Digital approval workflows can help businesses streamline their workflow processes. Instead of using physical documents and managing requests via email, organizations can assign, manage and track requests with a digital system.
However when deciding on the best digital approval workflow for your business, you will need to consider the risk, urgency, complexity and authorization needed for different business processes. Some requests will only require one manager to approve, whilst others may require finance, legal and senior management to review.
Having a framework can help you decide what approval methods would be best. The framework will help you identify what approval methods are suitable, how automated you want the workflow to be and ensure you have control over your processes.
We will take a look at the key considerations when deciding on a digital approval workflow.
1. Understand Your Approval Needs
To begin creating your digital approval workflow decision framework, you will need to understand what approvals your business currently has in place. Identify what processes require authorization, who needs to review them and what conditions need to be met.
Some common approval processes include:
- Invoice and expense approvals
- Purchase orders
- Employee leave and reimbursement
- Contract and agreement reviews
- Project budgets and resources
- Marketing and content approvals
Depending on the process, different approval requirements will be needed. For example employee expense claims may only require approval from the manager to finance. However contracts may require several departments to review.
Document your current workflow, identify any common issues and what areas you need to improve.
2. Identify Key Considerations
Your digital approval workflow should be chosen based on your business requirements. This will help you decide whether you need a basic automated workflow, multi-stage approvals or something more advanced.
-Financial Impact: This will help you understand how risky the approval is. If the request has a low financial impact then there may be less authorization needed. However if it has a higher financial impact then there may be more checks required.
-Complexity: Consider how many stages, departments and reviewers are needed for each approval. Simple processes may only require one reviewer. However complex processes may require multiple departments, conditional decisions and revisions.
-Frequency: Depending on how many requests you process regularly, you may want to have a more automated approval. Processes with high volumes often benefit from having a fully automated workflow with notifications and status updates.
-Security Requirements: Some approvals may require sensitive information, financial commitments and regulatory commitments. This means there will be stricter access requirements, documentation and auditing.
Your approval system should integrate well with your current applications. Integrating with your accounting, document management, communication and project management systems will help reduce duplication.
3. Decide On The Best Approval Method
Once you have identified your requirements, you can decide which approval method will be best for your business.
-Sequential Approval: This will require approvals to be completed in a certain order.
-Parallel Approval: Multiple reviewers can review the request. Suitable for: Marketing campaigns, project proposals, legal and financial reviews.
-Rule Based Approval: Approvals will be based on pre-set conditions. Suitable for: Expense claims, purchase requests, budget approvals and invoice processing.
-Hybrid Approval: This will use a combination of approval methods. For example contracts may be reviewed by legal and finance at the same time, and then sent to a senior manager for final approval. Suitable for: Large contracts, major business projects and cross department approvals.
4. Create An Approval Workflow Evaluation Framework
Creating a framework will help you compare the different options. This framework can help you decide what your requirements are.
However if there are any major security and compliance requirements, they should be considered as essential.
5. Decide On The Level Of Automation
Not all approvals need to be fully automated. Depending on how stable, high volume, financial impact and complexity of the process will determine how automated it should be.
-Basic automation: Simple requests with predictable approval processes can be handled with basic automation. This can include sending notifications, assigning requests and updating status.
-Rule Based Automation: Requests can be routed based on set conditions.
-Advanced Workflow Automation: If you have complex processes involving multiple systems, departments and conditional approvals then this can be useful.
-Manual Approval With Digital Support: If the decision is sensitive or high risk then this would be a good option.
The aim is to remove any repetitive admin tasks but keep the human element.
6. Consider Reliability, Security And Accountability
Your digital approval workflow should be reliable enough to use regularly. You will need to consider if the process can handle requests accurately.
Consider:
- Role Based Access: Employees can only view or approve requests they are authorized to.
- Auditing: Keep a record of who submitted, reviewed, decided and when.
- Data Accuracy: Ensure all information and documents have been fully submitted.
- Approval Limits: Set clear financial and organizational approval limits.
- Backup Approval: Assign backup reviewers to avoid delays.
- Reliability: Consider if you can easily access the system, data is secure, there are recovery processes and technical support.
- Exception Handling: Set up processes for rejected, incomplete or unusual requests.
This will help ensure accountability and reduce errors.
7. Consider Cost And Business Value
Cost is an important consideration. You will need to consider what costs are involved with the digital approval solution. This can include subscription costs, setup costs, training costs, integration, maintenance and customization.
However you should also consider what benefits you can gain from using the process.
A suitable digital approval workflow can help reduce time spent chasing up requests, manual data entry, errors from old documents, delays to financial and operational decisions.
The best solution may not be the one with the most features. It should provide enough functionality, security and flexibility without causing unnecessary costs.
8. Test And Monitor
Before rolling out your digital approval workflow across your organization, test it with a few real requests. This will help identify any issues with the routing rules, user permissions, notifications and approvals.
Once your digital approval workflow is up and running you should monitor it using the right KPIs like:
- Approval Times
- Pending Requests
- Reject Rate
- Overdue Approvals
- First Time Approval Rate
- Automation Success Rate
By regularly reviewing your performance you can identify any bottlenecks.
As businesses become more structured with their digital processes, workflow management can help. Heloix can be included in the wider conversation about digital processes. Having clear processes and well managed tasks can help improve collaboration.
When considering digital approval solutions for your organization, you should ensure they match your business needs. Using the right level of automation, clear responsibilities and monitoring can help improve your workflow processes.
Conclusion
Having a framework can help you choose the right approval processes for your business based on your actual requirements. By considering the financial impact, complexity, frequency, security, integration and scalability, you can identify the best workflow for your organization.
Overall your digital approval workflow should make decision making easier, reduce admin delays and ensure accountability. By properly evaluating, testing and monitoring your processes, you can create reliable approval processes to help your current operations and future growth.
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