The approval process is essential in scheduling operations. But when it involves multiple reviewers and multiple events, it can also be tedious and time-consuming.
In a recent live, online Mazévo Connect session, Wendy, Claire, Dean, and Joe from our team shared insights and best practices for using Mazévo Approval Workflows to streamline and simplify the approval process.
Who Needs Approval Workflows and What Are the Benefits?
I get the session rolling by talking about who needs Approval Workflows—explaining that they’re designed for situations where multiple people (building managers, service providers, risk management, security staff, etc.) must weigh in on an event. For example, the catering department might need to indicate whether they can meet the customer’s needs.
If you have small events with a limited number of reviewers, simply sending an email requesting approval might suffice. But for everyone else, this Mazévo feature can be very helpful, as it:
- Saves time
- Keeps things from falling through the cracks
- Provides transparency internally
- Benefits customers by accelerating the approval process
Approval Workflows: Real-World Scenarios
The session continues with examples of how Workflow Approvals are utilized in events. With our team members playing various roles (requester, event planner, campus safety, and approver), we walk through the typical “lifecycle” of events that require approvals.
After Claire shows a list of her events, with several needing approvals, Dean takes over as the event planner and demonstrates how approvals are handled behind the scenes. That starts with checking his Day At A Glance, where events are grouped by approval status as Approved, Pending, etc. In particular, the events under Waiting for Review need to be assessed and released to the appropriate approval authorities.
Dean explains what happens when approvals are denied or, in this case, approved by clicking Activate All. Making that choice changes the Approval Status of the AV and Campus Safety Approvals and automatically sends an email to the appropriate reviewers/approvers.
The AV Approver’s Perspective
Next, Joe (as the AV specialist) takes over. He shows the automatically generated email he received due to Dean activating the approvals. It prompts him to go to My Approvals in Mazévo, where he reviews what customers need for events. Seeing no problems with the items requested for one event, he grants his approval. Joe also demonstrates how to deny an event and enter notes about why he’s taken that action.
Campus Safety Takes a Look
Wendy, our campus safety manager, now gets involved. Her stamp of approval is needed for any event with an attendance over 75. Wendy points out that the event Joe denied doesn’t show up in her queue. The gathering can’t take place, so she doesn’t need to consider it. However, there are no issues with the other two events in our scenario, so she approves them.
Back to the Event Planner
Dean returns to his Day At A Glance and explains that events for which all approvals have been granted are in the Approved “bucket.” Any event for which one or more approvals have been declined falls into the Denied bucket. He also brings up a window where, rather than one row per event, Mazévo shows one row for each approval within an event grouped by service category (AV, Catering, Campus Safety, etc.).
Dean then reviews the bookings for an event, sees that approvals have been granted, and approves the event himself. To Claire, the requester, the event now shows up as Booked. As a next step, Dean would email Claire a confirmation document.
Configuring Approval Workflows
Next, Dean explains how you configure approvals. This includes entering a description and notes, selecting approvers, noting what triggers the approval, and indicating the service provider or resource tags.
He also explains that you can select multiple people for an approval and that if any of them approves or denies an event, the system no longer displays it to the others as requiring attention. And he points out the option to require an event planner to review approvals before they’re activated or let them be activated automatically.
Security is also an issue with approvals, of course. Mazévo users must have the security role of Approvals - Oversight to approve or deny events.
How To Override Approvals
Dean continues, describing how approvals work by noting an important feature: the ability to override a denied approval. He gives the example where a catering approver denies an event, but the customer says they want to proceed without the catering service.
In that case, an authorized Mazévo user can manually indicate that an approval has been Disregarded. And that update also changes the Approval Status so that approvers who never saw the approval based on it being denied by another department can now review it.
IMPORTANT: The Date and Status of Bookings Are Essential
Dean goes on to emphasize the importance of booking dates and statuses. Not surprisingly, Mazévo doesn’t display events that have already occurred on approval-related lists.
He also shows how booking statuses have a “Request Behavior,” giving the example of a Request status that translates to a Pending behavior. That translation eliminates the need to define several booking statuses and move bookings through them—as is necessary in systems like EMS.
See Approval Workflows in Action!
The session wraps up with the crew providing answers to attendees’ questions.
If you have questions after watching the recording of this informative Mazévo Connect session, we’re happy to answer them! Or, if you want to see how Approval Workflows would function in your environment, we’ll gladly walk you through that in a live Mazévo demo!
