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Yanyu Zhou
Portfolio
Case study 04Workflow design · Approvals · Contracts · Automation

Approval & Contract Workflows

Designed the workflows that take a request from the form to approval to a signed, filed record — people make the decisions, automation does the paperwork.

Delivered · in use

Business value

An approved request turns into the right tasks, documents and signed records — without anyone re-typing it or chasing the file.

My role
Process mapping · Approval routing design · Automation build · Testing every branch · Documentation and rollout
Skills
  • Process mapping
  • Conditional logic
  • Workflow automation
  • API integration
  • Document automation
  • Error handling
Built with
  • Approval forms
  • Collaboration workspace
  • Automation platforms
  • E-signature platform
  • Document templates
  • APIs and webhooks

Confidentiality note. Company-specific data, configurations, workflows and diagrams in this case study have been anonymized and reconstructed for public presentation.

01

The request

From · Operations, finance, project and contract teams

Requests for vendors, projects and contracts came in through chat and email. Who had to approve depended on who you asked, each new project and contract was set up by hand from templates, and signed copies had to be chased down and filed manually.

  • Pain point 01

    Who had to approve a request depended on who you asked.

  • Pain point 02

    Every new project and every contract was set up by hand.

  • Pain point 03

    Signed contracts had to be chased down and filed manually.

02

What I built

  1. 01Approval forms with conditional routing — the answers on the form decide who approves, who is copied, and which extra steps apply
  2. 02A purchase-order step inside the approval — on certain branches the requester must upload the PO before finance signs off
  3. 03Project setup automation — an approved project is sorted by type, gets its task list from that type’s template, and the owner and requester are added
  4. 04Contract automation — an approved record picks the template by contract type, fills it in and creates an e-signature draft for a person to send
  5. 05Signed-copy filing — when signing completes, the executed document is downloaded and attached to the right record: NDA, change order or contract
Three workflows, one pattern
Approval routing
People approve
A request form
Conditional branches on the form’s answers
Approvers and CCs; PO upload when required
An approved record
Project setup
Owner checks the plan
An approved project
Branch by project type
Task list from that type’s template; owner and requester added
Status, type and phase set on the record
Contract & filing
A person sends
An approved contract record
Route by contract type
Template filled; e-signature draft created
Signed copy filed to the right table
Simplified. Real forms, approvers and templates are not shown.
03

Try it — follow a request through the workflow

Three simplified workflows. Change the input and watch the route change — the same way the real forms and automations decide what happens next.

How to use
  • Approval: switch the quote comparison to see the PO step appear or disappear.
  • Project setup: pick a project type to see which template it starts from.
  • Contract: pick a type, then send and sign it to see where the signed copy is filed.
  • People, amounts and templates are fictional.

A vendor selection request. One answer on the form — how the chosen quote compares — decides which branch it takes.

Quote comparison

Paying above the lowest quote adds a PO upload and an extra approver before finance signs off.

  1. 01 · RequesterSubmits a vendor selection request
    Vendor, role, fee, quote comparison
  2. 02 · Department headsApprove the selection
  3. 03 · SystemCopies the department heads (CC)
  4. 04 · RequesterUploads the purchase order
    Required on this branch
  5. 05 · Operations leadApproves the PO
  6. 06 · FinanceFinal approval
Simplified demo · fictional data · not the real system
04

How I thought about it

  1. 01

    Let the form decide the route

    Routing rules live in the form, not in people’s heads — so the same request always reaches the same approvers.

  2. 02

    Automate the paperwork, not the decision

    Approving and sending stay with people. Automation does what comes after a decision: tasks, drafts and filing.

  3. 03

    Close the loop

    A workflow isn’t finished until the result is back on the record — the task list, the PO, the signed contract.

Methods used

  1. 01

    Conditional branching

    The form’s answers pick the path — paying above the lowest quote adds a PO upload and an extra approver.

  2. 02

    Webhook triggers

    An approval or a completed signature starts the next step instantly — nobody has to remember to kick it off.

  3. 03

    Router by type

    One automation, several paths: each project or contract type gets its own template and steps.

  4. 04

    Template-based document generation

    Contract fields are filled from the approved record into the right template — no copy-paste.

  5. 05

    API write-back

    Results — task lists, drafts, signed files — are written back to the record they belong to.

  6. 06

    Human-in-the-loop

    Automation prepares drafts; a person reviews and sends. Nothing is signed or paid automatically.

  7. 07

    Error handling + re-runs

    Failed runs are kept, fixed and re-run, so a hiccup never silently loses a request.

  8. 08

    Single source of truth

    Every workflow reads from and writes to the same records, so status lives in one place.

05

How it was delivered

Run as a project: from the team’s request to something people use every day.

  1. 01
    Map

    Mapped how vendor, project and contract requests actually moved — and where they stalled.

  2. 02
    Design

    Wrote the routing rules: which answers trigger which branch, who approves, who is copied.

  3. 03
    Build

    Built the forms, the automations and the document templates.

  4. 04
    Test

    Ran sample requests down every branch, including the awkward edge cases.

  5. 05
    Roll out

    Documented each flow and trained the teams that submit and approve.

  6. 06
    Monitor

    Failed runs are reviewed, fixed and re-run; rules are adjusted as the business changes.

06

Result

BeforeApprovers depended on who you asked
AfterThe form routes each request to the right approvers and CCs
BeforeProjects and contracts were set up by hand
AfterApproved records create task lists and contract drafts from templates
BeforeSigned copies were chased and filed manually
AfterSigned documents are filed back to the right record automatically
People make the decisions; the workflow handles everything that follows — and puts the result back where everyone can find it.
07Technical detailsFor the deeper read: Approval routing · Project setup automation · Contract automation and filing · Automated Weekly Business Review · What remained controlled / human

Approval routing

  1. 01
    Submit

    The requester fills in a structured form: vendor, role, fee and how the chosen quote compares.

  2. 02
    Approve

    Department heads approve; the same group is copied so everyone sees the outcome.

  3. 03
    Branch

    The form checks its own answers. Paying above the lowest quote sends the request down the stricter branch.

  4. 04
    Stricter branch

    The requester uploads the purchase order, an operations lead approves it, then finance gives final approval.

  5. 05
    Standard branch

    Everything else goes straight to finance for final approval.

Project setup automation

  1. 01
    Trigger

    An approved project request sends a webhook to the automation.

  2. 02
    Branch

    The automation branches by project type — each type has its own path.

  3. 03
    Template

    It looks up that type’s task template and creates the project task list from it.

  4. 04
    People

    The project owner and the requester are added, so the right people see it from day one.

  5. 05
    Fields

    Status, type and phase are set on the record, so reporting works without manual tagging.

Contract automation and filing

  1. 01
    Trigger

    An approved contract record starts the automation.

  2. 02
    Route

    A router picks the path by contract type — pre-signed NDA, NDA for both parties, service agreement or change order.

  3. 03
    Fill

    The right template is filled with parties, dates, fee and scope from the record.

  4. 04
    Draft

    An e-signature draft is created with the correct signing order — and stops there for a person to review and send.

  5. 05
    File

    When signing completes, a second automation downloads the executed copy and attaches it to the right table: NDA, change order or contract.

Automated Weekly Business Review

A recurring company-wide operating review

A weekly workflow that distributes follow-up tasks, consolidates updates into a consistent structure, and produces a company-level operating snapshot with outstanding actions surfaced.

The weekly cycle
  1. 01
    Distribute weekly follow-up tasks
  2. 02
    Collect updates
  3. 03
    Consolidate & structure
  4. 04
    Company operating snapshot
  5. 05
    Surface outstanding actions
Outstanding actions carry into the next week’s cycle.

What remained controlled / human

  • Every approval decision — the form routes the request, people approve it.
  • Sending for signature — drafts wait for a person to review and send.
  • Payments — a PO and approvals are prepared; money moves only when finance releases it.
  • Fixing failed runs — reviewed by a person before they are re-run.