Custom SharePoint Approval Workflow to Automate Document Lifecycle

Summary

A US law firm used a financial management system to create pro forma documents — preliminary bills sent to clients for approval ahead of actual invoicing — but its manual approval process caused payment delays. Already on SharePoint, the firm engaged INNERLUXES to automate the approval workflow on that platform and track approval progress. INNERLUXES delivered a custom SharePoint approval workflow integrated with the firm's financial system, fully automating the document lifecycle.

About the Client

The Client is a US law firm that offers legal services in areas such as employment, insurance, intellectual property, and real estate.

The Challenge

The Client had a financial management system for creating documents — pro forma bills sent to clients for approval in advance of actual invoicing. Its document management was ineffective due to a manual approval process, which caused payment delays. The Client wanted to streamline document management by automating the approval workflow. Since the firm already had a SharePoint subscription, it decided to use the platform for the automation. The Client also wanted to track approval progress to avoid billing delays and increase employee productivity.

The Solution

After evaluating the Client's needs, INNERLUXES implemented a custom SharePoint approval workflow. To enable data extraction from the Client's financial management system into the SharePoint approval workflow, our team integrated the two systems.

The approval workflow consisted of two parts: a primary workflow with an Accountant as Requester and an Attorney as Approver, and an additional one with the same Requester but a different Approver (Administrator). The additional workflow was needed for documents with amounts larger than an established threshold.

The integration enabled a Requester to access a list of documents in SharePoint and set up a workflow. Each entry contained data such as Number, Client, Matter, Workflow Status (Not Started, In Progress, Complete, Canceled, On-hold) and possible actions like Start or Cancel Workflow. The workflow could be started only if its status was Not Started.

The approval workflow also allowed submitting documents for billing in SharePoint — in this case triggered by an Attorney — and proceeding with pro forma billing at once, or holding billing 'till the next month' or 'till the Attorney decides.' In the latter case, the workflow allowed setting a date for a reminder that would be automatically sent to the Attorney.

The Results

• The developed SharePoint approval workflow fully automated the document lifecycle, facilitating pro forma management by letting employees easily track changes in documents and their statuses.
• As a result, the workflow helped increase the efficiency of the firm's document-driven business and reduce operational costs.

Technologies and Tools

SharePoint Server 2013, React JS, TypeScript, C#, .NET, Microsoft SQL Server Stored Procedures, SCSS, Visual Studio.