How to Create an Approval Workflow in Less Than 15 Min

Every day, businesses grapple with complex projects that demand speed, efficiency, and accuracy. Imagine you're a CIO in the midst of rolling out a crucial enterprise software update. The project is on a tight schedule with multiple teams involved, and every decision requires timely approvals to keep things moving. However, the current approval workflow is cumbersome, causing delays and frustration. It becomes apparent that this process needs a revamp - and fast.

Workflow automation is the key to unlocking the full potential of digital transformation." - R. Ray Wang.

Automated approval workflows can dramatically alter this scenario. By streamlining the entire approval process, these workflows liberate your team members from administrative tasks, enabling them to focus on more strategic initiatives.

What is an approval workflow?

The approval workflow is common business processes that require someone to sign off on the data at a certain stage. Approval workflows require multiple checks throughout the process and from a variety of different stakeholders. To create an efficient approval process, the correct data must be displayed easily for the approver.

Humans will account for 58 percent of all work in the coming years, with machines managing the remaining 42 percent.

The idea of automating workflows may be daunting if you’ve never used a workflow process software before. It may be hard to imagine how a non-human system can take care of an end-to-end process without needing any manual supervision. Most workflows require some kind of approval built into them.

Creating an approval workflow is actually one of the easiest use cases with Kissflow Workflow, and much easier than any paper form you are using now. In fact, you can get a complete approval workflow created in as little as 15 minutes.

Types of Approval Workflows

There are two types of approvals within a workflow—sequential and parallel approvals.

• Sequential approvals are those approvals that essentially pause action to the next step within the workflow until the approval step is fulfilled.
• A parallel approval, on the other hand, treats approval as a separate line item and hence does not pause action within the workflow.

Common workflow woes

Let’s start with something simple like an invoice approval process. Sales and finance managers might spend a lot of their time rubber-stamping every invoice that comes across their desk in order to increase transparency and cut down on errors.

If you aren’t using paper forms to manage your workflow process, those same managers are likely writing ‘Approved’ on lots of emails that jam their system. When an invoice needs to be changed, it can be nearly impossible to track its progress and follow up.

While invoice approvals are important, sales and finance managers don’t need to spend so much mental energy and time worrying about them. When invoices are sent back for changes, an unstructured process will undoubtedly spew out more errors.

Bring in professional approval workflow software

Kissflow is already world-famous with thousands of enterprises, big and small who use it for their approval workflows. It’s a game changer for many of these companies because unlike traditional workflow process software, Kissflow is inexpensive and user-friendly even to people with little technical expertise.

Learn more about Kissflow Approval Workflow Software

Steps to create approval workflows in Kissflow

Step 1: Start with a form

Start with a form to display the necessary data. You could keep it super simple and just attach a PDF the invoice, or you could better integrate your workflow from start to finish by using fields like sequence numbers, auto-populating custom fields, and tables that calculate the invoice price based on quantity.

Step 2: Create a workflow – set actions

Then, create a workflow. This can be as simple as a one-step approval from a sales manager. The task owner gets an email notification (or a push notification on mobile), quickly reviews the data, and hits ‘Approve’.

Step 3: Bring in the stakeholders

If you want to try something a little more advanced, you can add other people on the workflow, allow for different sales reps to report into their respective managers, or add conditions where the CEO’s input will only be requested if an order is above a certain dollar amount.

SharePoint approval workflows: A viable alternative?

Sharepoint approval workflows are an undeniably powerful and highly functional alternative, but they have some serious disadvantages. While the cost of implementation itself may be a little high, maintaining an approval workflow on Sharepoint proves incredibly expensive.

Another issue with Sharepoint approval workflows is that there is a steep learning curve, with debugging and troubleshooting proving extremely frustrating if you aren’t an experienced Sharepoint developer. If your working style is built on being able to adapt quickly to emerging business trends and needs, you need an alternative to Sharepoint approval workflows –like Kissflow.

How Journeyone streamlined its contract renewals

JourneyOne, an innovative consulting firm, faced inefficiencies in its contract approval process. The task of tracking contracts and managing timely renewals was challenging, with the existing system of emails and calendars leading to distorted data and missed opportunities.

Susanna De Bari, Principal Business Consultant at JourneyOne, recognized the need for a more efficient solution. That's when Kissflow entered the picture. This automation platform streamlined their approval processes, making contract renewals a breeze.

Kissflow's robust features allowed JourneyOne to set up clear approval workflows, ensuring that every contract went through the necessary checks before renewal. This increased visibility and control and minimized manual work, freeing up the team to focus on more strategic tasks.

Moreover, the ability to have real-time updates on each contract's status meant that no opportunity for modification or renegotiation was missed.

Kissflow revolutionized JourneyOne's contract approval process, enhancing productivity, efficiency, and their ability to secure better deals.

Custom approval workflows, your way.

Ever found yourself wondering if an automated workflow might be something that would ease the pressure? Kissflow Workflow not only allows you to create custom approval workflows but can significantly cut short approval and fulfilment times. Try it for free.