In GoProof online proofing software you can create automated custom workflows to help you move content from one group of collaborators through to the next in a staged, sequential order.
This preset, automated proofing workflow functionality removes the manual process of having to create a new review for each different team when it’s their turn to see it.
Instead, GoProof does it for you, using process automation triggered by predefined actions. It’s ideal for when more complex workflows are required.
Many stakeholders, corporate departments and agencies rely on using a regimented order of visibility when approving marketing and creative work.
It's an important sequence of responsibility which helps teams conform with regulatory industry standards and create an auditable trail of approval for content which can be referred back to at any time.
These stages of collaborative review can be configured in a custom way. It’s done by assigning the stages or points in the approval journey to specific individuals or groups.
It runs as a timeline, so flows from one stage to the next in the desired order that fits with the requirements of the organisation.
Once this chosen path is in place, you can control who is looking at content and in exactly what order they do it.
For example, your legal team won’t need to see content until the marketing department has reviewed and signed off on their copy and illustrations. Similarly, marketing won’t be able to pass the content through to publishing without legal seeing it first.
So, if marketing has a dependency on approval from the legal department before releasing content for publishing, this automated workflow ensures content won’t get released until legal has scrutinised it.
Once you’ve built your custom workflow, you’ll want to use it again, right? GoProof does that - and goes one step further.
It allows you to use the original workflow and groups you set up whenever you need to, sure. On top of that, you can choose to use the most recent version of that workflow too.
So for example, if the collaborators were changed or new ones added at any stage along the way, this modified configuration would appear as the most recent workflow version and you could select that instead next time.
Either way, you can easily pick workflows again for content that is regularly reviewed by the same people in the same order. It makes repeating complex workflows easy. Just set it up once and use it again as many times as you want.
Using GoProof’s automated workflows also combats one of the biggest traits of a segregated team proofing approach: excessive dwell time.
The time spent collaborating on a proof can vary depending on who is looking at it. This is where deadlines and reminders make a huge impact on efficiency.
Setting a deadline (or time frame) for each stage is a simple but incredibly effective way to control how long the proof sits with a particular team. It stops proofs getting stuck in the mud.
If a team is taking too long, a pre-selected action will take place once the deadline has passed. This could be forwarding the proof immediately on to the next stage or sending a final reminder to get it reviewed.
Of course, this effect can also be a benefit, as it means work won’t get through unless everyone who needs to see it has actually seen it.
Think about it, being stuck in legal might actually be a good thing, as many corporations with constant PR challenges will no doubt testify to.
Either way, the automation drives continuity and keeps the review on track.
Now what if the review is confidential and requires extra security? Or if you want some comments to be hidden from other collaborator groups?
Easy, you can make the whole review Confidential - which means only those with a registered email address and password can access it - or any of the individual groups Private.
If a group is Private, then all comments made in that group will be hidden from anyone else in the review, so no sensitive information is leaked from one group to another.
Throughout the approval journey, email and push notifications are automatically triggered to alert collaborators to proofs landing with them for review.
These can be custom designed if preferred but the GoProof standard templates will deliver all the required links and details to jump into proofs and get collaborating.
Project management becomes so much easier for everyone involved in the process when you use our automated workflows.
HOW TO SET WORKFLOWS UP
To get started, go to your name in the top right of your web app dashboard, open the menu and select Manage Workflows.
This takes you through to the configuration screen where you create and name a new workflow, choose which clients you want to make it available for and set your collaborator permissions.
Next is setting the stages. Use the Add Stage button to create and name one. This is where you’d probably use departments, teams or locations like Studio, US Agency or Legal.
Each stage has a trigger option to progress it onto the next stage and the ability to set a deadline, with an option for an automatic action to take place if that deadline arrives.
In each stage you can have as many groups as you want and you build and name them using the Add Group button.
Here’s where you can choose whether to make the group private and set the automatic trigger for that group to show that their review has been wrapped up..
Once the group is created, the name type field allows you to enter the details of each collaborator, choose their role in the review and place them in.
That’s it, you’re done creating the workflow.
SENDING A WORKFLOW PROOF
Workflows are available to use in both the GoProof extension for Adobe Creative Cloud and the intake file uploader.
When you send a proof, the wizard will ask you the question ‘How would you like to send your proof?’ on the first screen. Simply click the WORKFLOW button and you’ll follow through to the workflow options two screens later.
Here you can pick which workflow you want to use from the dropdown and if it was modified, you’ll have the option to use the most recent version.
Confirm your groups and trigger finishes, push through the rest of the wizard and send it.
All done.
TRACK PROGRESS IN THE PROOF DASHBOARD
We’ve modified the Proof Dashboard layout to help keep on top of workflows and see what stage they are at in the creative journey.
On the left-hand side of the grid on each proof item there is a colour that signifies what the status of the review is. For standard proofs sent direct to collaborators these will be a solid vertical line as normal.
For automated workflow proofs, this vertical line will be dashed instead, so you can easily see at a glance which of your proofs are using a preset workflow.
When you hover over the top of a workflow proof in the Proof Dashboard list, you’ll notice the view expands to show a timeline of the stages in the review and where it’s currently at.
The completed stages are filled blue circles with solid fill joining lines. The currently active stage is an unfilled blue circle and all future stages are in grey with a dashed connector line.
Again, this makes it easy for you to see at a glance what’s going on with the proof route.
Hovering over the stages themselves brings up an information box telling you more about the workflow, including the trigger requirements set for moving the proof on to the next stage.
These triggers could be that everyone needs to hit FINISH on their review first, just one person does or only gatekeepers can trigger it.
The (i) button to the centre-right of a proof listing takes you through to a more detailed view of the workflow.
Here you can dive into each stage and see exactly which collaborators are inside them, with the stages listed in sequential order from top to bottom. The proof visual is at the bottom.
This view also tells you who has seen the proof and who is done reviewing, so you can evaluate if there is a blockage or an obvious reason why the proof may be lagging behind schedule.
REACH OUT TO US FOR MORE
We hope our automated proofing workflow functionality simplifies complex proofing needs and makes routing content so much better!
It’s easy to implement them in your business. To learn more, check out our help sheets on the GoProof support site or get a skill session from our Customer Success Team.
