Automating IT Requests and Approvals
About this course
This course provides step-by-step instructions on how to build fully-automated approval workflows. You’ll learn how to transform routine paper-based processes into automated approval workflows, reduce delays, and improve visibility, all without coding.
By the end of the course, you will be equipped with all the knowledge necessary to create, visualize, and automate approval workflows and similar use cases, eliminating hassle and inefficiencies.
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The Requests and Approvals Workflow: Power your Business with IT Automation
As Robert A. Heinlein used to say, «Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.» No wonder why within the latest two decades businesses have made a huge transition from paper-based flows to digital ones. But there is no limit to perfection and companies are constantly investing in new ways to streamline and enhance internal business processes, including document workflows. This article aims to introduce you to the basics of workflow automation, list multiple benefits of advanced approaches over outdated ones, and show a practical example of how to automate the IT requests and approvals workflow with airSlate. airSlate is the only holistic workflow automation software that simplifies working with pre-filled templates to automation Bots.
Why are common IT requests models inefficient?
IT requests and approvals are common pieces of any company workflow. When an employee is onboarded they have to fill out a request to get the hardware and software they need to do their job correctly. Usually, the documents have to undergo a long procedure of multi-level approvals before being fulfilled.
- An employee sends an IT request with all the related information to the manager.
- The manager reviews it and either approves or rejects it.
- In case the manager approves the request, it is forwarded to the IT Department.
- The IT Department selects a service and sends a purchase order to the vendor.
- The vendor makes an invoice and sends it to the Finance Department.
- The Finance Department settles the invoice and proceeds with payments.
- Once the invoice is paid the IT Department receives the order.
That process can take days and even weeks from start to finish before the employee receives their tools without workflow automation. The scary thing is, days and weeks are if everything happens correctly. Errors can lead to prolonged delays. Bureaucracy and errors bring chaos to the process and undermine efficiency, create bottlenecks and even delays. The longer it takes to get an employee their tools, the longer it takes to start making money.
How IT process automation improves request and approval procedures?
Companies are usually reluctant to try new approaches and employ workflow automation regardless of the long list of benefits offered in return. Most simply fear change and are intimidated by what changing the process can create. However, those companies, which dare to take the risk, eventually experience great benefits, including saving on time and costs, fewer errors, seamless data transfer, enhanced performance, etc.
This is how an IT requests and approvals procedure looks when automated:- An employee fills in a request form. Once completed, the form is automatically forwarded to the manager.
- The manager approves the form with an electronic signature and then automatically forwards it to the IT Department. If declined, the employee receives automatic feedback from the manager explaining the denial.
- The IT specialist selects a supplier and fills in the respective form with the vendor’s details.
- The Finance manager receives a payment form, which is partially pre-filled from the request form and processes it.
- The employee and the IT Department receive notifications via automation Bots: once the invoice is paid and as soon as the hardware and/or software is delivered.
With the automated IT requests and approvals flow, forget about emails and attached documents. You just need two forms: the request form and the payment form. Notification Bots will keep you updated throughout the whole process, so you can plan your activities accordingly.
Why is airSlate the best automation software for IT requests and approvals?
To automate the IT requests and approvals flow, all companies need to do is utilize an online editor to fill out forms, an eSignature tool to validate the documents and Bot automation software to manage the document workflow. Traditionally, the key risk here is that three different platforms can be incompatible and/or expensive. airSlate is a holistic all-in-one solution, featuring document generation, two editors, eSignature, automation Bots, and Audit Trail. It’s compatible with major CRMs, cloud storages and doesn’t require code or additional investments for integration with your existing solutions. As a full-featured solution, airSlate leads to significant cost-savings.
Some more benefits of employing airSlate for business are as follows:- Speeds up and streamlines business processes
- Removes human errors
- Allows the setting up reminders and notifications
- Simplifies planning
- Enables statistic data
- Allows tracking activities
- Accelerates payments
- Archives documents
For smooth integration into your business processes airSlate has developed a training course on workflow automation and IT requests and approvals automation. Discover airSlate’s practical benefits and advantages over competitors and learn how to smoothly integrate it into your business processes.
Questions & answers
How do I create a workflow approval Flow with airSlate?
Create a request form using the built-in editor. After that, Insert fillable fields for text, images, digits, and so on. Come up with roles and assign them fields to fill (Employee and Manager). Set up Bots to speed up the process and archive data. That's it. You are ready to run your new Flow.
What is a workflow approval process?
A workflow approval process is a common procedure for any company. From onboarding until offboarding, each employee goes through this process to get hardware, software, invoices, etc. Process bottlenecks hinder everyone. Without streamlined approval, other processes are slow.
How can I choose the best workflow approval software?
You’re choosing workflow approval software to save time and reduce errors. Therefore, the solution that you pick should be easy to use. If the service you choose includes examples of use cases like the airSlate Academy does, that’s great. Also, pay attention to security, certificates of compliance, and so on.
What are the different types of approval workflows?
Your approval workflow can be Self-approvals or entire Approval Flows. They are quite a bit different from each other. Self-approvals are automated processes that don't require any human intervention. To take advantage of Approval Flows if you need a manager or any other approver to check and verify requests.
How can I create a request for an approval template?
airSlate helps you create a reusable fillable template for approval requests. Using the built-in editor, you can equip your form with text, signature, and data fields. When it comes to invoices, add calculation fields to eliminate errors for good. Advanced options allow you to easily adapt settings to your needs and establish conditional steps for your new approval workflow.
What is auto-approval?
If a request doesn't need additional verification, then it can be automatically approved. When setting up a Bot, you can set up such an option using conditions. Once the appropriate conditions are set, other approvers like managers are only involved in essential matters, and the rest of the requests go through the whole process on their own.
What is a use case for approval processes?
Workflow approval processes are valuable for any department. If you need to send a request for software or to start a development process, approval workflows are 100% necessary. To better understand this, imagine you’re going to quit your job. To do so, you’ll need to fill out a leave request for the HR department. Or if you’re a salesman, think about all the different approvals needed for a purchase.
What is the purpose of an approval workflow?
An approval workflow is the start to other company processes. Without approval requests, your organization can't handle and close deals. Hiring, selling, doing payroll, et., all begin with orders, invoices, or offers that must be approved.
How can I learn more about workflow approvals?
With the airSlate Academy, you’ll learn how to work with an approval workflow using BPA tools. Eliminate errors and reduce human intervention in your approval requests in clicks. airSlate's Bots are there to help you to route, filter, and set up an auto-approval process.
How do I write a requesting approval?
The best way is to use a ready-made fillable form to avoid missing any critical information. Be sure to include your full name and your department, and CC all interested parties.
