Approvals in Microsoft Teams is currently rolling out across the globe, allowing all users to produce, share and sign-off on those essential approval requests directly from the hub, a channel, or a chat.
The brand-new app will revolutionise the workplace approvals process, streamlining requests by allowing for instant decisions to be made when time is of the essence. No more awkwardly waiting around for customer discounts to be signed off by management or watching the clock tick down as a bid deadline rapidly approaches. Approvals notifies the person who needs to agree a request instantly, with details of the proposal and a choice of Approve or Reject. All requests are then tracked and stored providing the perfect audit trail of all decisions made.
To utilise the Approvals app within your Microsoft Teams account simply follow the steps below as we explore how to create, approve (or reject) and manage your requests.
Locating Approvals and creating a request:
- To open Approvals, go to any page in Microsoft Teams and locate the ellipsis on the left sidebar, circled and numbered ‘1‘ on the image below.
- When a new box opens, type ‘Approvals’ in the ‘Find an app’ text box, underlined and labelled ‘2‘ below.
- Finally, when the purple ‘Approvals’ icon appears (circled and labelled as ‘3‘), click to open. You’ve now begun your first Approval request! You can pin the icon to your sidebar by right clicking and selecting ‘pin’ for ease of future use.
- You should now see the ‘New request’ Approvals box, pictured below. Give your request a name under ‘name request’ ‘1‘, then type who the request is to be sent to ‘2‘. Additional details can be added in the box below should you need.
- You can add supporting documents by clicking the ‘add attachment’ box and locating a file from File Explorer ‘3‘.
- Once you’re happy your request is complete, simply click ‘Send’, ‘4‘, to instantly notify the required recipients.
- For even quicker access, you can send Approvals directly from a Chat or Channel simply by typing ‘@Approvals’ into any text box, shown below. Once ‘Approvals’ has appeared under your suggestions, click to open the ‘New request’ box shown above.
Responding to Approvals sent to you:
- As soon as somebody sends you an Approvals request, you’ll receive an instant notification, seen below in the bottom left corner of the screen ‘1‘ and the request will appear in your ‘Activity’ hub in the top right side of the screen ‘2‘, you can click either to open the request.
- You should now see the ‘Approvals’ box shown below. Here you can instantly ‘Approve’, ‘Reject’ or ‘Cancel’ the request, additional feedback can also be given to the sender by typing in the ‘Comments’ box. By clicking ‘Approve’, ‘Reject’ or ‘Cancel’ the sender is instantly notified of your decision and will be shown any supplemental comments.
Managing your Approval requests:
- All of your Approvals can be found in the Approvals app, which can be located on the sidebar ‘1‘ in the image below, (if you had previously ‘Pinned’ it there), or by clicking the ellipsis ‘2‘ to open the app search function and selecting ‘Approvals’.
- Once opened your Approvals board should look like the image below, showcasing all the approvals that have been both sent by you and received by you, with the current status, the date created and showing who else was involved in the approval process.
Do let us know in the comments section below what you think of the new Approvals app, and what other functions you might like to see within Microsoft Teams to help streamline your work process.
You can learn more about how our Work Hub solution enriches Microsoft Teams for improved productivity and collaboration here AddIn365 – AddIn Work Hub .
We regularly share the latest functions within Microsoft Teams and how to best utilise them; leave a comment below to ask your question about how to get the most out of your digital experience or email an enquiry to hello@addin365.com.
