Melani

I hope you're well and safe!

Unfortunately, no, it's not added.

Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment.

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!