Securing approvals, especially for regulated documents, can be a long, painful process. Some organizations invest in separate software or use a third-party general purpose collaboration tool to facilitate reviews and approvals. This approach can help standardize the process and document changes. The software doesn’t always speed things up though, and may not include everyone in the organization.

Too often, companies don’t implement a standardized document approval workflow. They rely on an informal patchwork of emails, text messages, and verbal communication to obtain the approvals necessary to enter new or changed documents into the production environment. A purely manual method only works in small, low-volume environments. Once an organization grows, problems start to pop up.

Automation is a Must

A documented workflow, preferably an automated one, is almost a requirement for businesses once they reach a certain size. When the workload increases, casual document approval methods tend to break down.

Trouble happens when looming deadlines cause employees to circumvent tedious approval workflows. When the approval process stalls, it’s tempting to bypass a step or two in efforts to meet mandated implementation targets. Detours like these can result in documents with missing or inaccurate information. That can trigger customer confusion, regulatory infractions, re-work, or even lawsuits.

Link Approvals with Document Composition

An easy and configurable approval process built into the document design and composition procedure is the best way to lower risk and assure an organization consistently produces high-quality documents. When the integrated workflow automatically manages new and modified documents created within the document composition tool, employee compliance improves.

Along with the workflow, document approvals should be governed by rules that remove most subjective opinions from the process. Anyone who has dealt with multiple approvers who each have a different idea about the content or design of a document will tell you it’s a nightmare to satisfy all interested parties and still adhere to an implementation schedule. Once drafts start flying back and forth, achieving consensus takes a long time.

To keep the approval process moving, approvers should limit their input to an evaluation of documents against corporate design guidelines, compliance with established quality standards, inclusion of approved legal descriptions, interpretation of regulations, etc. Keep personal opinions out of the process as much as possible.

A document approval process defines the path a document takes from first draft to going live in production. Different documents may take different paths. For instance, a customer communication about your organization’s privacy policy probably requires the legal department’s review, where an announcement about opening a new location need not involve the lawyers.

Benefits of Automated Document Approvals

Once an easily administered document approval process is in place, organizations can realize several benefits:

• Efficiency Improvements: Everyone in the organization has a clear understanding about their roles as document approvers.
• Corporate standards: A well-designed document approval procedure ensures consistency across the enterprise.
• Automated follow-up: Everyone is busy. Automatic reminders can ensure the system reminds individuals when their contributions are overdue.
• Documentation and accountability: The lifecycle of a document begins when it is designed. An automated approval process helps organizations track down problems and identify bottlenecks.

Part of the Quickcoms Platform

Quickcoms comes with a built-in approval workflow that facilitates and automates the document approval process. The software provides an accounting of when documents were changed, who changed them, and maintains a library of earlier versions. We designed the Quickcoms platform to evolve with your business and be endlessly configurable. Business users can design and modify document approval processes to meet their specific requirements with no need for developers or expensive consultants.