Approval Workflow | Create Approval Workflows
Jonathan D. Rhyne
Your approval workflow can be better, faster, and smarter.
When employees and supervisors spend more time tracking down paperwork, sharing Word or Excel documents, managing emails, and making phone calls than doing real work, it’s a sign your approval workflow needs to be automated.
Approval workflow can be challenging for large and small organizations since many departments still rely on manual, inefficient ways of making approval requests and providing sign-off. Also, these processes don’t offer the transparency and audit trails needed.
Usually, departments and business units are left independently to develop their approval processes. This is for a few reasons:
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Approval processes are unique to each department.
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IT departments are overwhelmed.
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A lack of departmental technical expertise.
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A lack of knowledge about potential software solutions.
We’ll cover ways that you can begin automating approvals efficiently and proactively.
A Dedicated Approval System
Create custom approval processes with drag-and-drop ease.
With a dedicated approval management system running behind the scenes to manage approval workflow:
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Employees log into a portal to submit approval requests and track their progress through the approval process.
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Approvers can easily review and approve outstanding requests online or by clicking on an email link.
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Managers can track the departmental performance of approval workflows and record approval steps and confirmations.
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Auditors have a complete record of who, what, when, where, and why approvals were made.
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Administrators can define, create, and adjust existing approval workflows or approval steps as needs change.
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Administrators can designate alternate approvers to cover vacations, illness, and travel.
Read More About Approval Software Features
Approval Workflow Example
Here is an example of an approval workflow that has been automated using our approval management software. In this case, our customer needed a way to automate their capital expenditure approval workflow. As you can see (click the image for a larger version), their approval process was multi-tiered and required numerous approvals for every request. However, they could build this custom process quickly, including all the forms involved.
(Click for Larger)
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Getting It Right the First Time
Streamline approvals with approval by email.
Miscommunication and mistakes are also significantly decreased when everyone’s part in an approval process is transparent and defined. Forms, documents, and information are automatically sent to the right person(s) every time. No more approval delays, as emails are forwarded around the company to the right person. You can even set up Approval by Email to give approvers more flexibility.
Nutrient Workflow’s Approval Workflow Solution is a drag-and-drop approval process builder with advanced business rules that can either mirror your existing process in an automated way or allow you to build an entirely new process. Whether you’re trying to use a document management system like Sharepoint, Microsoft Flow, or a homegrown system to manage form approval, Nutrient Workflow is a better solution.
We also offer implementation and service resources to help you think through your project or build it. Just let us know!
Interested in Automating Approvals?
We have a variety of resources to help you research workflow solutions.
Jonathan joined PSPDFKit in 2014. As CEO, Jonathan defines the company’s vision and strategic goals, bolsters the team culture, and steers product direction. When he’s not working, he enjoys being a dad, photography, and soccer.
