All posts tagged: approval workflow

Easy Approvals with the Line Manager Feature of Form Workflow Plus

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Without a doubt, well-defined workflows help improve team efficiency. Validation approvals for leave requests, procurement, or budget proposals need to be properly documented. This establishes a pool of information essential for organizational upkeep such as accounting, staffing, and budget management.

This is why workflow apps have been key partners in automating validation processes. Oftentimes, an employee who lodges a request needs their immediate supervisor to be onboard for the request to progress. This can be addressed by simply asking the requester for their line manager’s information. However as teams scale up, this can be a major hurdle.

Drew, an IT Manager for a construction company, was faced with this very dilemma. He needed to set up a purchase approval process for teams working on remote sites. The requester’s line manager needed to be the first approver as per company policy.

Fortunately for Drew, he stumbled upon Form Workflow Plus via Google search. The Google Sheet add-on recently had an update that allowed line managers to be set as reviewers. Here are 5 reasons why Drew chose Form Workflow Plus:

Assign Line Managers per User via the Web App

A major problem with asking requesters for their line manager details is they can put in mistyped email addresses. Limiting choices to a predefined list can address this but then becomes another issue when working with a huge organization.

Form Workflow Plus resolved this by defining the line manager for each user within the system. As the account administrator, Drew was able to easily set the email address for each user using the Manager Users view on the web app.

Bulk Add Users with Line Manager Information on a CSV list

For a construction company with 500 engineers and contractors, adding user details manually is not a good use of Drew’s time. Form Workflow Plus makes this task easy by enabling admins to upload a CSV list!

The list includes the employees name, line manager email address, and even the intended role for the Form Workflow Plus account. Once the list was prepared, it only took Drew a few clicks for the web app to import the employee details.

Easy and Fast Workflow Setup

With the employee details and their respective line managers established in the system, setting up the purchase approval workflow was a breeze. Drew especially liked the user-friendly interface of the Form Workflow Plus add-on.

The Line Manager as reviewer feature made his job a lot easier. On top of that, the workflow app allowed him to:

  • Add as many approval steps as needed
  • Use conditions to automatically route requests
  • Setup parallel approvals
  • Bypass reviewer response (on the rare occasions the reviewer is on extended leave)
  • Use their company logo on the web app

A well curated Help Center for Comprehensive Guides

Drew found the Support Pages for Form Workflow Plus extremely helpful. There are step-by-step guides and video tutorials to help him set up his workflow. In case you’re interested to learn more about these features, here are some helpful links:

Easy to reach Support and Demo Request

For anything not covered by the Help Center, Drew was able to get assistance by emailing support@wizy.io. Form Workflow Plus is available for a 14-day free trial here. Feel free to book a demo here:

Marko ArcegaEasy Approvals with the Line Manager Feature of Form Workflow Plus
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5 Ways You Can Automate Workflows with Google Apps

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Managing remote teams has become a global trend. With this, the office setup has seen creative ways to address approval processes, namely, the shift to cloud-based and digital solutions. However, dealing with a piling number of leave requests, purchase orders, or budget approvals remains an organizational challenge.

What many don’t realize is that there are online tools that can help ease this burden. A Gmail (or Google) account for example, is a powerful key to accessing apps for workflow management. Here are 5 ways you can free up time by efficiently managing workflows using Google apps.

Capture request details with Google Forms and organize them with Google Sheets

Workflows start with capturing the essential information of a request. Instead of filling up paper forms, the digital way uses clickable links and online resources. As admins or managers, Google Forms is an effective tool for designing forms for leave requests, purchase orders, invoicing, etc. You can easily share these via email, shareable link, or even embed them in your website.

You can track responses from the Google Forms interface or link it to a Google Sheet. The ability to use spreadsheet tools such as filtering data or applying array formulas makes for a powerful duo for organizing requests.

Setup your workflow with Google Forms, Google Sheets, and Gmail

So you have a Google Form collecting responses on a Google Sheet. What’s next? Google apps such as Sheets and Forms are built for online collaboration. You can find the ever present Share button at the top right corner of these apps pages.

The sheet where responses are collected can be shared with the relevant people. They can manually run through the collected responses and indicate approval using built in features such as comments or notes. The admin can then use Gmail to notify requesters about the approval status.

The above scenario introduces a degree of organization when managing digital requests. There are still potential problems though when teams scale up or the approval workflow requires multiple steps of reviewers. This is where an approval workflow comes in handy.

Use a workflow app to automate your approval processes

A workflow app automates the repetitive tasks of organizing requests, informing reviewers, and notifying requesters. An effective workflow app must be built around ease of setup, native integration with existing apps (i.e., G Suite or Gmail), and feature-packed to accommodate complex multi-step approval workflows.

Form Workflow Plus is one tool that meets the above criteria and even goes the extra mile by empowering users with a versatile web application. Designed by Wizy to work with G Suite and Gmail accounts, the add-on can be installed from the G Suite marketplace and run on Google Sheets. Its notable features include:

  • 3-step setup
  • Multi-step approval with the ability to assign multiple reviewers per step
  • Automated routing capability using conditions
  • Assign reviewer based on form entries
  • Customizable approval email
  • Creating a calendar event from request details
  • Requests tracking via web app or on the add-on sidebar

Our add-on has been installed by users across 30 countries spanning fields in finance, education, manufacturing, social works, etc. Form Workflow Plus has helped automate:

  • Leave requests
  • Budget approvals
  • Purchase orders
  • Contractor invoicing
  • Facilities rentals
  • Academic appeals
  • Patient care

Take advantage of Google’s Security and Privacy features

You can find third party apps to extend the functionality of apps such as Sheets, Forms, or Gmail on the G Suite marketplace. These are properly vetted by Google to meet its strict security and privacy requirements.

At Wizy, we’ve taken the necessary steps to make sure Form Workflow Plus meets Google’s standards. We’re trusted by reputable universities in the US, K-12 schools, logistics companies, and counselling centers to handle their validation processes.

Tap into a robust Support system to make sure your workflows work

Save precious time searching for solutions by reaching out to Google communities. Apps published on the G Suite marketplace usually include a support link if you need further assistance.

Form Workflow Plus has a well curated Help Center for how-to articles and video tutorials. You can access this resource here:

Also, reach out to our friendly Customer Success Managers via support@wizy.io or book a demo:

Marko Arcega5 Ways You Can Automate Workflows with Google Apps
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