Smartsheet auto-approval requestsAutomatically request approval from one or more partiesAnd thatRecord feedback on SmartsheetBy doing so, the process will proceed smoothly.
Approval requests are fully customizable and can be submitted individually or in multiple steps as part of a more complex workflow.
Approval requests are mobile-enabled and can be managed from anywhere, saving time, reducing errors, and accelerating progress.
Approval request is a special case of workflow automation
Approval request is one of the automatic workflows of smart sheet.Approver button settingsAnd record the approval resultApproval status columnThere are additional features suitable for the approval process, such as using. (Workflow automation tutorialplease use this form.please look at. )
Let's take expense reimbursement as an example to see how to make an approval request.
A video explaining the basics of an approval request using expense reimbursement as an example
Workflows can be created from scratch or customized workflow templates.You can also add approval requests to existing workflows.
Start from setting the trigger
The workflow begins with a trigger that tells the smart sheet whether to run the workflow when a particular date or certain information in the sheet changes.
Approval request settings
triggerSelect and if necessary条件After setting, you can set the approval request.
In the workflow system,アクションCorresponds to the setting of.
The approval request settings are configured as follows.
- Who will approve the settingsAuthorizerSetting part of
- In which column the approver's reaction is recordedApproval status columnSetting part of
- The action of choice by the approverApprove, reject buttonSetting part of
- Show to approverMessage, display columnSetting part of
Authorizer
Enter the approver first or select the contact column to ensure that the appropriate person is contacted for each request.
Approval request isYou can send it to anyone with a valid email address.
Contractors, clients, vendorsDoes not need to be shared on your seat and does not need to have a smart seat account.
Approval status column
By default, smartsheet isNew column for approval statusBut insteadOption to select an existing column.
If so, how to change the value of approval status to the value in that columnmappingYou need to tell smartsheet if you want to.
As shown in the image below, it is set to record the corresponding status value when it is sent, approved, and rejected, but this is in the approval status column.Drop-down list settingsCorresponds to.
Approve / Reject button settings
Also, the approver seesApproval buttonとReject buttonYou can also change the text of.
For example, in the Japanese sense, "rejection" has an image that is too strong, so in the example below, it is remanded.
Message, display column settings
Here, set how to display the information required for approval by the approver, the purpose of the request, and so on.
As in the example below{{}}You can insert by enclosing the column name with.
Setting conditions
Since it is one of the workflows, you can set conditions and filter when making approval requests.
Video explaining the improvement of the expense settlement workflow (conditional, approver designation, post-approval action, etc. triggered by receipt attachment, etc.)
Example request triggered by receipt attachment, subject to details, amount, and approver specifications
In the above example, there were no conditions for the approval request, but let's consider the receipt attachment, details, amount, designation of the approver, etc. as the conditions for the approval request.
First step: Check receipt attachment
Since the receipt is attached in the expense reimbursement form, the first step is to check the receipt attachment column when the attachment below is attached.
Second stage: Check-triggered, conditional, approval request
Trigger the check of attachment of attachment file to execute the approval request, and let's check whether the details, amount, approver, etc. are set as the conditions.
Request message etc.
By providing the approver with a context of what the request was made for, the approver can make better decisions.
Then select the columns you want to include in your request and add a subject and message.
Request frequency
If the approver is expected to receive many requestsYou can reduce the number of notifications by notifying them hourly, daily, or weekly.
Approval requests are mobile-friendly, so stakeholders can respond from any device.
The Approval Status column shows when the request was sent and also records the approver's decision.
Triggering approval request results for other workflows
When you set an approval request in the workflow,Used as a trigger for other actionsAvailable
For example, if your request is approved, you can send an alert to the requester, and if it is rejected, you can request more information.
In the workflow below, the following actions are triggered when the boss's approval (approval status column) is added or changed to some value.
- In case of approval: Notify the applicant
- The applicant should be the creator of the system-generated column and the form should be set to require login so that the applicant is recorded.
- The content of the notification will be {{amount}} etc. and will be only a message.
- In case of rejection, prompt the applicant to reapply
- Make an update request so that you can modify the original application and reapply, and enter the necessary items
- In this example, we've checked the required fields, so we'll assume you're asking for a comment to supplement the reason, so that the workflow of the original approval request is triggered by the addition or modification of the comment.
It is triggered by adding or changing comments, so you can reapply by adding or changing comments according to the requester's response to the update request.
You can also set up multiple approval processes by creating a chain of consecutive approval requests.
Request approval from stakeholders in order
If you want to request approval from stakeholders and set up actions that are sent in sequence rather than in bulk, you can have multiple approval requests in a single path.Approval requests suspend the workflow until the request is approved or rejected.The workflow then continues with subsequent conditions and actions on the path defined by the block associated with the result of the approval request.
Example:
- Training request approved by employee manager
- This will automatically trigger a subsequent approval request and send it to the Human Resources Manager for final confirmation.
- If the manager rejects the training request, an update request is sent to the employee to modify the content of the request or add additional information.
Specific example of a two-step approval request
A video explaining a two-step approval request using the training participation inquiry as an example
This is a concrete example of requesting approval in order from the same parties as described above.
Suppose you have a training participation inquiry sheet like the one below.
Those who wish to participate will be asked to participate using the form below.You can access the actual form from the link below. (In addition, since it is necessary to log in to Smartsheet and it is not automatic, the approval request will not be answered immediately, so it is not bad.)
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/home?lgt=wf&lrt=s&EQBCT=62dce5c7fd4543ff99451a94bff6a3b3
Workflow description
Trigger part
It is triggered by the fact that the inquiry is filled out in the form, and it is a condition that the email of the boss is included.
Since we are using a form, the workflow conditions are minimized by setting the required items on the form. (Even if it doesn't actually exist, it may not be necessary because it is required in the form.)
First stage approval request part
Assuming that you will send the training inquiry to your boss first, select the boss's column in the continuous cropping destination included in the cell.
Set the message for your boss and display information that will help your boss make the right decisions.
Second stage approval request
If it is approved, we request the director of the personnel department to approve it, and if it is rejected, we request the requester to explain the reason by commenting in the update request.
Notify requester when two-step approval request is approved
For notifications, we have devised a notification message, such as using the update date and time column of the system generation column to notify the date and time when the personnel department manager approved it.
Set up approval workflow
With the sheet open, do the following:
- Automation> Request for Approval Workflow Click.
- In the trigger block, set the conditions for automatically launching the workflow (for more information, seeTrigger blockplease look at).
- You can also create conditional blocks that filter specific rows to include in the delivery of approval requests (for more information on how to do this).Conditional blockplease look at).
- In the action block, select the first group of parties (s) who need to provide approval.
- [If approved] and [If rejected] Click the Add button below to define additional actions to display depending on what the parties choose when they receive the approval request.
that's all.The workflow has several related actions based on the approval or rejection status of the initial approval request.
Approval workflow behavior
- If the approval columns and values are reused throughout the workflow, you may receive duplicate alerts.To prevent this, use a different approval value or add a condition for each approved or rejected request.
- If someone manually modifies the Approval Status column on the sheet, you can either lock the Approval Status column on the original sheet because you can skip the workflow trigger and subsequent conditional blocks between the trigger and the approval request. We recommend that you do not share the sheet directly with anyone who needs approval.
To prevent an infinite approval loopFormulas that span multiple sheetsor sending us a message onCell linkCells that contain do not trigger automated actions that automatically modify the sheet (move rows, copy rows, lock rows, unlock rows, request approval).To avoid thisTime-based automationor sending us a message onPeriodicConsider using a workflow.