Approvals, Phases, Formstack Integration, Collection of Multiple Docs

[Rachael_Castela]

Hoping to get some insight into how to build an airtable base.

Context: Our business development department is collecting information internally on prospective vendors. They’ll then input the information into airtable with the expectation that all documentation can be outputted into 1 seamless “packet” of information taking all documentation from airtable.

Here are the requirements of the base:

• 100+ vendors
• 3 Phases of document / conversation completion. (Ex: In Phase 1, we must collect the Brand Analysis document, and have a “Top to Top” conversation. Each Brand Analysis document and Top to Top conversation will be the same, but the responses will be unique for each vendor. There is a chance that the Brand Analysis document (for example) may live in Airtable, or may be an excel document. My fear is that if the information is standardized (even captured in a form) it’ll mean we must have a table for each conversation/document (brand analysis, top to top, etc.)
• Approval by management (Once 100% of the documentation is completed for Vendor A, Phase 1, it can be moved to Phase 2)
• 1 view to show overall progress to completion for each phase
• 1 view to show details on each conversation/document
• MUST be able to output this information into a standardized document. (either in Formstack documents or page builder). Right now I’m having difficulty formatting with linked tables.

Here is a ROUGH draft of what I’m thinking (needs a lot of ironing out)

I have a very quick turnaround time and would like to have this ironed out this week. Please let me know if you can help. Ideally I would like to chat over the phone.Thanks!

Rachael

[amanda_jones]

hello Rachael,

would like to help, sending you PM

Regards,
Amanda

[Mohamed_Swella1]

Hi @Rachael_Castelaz,

We can have a zoom call today if you want, feel free to contact me on mohamedswellam@hotmail.com

BR,
Mo

[Brenkoh]

Hi @Rachael_Castelaz, send you a direct message. Do check it out and look forward to your response. Thanks!

[Andrew_Johnson1]

Hi Rachel,
Being an experienced Airtable consultant, I can say with great confidence that what you are wanting done is well within my area of expertise.
You can reach me on andrewjohnson56782@gmail.com
Best Wishes,
Andrew

[Bill_French]

@Rachael_Castelaz, I’ve encountered something similar as well and you have some good consultants ready to help. Indulge me while I provide some advise from previous engagements - this might help you with your strategy.

Rachael_Castelaz:

MUST be able to output this information into a standardized document.

It’s been my experience that there are few options to address this final requirement - arguably the most important requirement - without integration code of some type and without a framework that is document-centric and which is programmable.

Creating precision output in the context of the workflow process is difficult because Airtable lacks a few essential elements at a foundational level. This will change in the future, but for now you must press on without true event handlers and state transitions to come up with a solution.

Page Builder is not likely to make it the last mile of the requirements but I defer to some of the clever consultants who have responded. It’s certainly worth a try.

To overcome these Airtable limitations and achieve precise document/reporting standardization in a similar project, I used Google Documents to create, manage, and render standardized templates, and Google Apps Script to fabricate the necessary workflow automation. Here’s an example.

Rachael_Castelaz:

My fear is that if the information is standardized (even captured in a form) it’ll mean we must have a table for each conversation/document (brand analysis, top to top, etc.)

This is a rational fear because it suggests a very complex process. Ideally, you want to avoid this because there’s a good probability that you’ll encounter new document-bases conversations. In some way, your consultants need to create an abstraction layer to avoid more than one table that addresses arbitrary document formats.

Best of luck with your project - it looks like a good candidate for my next recommendation - clear requirements before settling on any specific implementation approach. :winking_face:

[cherry_yang1]

Hi @Rachael_Castelaz !

I sent you a PM.

You can schedule a time with me here: https://calendly.com/cherryyang/initial-consultation

Here’s my website if you’d know to know more about me. https://www.airopsconsulting.org/

Look forward to connecting with you and have a great rest of your day!

Best,
Cherry

[andywingrave]

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