Approval Workflows

Approval Workflows in Workzone make it possible to create and configure multi-stage document approval processes. Each stage of an approval workflow can be set up with specific durations and approvers, and the next stage of each workflow will automatically trigger once the previous stage has been completed. These preconfigured workflows standardize complex approval processes without any additional manual effort.

Setting up approval workflows

To create a new approval workflow, navigate to Settings (in All Workspaces) > Global > Approval workflows. Click Add Workflow in the top right to open up the workflow editor. Start by giving the new workflow a name. 

Workflows are split into distinct stages representing a single instance of a document approval. A workflow can have as many stages as are desired. Each stage can be configured with the following details:

• Stage name: Set informative stage names that can make this workflow easy to navigate if it needs to be modified in the future.
• Duration: Select the number of days this stage should last for. The Duration type offers options for “Business days” (excluding weekends) or “Calendar days”. This duration value will be used to calculate the due date for this stage when a new approval is created using the workflow.
• Approvers: Select any existing user, choose an existing external party, or create a new external party to identify who needs to log their approval for this stage of the workflow. The All must approve / Anyone approves toggle identifies the criteria for when this stage has been “completed”. All must approve will require that all selected approvals mark the file as approved before the next stage can begin. Anyone approves will allow the workflow to move to the next stage as soon as any of the approvers has marked the file as approved. 
• Instructions: Include any helpful information that the approvers should be aware of when reviewing the file for approval. 

Once the details for a stage have been entered, click +Add stage to create a new stage and repeat the process to fill out the details for that stage. Once all stages have been appropriately configured, click ✓ Save workflow. 

Once a workflow is saved, it will appear in the table on the Approval workflows settings page. This table will show basic details about each workflow, including how many stages are in the workflow, the total number of approvers, the total duration of the workflow, and who created it and when, along with basic usage details of who last used this workflow for a document approval and when. Clicking anywhere on the row will open a tray to show the details of each stage; clicking the edit pencil at the top of the tray will allow for the workflow details to be edited. Additionally, the more menu to the right of each row of the table will offer options to either edit or delete the workflow. 

Creating new document approvals with workflows

To create a new document approval with a workflow, click the more menu to the right of any file and click Request Approval. On the create approval page, the Approval method dropdown menu will provide the option to create a new single-stage approval from scratch (the standard document approval process) or select from one of the existing approval workflows. When an approval workflow is selected, a due date field will appear along with the details of each stage of the workflow (the stage name, approval criteria, duration, approvers). Given that this is a pre-set workflow, the details of the stages cannot be adjusted here. 

To create an approval with the selected workflow, simply select a due date for the final stage of the approval workflow. Using that selected date, Workzone will calculate the due dates for each stage, based on the durations of the stages, backwards from that final due date. If the selected due date is too soon to accommodate the entire duration of the workflow, Workzone will display a warning. 

Similarly, if a selected workflow contains an approver who does not have access to the file, and therefore cannot approve it, Workzone will display a warning. If the user in question is in an “Anyone approves” stage, the workflow may be used for the file since this user’s approval is optional. If the user in question is in an “All must approve” stage, meaning the user’s approval is required, the workflow cannot be used on this file unless the file is relocated to an area of Workzone where the user can access the file.

Once the appropriate workflow and due date are selected, click Request approval to trigger the first stage of the approval workflow, sending an email notification to the approvers included in the first stage. As the criteria for each stage are met, Workzone will automatically trigger the next stage of the approval, sending email notifications to the approvers once that stage begins.

Viewing details for approval workflows in progress

Once a document has an approval workflow applied to it, the details and progress of the workflow can be viewed in two main ways:

First, clicking the “Out for approval” indicator on any file will bring up the approval workflow information in the tray. Here, the details of each stage of the workflow are displayed, along with progress indicators showing which stages have been completed, the stage currently in progress, and future stages. The approval statuses for each user assigned as an approver on the current stage will be displayed, providing a clear sense of who has already approved and whose approval is still pending. 

Second, the Approval Dashboard report (found in both the Documents and Reports modules) will display the details for the active stage for any approval workflow, including the due date and approvers, along with information about the stage, including which stage of the workflow is currently active (2/3 or 3/5, for example), the stage duration, and the completion criteria (“All must approve” or “Anyone approves”). To view the full details of the approval workflow, clicking on the approval response indicators in the Response Status column will open the Document tray with all of the document information including the approval details.