Multiple Approvals Per Row
Hello,
I am looking for a workflow solution to our document approval process. Currently we have a Confluence page where five individuals attach a picture of their signature.
I would like to set up a sheet to manage approvals of several project documents. The approvals function can currently do this, however, when I send the approval for the row to multiple individuals, each persons response is not captured.
What I would like is demonstrated in the attached screenshot. When the Status column is marked complete, an approval request is sent out to three users. The responses from those users are tracked in the three separate approval columns marked with their names.
Is there a way to do this that I am not seeing, or should I submit a Product Enhancement Request?
Comments
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Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭Hi Frances,
This is possible.
Copy the the rule and just change the contact and add the Approval column for each person.
I hope this helps you!
Best,
Andrée Starå - Workflow Consultant / Get Done
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå@ |工作流顾问/首席执行官WORK BOLD
W:www.workbold.com| E:[email protected]| P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me about help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or something else entirely.
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Thanks so much!
This will revolutionize our document approval process across the whole company.
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Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭
Happy to help!
Best,
Andrée
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå@ |工作流顾问/首席执行官WORK BOLD
W:www.workbold.com| E:[email protected]| P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me about help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or something else entirely.
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Trying to figure out a similar workflow. Is this best done with an approval request or a form??
Thank you!
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Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭
Hi,
I would recommend an Approval Request because it's more clear, both externally and internally.
I hope this helps you!
Best,
Andrée Starå - Workflow Consultant / Get Done
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå@ |工作流顾问/首席执行官WORK BOLD
W:www.workbold.com| E:[email protected]| P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me about help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or something else entirely.
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it does, I think! So I would select the row and select "Send update request"- in the scenario that I want to send to multiple users and have it populate in separate rows, do I need to send a new update request to each user?
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Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭
Hi again,
Update request and approval request are not the same. Depending on your use case and which subscription level of Smartsheet you use (Approvals are available on Business/Enterprise) you could use one or the other.
Which subscription do you have and what's your use case in more detail?
Best,
Andrée
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå@ |工作流顾问/首席执行官WORK BOLD
W:www.workbold.com| E:[email protected]| P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me about help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or something else entirely.
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I have the business plan. I am looking to use this for policy approvals- I envisioned attached final policy PDF to each row (titled as the policy) and sending it for review/approval by multiple people. Also building it so that once all first level members approve it, it moves on to senior leadership approval. Hope that is enough information!
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Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭
Hi again,
Yes, that is doable. It's quite advanced. How many first level approvers are there? How many senior?
Another option could be to use Smartsheet together with DocuSign.
Best,
Andrée
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå@ |工作流顾问/首席执行官WORK BOLD
W:www.workbold.com| E:[email protected]| P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me about help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or something else entirely.
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Hmmm. that is unfortunate, I was given impression that it would be simple before purchasing.
Will be 8-10 first level approvers and likely 3-5 beyond that. Will vary depending on what is being sent for approval.
Thanks so much for your help!
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Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭
Hi again,
I'd happily work with you and help you with setting up a solution.
There are a few different ways to do this, and I need some more information to see what would work best for your particular situation.
If you'd like we can book a time for a free discovery call. How does that sound?
Please e-mail me at[email protected]and well take it from there.
I hope this helps you!
Best,
Andrée Starå - Workflow Consultant / Get Done
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå@ |工作流顾问/首席执行官WORK BOLD
W:www.workbold.com| E:[email protected]| P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me about help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or something else entirely.
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Sent you an email! thanks!
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HI there. I am only a month old Smartsheet user and currently under the Business Plan.
i am building the New Hire Request Form for our company and I came across with problem in the multiple approval as well as the things to do before a request will be approved.
When the requestor filled up the request form, it will prompt an approval request to his/her department head. If the department head disapproved the request due to incomplete attachments, the head will put a comment in the approval form that its disapproved due to incomplete attachments. This will prompt an update request to the requestor (I used an update request if the head press the disapproved button).
I encountered my FIRST PROBLEM here. In the update request form, the requestor can only add attachments but can't remove the initially uploaded documents (by the way, requestors aren't privy with the summary sheets, only the forms).
Anyway, if the requestor updated the request information and attached the necessary/lacking attachments and submit the update, the rationale should be it will notify the department head again for the re-approval stage. (I made an Update request again here so the head can change the "disapproved" status to "approve" status). This is where I encountered my SECOND PROBLEM. The Update request condition I put was "when a row changes and an attachment is added and changed, it will send an update request to the department head". When I put the said rule, at the initial stage of my request where the requestor filled up the request including attachment, it already send the first rule of sending an approval request to the department head and the rule I made about added and changed attachment which was supposed to happen in the re-approval stage which confuses the heads if a request is for approval or reapproval.
Just to complete the process, in case the request is approved by the department head, the Talent Acquisition Team will be notified (they are the team who have access to the summary sheet). This will be the next approval stage where the TA check if all attachments are complete (which will be my problem again in connection with my FIRST PROBLEM about attachments).
Hope someone can help me with my concerns.
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Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭
Hi Mariniel,
First problem.
Unfortunately, as you've noticed, it's only possible to add attachments in a request.
Second problem
You could add a condition to the update request rule that it should only trigger if the approval status is disapproved.
Would that work?
Have a fantastic week!
Best,
Andrée Starå
Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå@ |工作流顾问/首席执行官WORK BOLD
W:www.workbold.com| E:[email protected]| P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me about help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or something else entirely.
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Hi,
I'd like to follow Frances' lead but instead of having an individuals name for the approver, I'd like to set it up with a functional group e.g. DM, Clinical and R&D as three separate columns. During the approval workflow setup I only see a select number of columns as an option where I can "save response in". Unfortunately, the listed columns aren't the ones where I want the approval captured.
1) Why do only a handful of columns appear for saving the response?
2) How can I route the approvals to three different people given that these may not be the same folks every time? e.g. Jane from Data management will approve this request for this study but Mark will approve the request for another study.
Categories
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Hi @Darla Brown<\/a> <\/p> I hope you're well and safe!<\/p> Has anything in the sheet changed? Any formulas in the cells? <\/p> I hope that helps!<\/p> Be safe, and have a fantastic week!<\/p> Best,<\/p> Andrée Starå<\/strong><\/a> | Workflow Consultant \/ CEO @ WORK BOLD<\/strong><\/a><\/p> ✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by <\/em>marking it Insightful\/Vote Up, Awesome, or\/and as the accepted answer<\/em><\/strong>. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!<\/em><\/p>"}]}},"status":{"statusID":3,"name":"Accepted","state":"closed","recordType":"discussion","recordSubType":"question"},"bookmarked":false,"unread":false,"category":{"categoryID":343,"name":"Add Ons and Integrations","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/apps-and-integrations","allowedDiscussionTypes":[]},"reactions":[{"tagID":3,"urlcode":"Promote","name":"Promote","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":5,"count":0},{"tagID":5,"urlcode":"Insightful","name":"Insightful","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":11,"urlcode":"Up","name":"Vote Up","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":13,"urlcode":"Awesome","name":"Awesome","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0}],"tags":[]},{"discussionID":107125,"type":"question","name":"How to hide certain columns to certain poeple, while unhide to the rest","excerpt":"Hi Dear Community I am sharing my sheet to 2 groups of poeple, for group A they can see the entire sheet, but for group B I would like they to see only part of the columns. Both groups can edit what they can see in the sheet. Is there a way to acheive that? Thanks!","snippet":"Hi Dear Community I am sharing my sheet to 2 groups of poeple, for group A they can see the entire sheet, but for group B I would like they to see only part of the columns. Both…","categoryID":321,"dateInserted":"2023-06-30T09:24:53+00:00","dateUpdated":null,"dateLastComment":"2023-06-30T12:44:32+00:00","insertUserID":162810,"insertUser":{"userID":162810,"name":"流风回雪","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/%E6%B5%81%E9%A3%8E%E5%9B%9E%E9%9B%AA","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/defaultavatar\/nWRMFRX6I99I6.jpg","dateLastActive":"2023-06-30T11:58:57+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭"},"updateUserID":null,"lastUserID":139601,"lastUser":{"userID":139601,"name":"jmyzk_cloudsmart_jp","title":"jmyzk","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/jmyzk_cloudsmart_jp","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/userpics\/ZBVD3K8PY0D5\/n7CZ1F4XWEM9Y.JPG","dateLastActive":"2023-07-01T00:24:51+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭✭✭✭✭"},"pinned":false,"pinLocation":null,"closed":false,"sink":false,"countComments":4,"countViews":55,"score":null,"hot":3376248565,"url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/107125\/how-to-hide-certain-columns-to-certain-poeple-while-unhide-to-the-rest","canonicalUrl":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/107125\/how-to-hide-certain-columns-to-certain-poeple-while-unhide-to-the-rest","format":"Rich","lastPost":{"discussionID":107125,"commentID":383311,"name":"Re: How to hide certain columns to certain poeple, while unhide to the rest","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/comment\/383311#Comment_383311","dateInserted":"2023-06-30T12:44:32+00:00","insertUserID":139601,"insertUser":{"userID":139601,"name":"jmyzk_cloudsmart_jp","title":"jmyzk","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/jmyzk_cloudsmart_jp","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/userpics\/ZBVD3K8PY0D5\/n7CZ1F4XWEM9Y.JPG","dateLastActive":"2023-07-01T00:24:51+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭✭✭✭✭"}},"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/"},{"name":"Using Smartsheet","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/using-smartsheet"},{"name":"Smartsheet Basics","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/smartsheet-basics%2B"}],"groupID":null,"statusID":3,"attributes":{"question":{"status":"accepted","dateAccepted":"2023-06-30T11:59:52+00:00","dateAnswered":"2023-06-30T10:33:48+00:00","acceptedAnswers":[{"commentID":383272,"body":" Hi Dear Andrée Starå<\/strong><\/a><\/p> Thank you so much for your solution!<\/p> It can work, but more like a compromise way. Editing on a report is less convenient.<\/p> It would be better for me to set access right to each column.<\/p> But that can also work for now, thanks a lot.<\/p> By the way are you a BOT?<\/p>"},{"commentID":383283,"body":"
