Enhance approval workflows with approver groups, multiple approvers, and not-same-as-requestor and not-same-as-prior-approver options
Problem Statement:
Sometimes, the approver for a workflow is not one specific person. While Wrike supports adding multiple people, that also requires the admin of the space or account to stay on top of changing human resources to update approvers when people join or leave the company which can prove challenging as more workflows are added.
Additionally, sometimes all that is required is a "two people to turn the key" type of scenario where all that is needed is someone other than the person requesting the approval to be the approver.
Finally, sometimes a task needs multiple approval levels such that each stage of approval might have different approvers, but someone might be able to approve at more than one level but should not be allowed to approve more than one of their assigned levels.
Proposed Solution:
Add an approvers group feature to allow targeting approval by any one member of a group. A group would be created with a unique name that could have multiple users added as members. Group membership would be maintained separate from the workflow at the space or account levels and could also be integrated with SCIM provisioning. The group name would be set as an approver to the workflow stage.
Add a number-of-approvals-required option that specifies whether one or more approvals is needed at a given stage.
Add a not-same-as-requestor option that prevents the user that is moving the task to the approval stage from approving it.
Add a not-same-as-prior-approver option that prevents a user that has already approved a task from approving it at a different stage.
These options would allow for easier maintenance of approvers across multiple workflows. They would allow for simple approvals across teams that only need to ensure someone other than the assigned worker approves it. They would also allow for complex multi-stage approvals where one or more groups could be involved in approval while ensuring that no one person can approve more than once.
Thanks for the detailed feedback, Phillip Ushijima 👍🏽 It will be super helpful for our team to understand the use case and improve the current approval workflow functionality. 😊
Also, when you have a moment, please check out similar feedback posts from other Wrike users. Feel free to upvote and share your thoughts:
1. Allow "and/or" approver selection – Multiple approvers when only one is needed
2. Levels of Approval
3. Approval Sequences
Basudha Sakshyarika Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Basudha Sakshyarika Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
An example use case would be a change approval board (CAB) scenario for software deployment or content publication workflows. A CAB is comprised of multiple users who may also be the resources working on a task. This type of workflow could have all of my suggested features apply.
For example, an organization desires a developer not being able to approve their own work. They move their work to a "ready for approval" stage. This developer is a member of a CAB group assigned for approval but because they are the one that moved the task into the approval stage, they are ineligible for approving it. This is an example of not-same-as-requestor approval.
Additionally, for the final approval stage of the workflow prior to it being published, the organization wants someone other than anyone else that's approved it to have the final say. This is an example of a not-same-as-prior-approver approval.
Alternatively, either of these stages could be set such that a certain number of approvals is needed at a given stage before moving to the next stage. This is an example of a number-of-approvals-required approval.
I have also seen some systems that use a majority approval process. So, I guess that would be another option - majority-approval-required.
I envision these options as checkboxes available in the workflow stage editor.
When it comes to specifying the CAB (or any other group of users) I'd imagine that would be the same interface as picking a user but enhanced with the option to select groups that are defined elsewhere at the account or space level. I'd think the building of groups would be similar to how job roles can be created and then assigned to a user.
Thank you for sharing more examples, Phillip Ushijima. I have passed these on to our product team. 😊👍🏽
Basudha Sakshyarika Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Basudha Sakshyarika Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover