Introduction

If you are looking for a way to manage approval requests and approvals, then you may want to consider an approval management system. An approval management system can help you streamline your business processes, increase efficiency and reduce errors. However, there is the question of how do you choose the right one. In this article, we will answer this question by giving some tips on how to choose the best approval management system for your organization.

Assess your requirements

Now that you understand the general benefits of an approval management system, it's time to focus on what your specific needs are. For example:

• What is the purpose of an approval management system? This is a good time to revisit your initial business case for this project. Are you trying to improve internal processes and streamline operations? Or will other people outside of IT also be using this tool as part of their workflow?
• What are the requirements of the approval management system? This includes things like the amount of data being managed, user experience considerations (e.g., the ease with which users can navigate between screens), integrations with other systems (like email), and so forth.
• How many approvals do you need to manage? Consider how many different types of approvals there will be within different departments or teams—a buyer in accounting might need to approve expenses before they're paid out by finance; a designer might need to show his design concepts next door so that marketing can review them; a developer may request access rights from security in order for him/herself or team members access certain resources, etc... If these rules change frequently over time then having more granular permissions could become cumbersome fast!

What is the purpose of an approval management system?

Approval management systems are used to manage a variety of business processes. An approval management system is an integrated software program that automates the process of getting approvals by connecting people with documents, tasks, and decisions. It creates a smooth workflow for multiple teams or project managers in order to get their work done faster and more efficiently than they would be able to do it manually.

An approval management system features various types of workflows that can be customized according to your needs, like single-level or multi-level approval workflow:

• Single-level workflow: The single-level approval is a simple two-step process where the first step is receiving an email notification about the new request (to review), then sending back another email with comments and/or changes required by the reviewer before returning the document back into circulation (to execute).
• Multi-level workflow: A multi-level functionality allows users to create subgroups within their organization who may not necessarily have access to all documents but only those relevant for them based on their job description within a particular department or team structure within an organization

Advantages of the right approval management system

• Improve efficiency: The right approval management system can help your organization improve its workflow and reduce the amount of time spent on paperwork.
• Reduce the risk of errors: When you use an approval management system, mistakes aren't as likely to occur as often because all stakeholders are involved in the approval process.
• Easy reporting: The right approval management system will make it easier for you to track all approvals that need to be done so that you don't miss any important deadlines or milestones in the future.
• Reduced administrative load: Using good approval management software means that there won't be as many approvals left undone at any given time since there's no need for manual intervention anymore (which is what happens when employees don't have access).

Selecting the right approval management system

To ensure that you select the best approval management system for your organization, consider the following factors:

• Ease of use
• Size of the organization
• Flexibility and functionality
• Security requirements (if any)
• Easy integration with other systems in use by your company, such as ERP software or CRM platforms.  It's also important to make sure that data can be exported easily so you can use it in other applications. This might be useful if you need to archive approvals for audits or compliance purposes.  The right software will include features like role-based access control (RBAC) and user management so that only certain employees have access to certain items. If a user leaves, their account should automatically be disabled along with any permissions they had been granted. A good solution will also allow administrators to reset passwords immediately after an employee leaves and create new accounts quickly without needing administrative rights on individual machines where employees work on laptops outside of office hours or even at home while traveling abroad.

Various Features in an Approval Management System

In the process of selecting an approval management system, you should consider the following:

• Ability to create organization-wide approvals at scale.
• Incorporate the complexity of your workflows.
• Automated notifications to key stakeholders.
• Sending pdf documents of approval status to respondents. A good approval management system will facilitate this feature by allowing administrators and managers to monitor progress on pending actions and get alerts when they’re overdue (or if there are any issues).  Additionally, it allows them to send these types of messages in bulk instead of individually—and in some cases, even route them automatically based on criteria you set.

Single Level and Multi-Level Approval Workflows

Single Level Approval Workflow

A single-level approval workflow is when one person reviews and approves the document. This type of process is widely adopted in organizations because it's easy to use and manage. With this method, you can set up rules for approvals like:

• Only manager-level employees can approve timesheets.
• The project manager has to approve a project plan before it goes to the review committee for approval.

Multi-Level Approval Workflow

In a multi-level approval workflow, the document goes through a series of reviews and approvals, only after approval is completed by all the stakeholders, it gets approved. The most important advantage of this method is that there are fewer chances of errors while doing document approvals as compared to using single-level approvals where only one person takes care of everything.

Approval notifications to the right stakeholders

When you set up your approval process, you should make sure that notifications go to the right people at the right time. You'll want to be able to customize these notifications to ensure they're clear and concise. Using this feature will help you avoid sending unnecessary emails or texts and reduce the amount of effort required by your team members.

It's also important that these notifications are sent in a timely fashion so everyone is aware of what's going on throughout the process. If an employee receives an email about an approval request with five minutes left until closing of business, they might not have enough time left before closing to reply with their decision. This can slow down progress toward completing projects because employees won't be able to access each other's files without getting permission first—which means more delays!

Adoption of the approval management system-is it simple to use?

Whether you are looking for an approval management system that is simple to use or not, there are other criteria that can help you decide which one will best suit your needs.

• The ease of adoption – is it easy to integrate with other systems? This includes the ability of your system to integrate with other software and hardware applications that your business uses on a daily basis such as payroll systems, accounting applications, and so on.
• The ease of learning – Is it easy for employees to learn how it works? Can they get up and running quickly without needing expert training?
• The ease of training people – Can new employees pick up how the system works quickly and easily? Will they be able to understand it even if they've never used one before in their lives?

BoloForms- Google Forms addon that helps to integrate organization-wide approvals inside of Google Forms itself!

Google Forms is a familiar tool for most organizations and that’s why BoloForms works seamlessly with it. With BoloForms, you can create, manage and track approvals for leave management, budgets, etc. all inside the simple UI of Google Forms itself!

BoloForms works with Google Forms to create a simple approval management system. You can use the templates provided by them or create your own template based on your requirements. The app allows you to assign tasks to people in your team who will then be able to complete them in their own time before submitting them back again for approval through Google Forms. This way you’ll get faster turnaround times as well as visibility into what each member of your team is working on at any given point in time so that there are no conflicts arising out of multiple people working on similar projects at once!

How to choose an approval management system?

When choosing an approval management system, affordability and flexibility should be at the forefront of your decision. The ideal solution will be easy to use, easy to integrate with existing systems, and have cloud-based features that make compliance easier.

Remember that you don't need a highly complex system—all you really need is something that ticks all these boxes:

• Affordability – You don't want to break the bank with expensive software licenses when there are cheaper options out there!
• Ease of Use – If your team is not tech-savvy, then it's important for them not feel overwhelmed by complicated processes or software interfaces.
• Easy Integration – It's important for your new system to integrate seamlessly with other business applications in order to increase productivity and reduce costs further down the line.
• Cloud-Based Features - Cloud solutions allow users quick access from anywhere on any device which means there's no need for expensive hardware installations or infrastructure upgrades!

Conclusion

Approval management systems are essential for any kind of organization, whether it’s a small business or a large enterprise. One of the main reasons organizations use these systems is to automate processes that involve multiple stakeholders and decision-makers. For example, an approval workflow can be used by HR managers who need to review documents before posting them on their company intranet, or by sales managers who want to delegate tasks among different employees based on their expertise levels.