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A workflow approval platform is an integral tool for streamlining and improving approval processes. It increases the efficiency of reviewing, editing, and approving content and enhances collaboration and communication within and between teams.

A well-structured workflow approval platform provides multiple benefits to companies. Some benefits are strategic, such as better process management and decision-making, supported by data-driven insights. These benefits can lead to enhanced customer experience, increased brand loyalty, and an improved internal culture.

A good workflow approval platform can be configured to the specific needs of different departments within a company. Each department would benefit from reducing the time and cost of inefficient management processes. For instance, a typical marketing team produces a large volume of material, which is often time-critical. Improving the speed to market of social media, printed, web, email, and advertising content can optimise brand awareness and drive profitability.

Marketing teams particularly benefit from the numerous process efficiencies of a workflow approval platform. The consistency and accuracy of content is ensured by preventing errors and mistakes. Team productivity is increased by reducing process bottlenecks, marketing admin, and duplicated procedures.

Shared goals and objectives help to improve the quality of team collaboration. Greater transparency in the approval process increases stakeholder accountability. Ensuring that only approved content is published and disseminated reduces the risk of breaching regulatory and statutory requirements.

Approval workflow structures can differ across companies, but some automated elements are essential to the best workflow approval platforms. These elements ensure that approval processes are streamlined, consistent, reliable, efficient, and are marketing, brand and regulatory compliant.

Below, we provide a checklist of the capabilities, mechanisms, and features of a top-end workflow approval platform.

A checklist of essential workflow approval platform features and mechanisms

Intuitive, mobile, and secure
It is important that the user interface and platform are intuitive and easy to navigate. All stakeholders should be able to undertake their assigned tasks regardless of their tech experience. The interface should also be mobile-friendly. As workforces become increasingly mobile and work remotely, it is essential that they can access and manage workflows from their mobile devices.

The mobility of workforces increases the importance of security. Security features such as user authentication and data encryption are essential for protecting sensitive information. They must also comply with the regulations and standards relevant to where the workforce is located.

Workflow flexibility
Some types of content may require greater consideration than others. An effective platform will allow the customisation of workflows to adapt to the requirements of different content types. The predefined approval rules of some marketing material will differ from other types, and may necessitate them taking different approval pathways. Some materials will need extensive multi-stage review workflows with compliance checklists; other materials may require much simpler workflows. Customisation capabilities enable workflows to be structured with specific predefined approval rules, such as approval criteria, workflow steps, and rejection and routing rules.

Scalability
A competent workflow approval platform should be scalable to accommodate an increased volume and complexity of workflows as the company grows. It should also be able to manage changes in the company’s business processes without an extensive reconfiguration of the platform.

Request submission

An approval workflow normally begins with a request for approval. A workflow approval platform should provide a portal for requests to be submitted and where signoffs can be stored and recorded.

Review and approval tasks

Workflow tasks involve reviewing the request details for a document and deciding whether to approve, reject, amend the content, or request further information. The workflow approval platform should enable review and approval tasks to be assigned to individuals, roles, or groups according to the specific predefined rules of the workflow. Assigning tasks to defined stakeholders at each stage of the workflow helps to streamline decision-making and prevents the inertia of too many opinions.

A good platform enables the progress of each workflow step to be monitored in real-time. The greater visibility of task management facilitated by platform dashboards enhances consistency and prevents steps from being neglected or inadvertently missed.

Managing authorisation and permissions

Defining the permission levels of each stakeholder on the workflow clarifies their roles and responsibilities and eliminates confusion about what is required of them. A workflow approval platform should enable the granting of individual permissions to editors, approvers, and administrators. It helps to ensure the right people are authorised to review and approve documents and reduces the potential for conflicting changes. This is particularly important where multiple stakeholders are involved. Marketing content can often require input from designers, content creators, social media managers, brand managers, and compliance teams.

Automated alerts and notifications

Automated notifications alert stakeholders that it is their turn to review or approve documents or remind them that an approval request requires attention. Automated notifications and reminders reduce delays in the approval process and help stakeholders manage their review, rejection, and approval tasks.

Setting deadlines

Deadlines and due dates are essential for project success. For marketing and sales teams, getting material to key audiences quickly and on time is often crucial to optimising a market opportunity. Setting precise deadlines for each stage of the approval process ensures the smooth progression of work and supports team productivity in meeting due dates.

Version control

An efficient workflow approval platform ensures that stakeholders are all working on the latest up-to-date files. This is particularly important on projects that require the input of many stakeholders and where there are multiple revisions of a document. A lack of version control can cause serious delays in meeting deadlines and the risk that incorrect information will reach audiences, with a possible breach of compliance regulations.

Audit trails

A robust audit trail is an essential feature of an efficient workflow approval platform. The audit trail will capture and record every action taken by each stakeholder within the workflow management process.  The entire history of a request will be recorded: review comments, amendments made to the content, approvals, rejections, changes to the request details, who reviewed the document and when. These comprehensive records encourage consistency, transparency, and accountability in the approval process. Audit trails provide all the necessary information for internal audits and, in some industries, are a mandatory regulatory compliance requirement.

Reporting and analytics

Reporting and analytics capabilities enable the performance of the approval process to be monitored and analysed. Approval timings and rates can be measured and assessed against agreed Key Performance Indicators for different workflows. This process helps to identify and remedy bottlenecks and causes of delays. Workflow reporting and analytics are instrumental in efficient decision-making and the management of resources to meet targets.

Integration with other software

A workflow approval platform that enables integration with other software can be useful, especially if the other software augments the approval process. A good example are customisable artwork templates. The best artwork templates lock down elements of marketing content such as brand components and non-changeable content like legal disclaimers. This quickens the approval process by enabling reviewers and approvers to focus entirely on the content that has been created for specific marketing purposes.