In this step-by-step tutorial we will demonstrate how you can create a multi-step form that requires multiple levels of approval. Our form will incorporate the following process:
First user fills in their section of a form and submits it for their managers approval.
The manager receives an email requesting approval. Clicks on the link in the email which launches the form and allows them to fill out their section (e.g. Adds comments and signs) and hits submit.
Only when the manager approves, a secondary approver (e.g. the procurement officer) will receive an email requesting approval. The secondary approver fills out their section of the form (e.g. adds status and actions) and hits submit.
The original user receives an email notification that their request has been approved.
This process has been illustrated in the diagram below.
When building a multi-step form, you will need to incorporate all approval steps into a single form. The building of a multi-step for is well documented in our multi-step forms video tutorial, this guide will focus primarily on how this works with two or more steps of approvals.
Drag and drop components into your form, utilizing panels to group components into different sections which will be completed by different users. Alternatively start form our example template.
For each panel/section open the panel settings (hover and click the
icon) and modify the following. settings:Under the permissions tab, add users who will be allowed to fill in this section by assigning them "edit" permission.
Disable (or hide) the panel from the display tab. This will restrict anyone from fill out this section, except for users who were granted edit permission in the previous step (a).
For each stage of the approval process, you will need to design some way to identify that the section has been complete. For example, you could add a checkbox question or a signature component. In this example we will demonstrate both a checkbox and signature, however you can use any combination of components to identify the section is complete.
Navigate to the email tab to set up email notifications for each approval stage. Enable the email notification feature and modify the default email, you can use the
if/elsestatements to dynamically change the email recipients as well as the email body. This is demonstrated in the image below:
In the email settings shown above, we utilize a number of dynamic features that make the multi-level approval possible.
The
if/elsestatements are added using the "auto suggestion" feature (by pressing / on the keyboard). These conditional statements change email recipient and body dynamically based on weather a section has been completed. The response to the checkbox/signature fields are used to determine if the section is complete.The
Created By EmailandCreated By Namedynamic fields are used to reference the user who originally submitted the form.The
View Urldynamic field is included in the email body to automatically insert a link directly to the form response/approval request that is opened in read only mode.The
Edit Urldynamic field is included in the email body to automatically insert a link directly to the form response/approval request that is opened in edit mode.