Approval Workflow

EDITable's live database connection allows for real-time data updates and synchronization. While row and column-level access permissions preserve your data integrity, you can go one step further to secure your data by setting up approval workflows.

In a team, users might need management's approval before making any data changes to ensure correctness and accuracy. There can also be scenarios like multiple users accidentally changing the same data, entering incorrect values, etc. All these can be managed by setting up an approval workflow process in EDITable.

The process is as follows:

Enable Approvals in EDITable
Select approvers by specifying the method

There are many methods to select approvers, like manually entering the email IDs of approvers, or configuring a rule-based system to identify the approvers or even using a lookup table for setting up the rules.

Once enabled,

The approvers are notified with an email that contains a link to the review log, as and when any changes are made to the table by the users.
The approvers can select which changes to approve or reject from the log.
After an approval (or a rejection), the user who made the change is notified about the same with an email.

This section explains all the above methods in detail.

1. Enable Approvals

You can turn on approval workflow by following the steps below:

Navigate to Settings -> Approvals.
Toggle on the Enable Approvals button.

2. Select Approvers

The next step is to select the approvers who will review and approve any changes made to the table.

There are three ways to select approvers. Here's a detailed guide to each method:

2.1. Enter List of Approvers

This is a straight-forward method where you will manually specify individuals who will act as approvers. This method allows you to select specific users in the workspace by typing their names or email addresses who will be responsible for reviewing and approving the changes.

2.2. Add Rules to Identify Approvers

Define approvers for specific columns or records in the table based on set rules and criteria. Enter the rule name, the filter criteria, and the designated approvers for that rule. You can set as many rules as required and assign corresponding approvers for each.

Note that rules are executed in the order they are added and can be reordered.

The detailed steps are as follows:

Select Add rules to identify approvers.
Click Add Rule to add a rule.

In the pop-up, enter a name for the rule, filter criteria and approvers for the criteria and click Add.

You can add multiple filters/criteria within a rule and combine them using AND or OR operators as below:

To delete a filter criteria, use the bin icon.

After clicking on Add, you can find the rule added to the list of rules. You can add more rules by selecting Add Rule.

Use the options as highlighted below to edit, re-arrange, or delete a rule.

Default Approver: In the final step, add one or more default approvers who will approve the changes that do not meet the above configured rules/criteria. Click Save and you are good to go.

2.3. Lookup Rules from a Table

In this one-of-a-kind method, you can configure the rules and approvers list by looking up data from another table. The options are explained below:

Table: This dropdown menu displays a list of tables in the connection. Select the table from which the approvers list is to be looked up/fetched.
Approvers: Choose the column containing the approvers' email IDs.
Conditions: Map columns from the lookup table to the corresponding columns in the source table to join the tables. You can set multiple conditions (join multiple columns) as needed.

For example, let us say each brand in the lookup table has a person-in-change and their corresponding Email ID in the Email ID column. By mapping the columns 'brand' from both tables, we allow the corresponding approvers' email IDs to be fetched for each brand.

Default Approvers: Specify the default approvers to approve other changes that do not involve the above set conditions.

Click on Preview Rules to view the approvers list for each brand. In the example below, we have the same approver for all brands.

You can use the Sync Rules option to sync the connected lookup table to fetch the latest data. The last sync details and the status can also be seen.

3. Persistence Mode

You can choose how to handle the approvals from this section.

User Options for Handling Approval Preferences

Request Approval Before Saving
- User needs to get approval before the data is saved.
Save with Pending Approval Status
- Changes are saved to the database with a pending for review flag. The pending rows are showed for review and on approval the status column will be updated.

4. Review the changes in the visual

Pending Requests: ◦ The changes will be submitted as pending requests for review.
My Request: It shows all the requests made by user.
Review Process: ◦ Approvers will review the changes and their details will be shown to user ▪ Approve: Click the Approve button if the changes are acceptable. ▪ Reject: Click the Reject button if the changes are not acceptable. Optionally you can add a note before rejecting.