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      An Example Contract Approval Form (CAF)

      This article explains how a a Simple Contract Approval Form can be translated into a Kanban Board format.

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         Estimated Read Time: 2 minutes

      Sections in this article:

      Example Use Case

      This article will use a simple Contract Approval Form with two main sections as an example:

      • Section A - Vendor / Contract / Budget details
      • Section B - Approval details

      Example:

      This process follows these steps:

      1. The person requesting the contract completes section A and emails it to the approver.
      2. The approver reviews it and approves or rejects the request (recording their decision on the form).
      3. If approved, the form is sent on to the relevant team(s) to setup the Vendor and Contract.

      This process and any related data is typically hidden within emails, folders, or direct messages, making it difficult to track progress and ensure transparency.

      In Gatekeeper, our Kanban Workflows Engine can digitise and automate this form-based process.

      When looking at a workflow, you can see where the request is in the CAF process, and all the data and documents compiled in kanban cards would be centrally stored.

      Scenario: Pipeline request (not submitted yet)

      Scenario: Request submitted & is being reviewed

      Scenario: Request has been approved and is being set up

      This 3-phase kanban gives you simple oversight of the process as a whole, and provides an audit trail (on the workflow) of:

      • who has requested a new contract
      • who has reviewed/approved that request
      • who has set up the documents/data in the CMS

      Outside of the kanban board itself, Vendor and Contract records will be created in your repository and assigned as Live and Approved.

      Additionally, any metadata records created via a workflow can be traced back to their form of origin.

      Pictured above: A User, after opening a record in the Contracts Repository, can navigate to the Forms tab to find a link to the kanban form which was completed during that contract's approval

      Adding Complexity

      Kanban boards can be used for more complex processes. For example, if the CAF had an extra section for "Executing/Signing a contract", this would be added as an extra phase to the kanban board:

      In the example below, the request has been set up in the CMS and the contract is being signed (internally and/or externally).

      This is the underlying logic of how workflows are built in Gatekeeper.

      Kanban boards ensure all steps within a process (such as a Contract Approval/Contract Renewal Review/Supplier Onboarding) are connected in a structured and easy-to-manage workflow.

      Next Steps

      As a next step, visit Creating a Workflow Diagram to learn about building your own diagram for a Gatekeeper Workflow.