APPROVAL FLOW

ApprovalFlow is an online document management system used to review and approve advertising, promotional and educational material.

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A document management system developed for life sciences organisations

ApprovalFlow is an enterprise-grade, cloud-based document approval system. The platform provides a structured workflow to review and approve documents.

Approve promotional material faster

Our streamlined digital workflow and email automation system keeps your promotional material review process on track.

Improve compliance

Our solution tracks all key user interactions ensuring traceability at all times. The automated expiry process notifies users when items need to be removed from circulation.

Lifecycle management

The efficient digital workflow enables users to manage the full document lifecycle. Upload, review and approve documents faster and reliably remove the items at the end of the lifecycle.

ApprovalFlow benefits

ApprovalFlow is easy to use. The structured online approval process improves compliance and saves time. Documents are securely stored and instantly accessible. The reporting system and expiry processes notify users when documents are about to expire.

improves compliance

easY to use

instantly accessible

real-time reporting

expiry process

saves time

THE APPROVAL PROCESS

ApprovalFlow offers an end-to-end digital workflow to review, approve and manage promotional materials and documents.

01

Upload a document

Start a new document approval cycle by adding basic information and uploading documents and references.

02

Annotate and
mark up

Use the browser-based annotation tools to mark up references and add comments to documents.

Our integrated core claims library expidites the markup process by providing access to pre-approved core claims.

03

Review and approve

Review documents using a structured linear approval process.

Email notifications alert the next approver when the document is ready for review.

04

Track and report

Users can keep track of the document approval process using the timeline.

The real-time dashboards provide valuable reporting information.

A promo review system designed for speed and compliance

We designed ApprovalFlow in collaboration with leading pharmaceutical industry specialists. The solution ensures ease of use, and meets the pharmaceutical industry's stringent compliance requirements.

Promotional material review

The pharmaceutical industry is highly regulated, with rigorous review processes required to ensure that promotional material remains fair and balanced. Managing this review process without a structured approach can be challenging. Documents can be lost or misplaced, and reconstructing the approval process using a manual or paper-based system can be a daunting task.

A recent study showed that medical information resources must dedicate significant time to reviewing promotional material (average 6-15 hours per week). The study ranked promotional material review as one of the most time-consuming job functions.

SAVING TIME AND MONEY
ApprovalFlow significantly reduces the time required to review content by providing an intuitive, structured online process.

ApprovalFlow offers an end-to-end Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution to review and approve documents. Our secure document management system encrypts and stores all documents in the cloud and tracks each user interaction providing a detailed audit log.

Benefits of a core claims library

A core claims document is a centralised repository of claims marketers can apply to a product's promotional materials. Relevant substantiating documents support each core claim. A core claims document library ensures that your team consistently use pre-approved claims across all materials. The core claims document clarifies how to word claims and which references apply to the claims.

COMPILE AND APPROVE CORE CLAIMS FASTER
ApprovalFlow's core claims library enables pharmaceutical companies to compile and approve core claims earmarked for use in the promotional material review process.

A centralised core claims library promotes knowledge transfer and onboarding, ensuring new team members have ready access and knowledge of pre-approved marketing claims.

The most significant benefit of a core claims library is that it dramatically reduces the time required to review promotional material.

Access all your reference documents

A document management system's most essential and critical function is the ability to store assets and provide controls to facilitate searches securely.

ApprovalFlow's searchable reference library provides instant access to substantiating documents used in the promotional material review process.

CENTRALISE ALL YOUR REFERENCES
The reference library is a centralised document repository of all reference material used as substantiating documents for core claims and references for promotional material review pieces.

The search and filtering capabilities enable users to perform a broad keyword search and easily access any reference document in seconds.

End-to-end document lifecycle management

ApprovalFlow's structured digital workflow significantly speeds up the document review process. Users add promotional material with drag-and-drop ease initiating a new document review cycle within minutes. The email automation system notifies the next reviewer when it is their turn to review and approve the document. The notifications are kept to a minimum and are only triggered when the review cycle transitions from one reviewer to the next.

ADVANCED VERSION CONTROL AND EXPIRY PROCESSES
Version control is vital to the success of a digital collaborative process. Several contributors may be working on developing a promotional piece, and it is essential to track changes, capture critical decisions and document the reviewing process. Proper version control mechanisms are instrumental in managing multiple reviewers' contributions. ApprovalFlow's advanced version control system maintains a detailed audit log throughout the document lifecycle. Once a round of review is complete, the version is locked, restricting users from altering comments or annotations.

When a promotional piece approaches its expiry date, ApprovalFlow automatically notifies the originator and prompts them to resubmit or archive the document.

COMPLIANCE

ApprovalFlow stores a detailed audit trail of all user interactions. The timeline lists time-and-date stamps of key system events. The structured workflow in

ApprovalFlow provides high levels of traceability, which improves regulatory compliance.

SPEED

The streamlined digital workflow in ApprovalFlow drastically speeds up the approval process.

Reviewers are notified when it is their turn to review and approve a document.

COST REDUCTION

Digital document approval systems remove the need for storage, archiving and secure destruction.

Organisations can securely store approved documents in our cloud-based platform, resulting in significant cost savings.

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

We compiled a detailed overview of Document Management Systems to help you choose the correct solution that meets your requirements.

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When
compliance
is critical

The promotional or medical-legal review process is critical in life sciences companies to ensure compliance with the relevant regulatory bodies.

During the copy clearance process, internal resources revise advertising copy and images and validate claims before release to their customers. A structured approach is essential for internal stakeholders to provide input and sign off for a document or promotional piece. It is equally crucial to have a workflow to remove expired or recalled items from circulation.

Paper-based systems have several downsides. Printed documents can be lost, or misplaced and effective version control becomes impossible to manage. A manual approval process involves several batten changes, resulting in delays. Paper-based approval systems also require secure storage and destruction.

The ApprovalFlow online document approval system reduces costs by eliminating printing and file storage and speeds up the approval process.

Enquire about our free 14-day trial

Contact our sales team for a demonstration and sign up for a free trial.

Features to support your promotional material review

Powerful features that enable you to review and approve documents and promotional material faster.

ONLINE DOCUMENT STORAGE

Our online document approval system enables employees to work from anywhere. Users can instantly access approved documents.

BROWSER-BASED ANNOTATIONS

Annotate documents directly in the browser with various mark-up tools, including comments, lines, rectangles and marker tools.

VERSION CONTROL

The version control system ensures that your team has access to the latest version of the document. Previous versions of the document are locked for audit purposes.

AUTOMATED EMAIL REMINDERS

The automated email reminder system notifies reviewers when it is their turn to approve the document.

DOCUMENT FORMATS

The system supports popular file formats including PDF, Jpeg, Png, MP4 and MP3.

PDF DOWNLOAD

Users can download the marked-up PDF document and distribute it to external parties.

WE DEVELOPED A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK TO VALIDATE OUR SOFTWARE

Validation is required to ensure that the software functions accurately, reliably, and securely and complies with regulatory guidelines such as 21 CFR Part 11 and Good Documentation Practices (GDocP).

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Our customers

Finding the best online document approval system for your business can be overwhelming. The following companies found ApprovalFlow's cloud-based document approval system of great value — and we think you will too.

gLOBAL presence

Pharmaceutical companies around the globe are using ApprovalFlow to speed up their promotional material review processes.

APPROVALFLOW

ApprovalFlow is an online document management system used to review and approve advertising, promotional and educational material.

Our document approval system, with its integrated core claims library, speeds up the approval process and helps pharmaceutical companies to be more compliant and audit-ready.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHAT IS APPROVALFLOW?

ApprovalFlow is an online document approval system to review and approve documents, promotional material and artwork. Users upload documents to a secure, cloud-based environment and then use a structured, sequential workflow to manage document approvals.

Each reviewer can add annotations to a document. ApprovalFlow locks annotations to each user, which ensures compliance and traceability. The comments bound to a specific user cannot be removed or altered by other reviewers.

WHAT IS THE WORKFLOW IN APPROVALFLOW?

ApprovalFlow uses three easy steps to approve documents. Upload a document, add comments and markup and submit it for review. The approval options include - approved, approved with changes and resubmit. When a reviewer selects the resubmit option, the review cycle reverts back to originator.

The email automation system notifies the next reviewer when it is their turn to review and approve the document. A final version of the document is uploaded once all the reviewers have approved the document. An expiry date is assigned to the document. When a document nears the expiry date, the originator is automatically notified that the document needs to be updated and resubmitted for review.

HOW WOULD MY COMPANY BENEFIT?

ApprovalFlow's structured approval workflow offers several benefits.

ApprovalFlow improves compliance by providing a structured digital workflow and a detailed audit trail. Traditional wordprocessors use "track changes" to manage version edits. When a reviewer accepts all changes, the comments are lost, and it becomes unclear what changes were made by users. The annotation view in ApprovalFlow enables users to add comments and markup to documents directly in the browser. These comments are locked to individual users, which offers full traceability from an audit perspective.

ApprovalFlow's digital workflow speeds up the approval process. With drag-and-drop functionality, users can add new documents with ease. The automated email notification system alerts reviewers when it is their turn to approve a document.

ApprovalFlow removes the need to print, store and archive physical documents, which results in cost savings. The digital workflow in ApprovalFlow ensures that the entire document review and approval process is managed within the browser, without the need to download and re-upload documents.

The automated notification system and timeline feature optimise collaboration between team members. The notification system alerts reviewers when it is their turn to approve a document. The timeline feature in ApprovalFlow tracks all user interactions and keeps users informed every step of the way.

HOW DO I SUBMIT A NEW DOCUMENT?

With ApprovalFlow, users approve documents in three easy steps. Upload a document, add comments and markup and submit it for review. The email automation system notifies the next reviewer when it is their turn to review and approve the document.

The new document wizard enables the originator to set up and configure a new document review cycle. The originator adds basic information related to the document. Next, the originator selects the reviewers that need to approve the document. Finally, the document and related references are uploaded. The document is then processed using a structured, sequential review process.

HOW DO I MANAGE REVIEWERS?

ApprovalFlow has several user management features to ensure that the document approval process runs smoothly. Use the skip function to bypass reviewers that become unavailable. Replace reviewers with the delegation function. The originator of the document can also add reviewers at the start of a new review cycle.

IS VERSION CONTROL SUPPORTED?

ApprovalFlow is all about compliance, and version control is core to the document review process. The originator uploads a new document for each round of review. Comments and markup applied to the earlier versions are locked. Auditors, therefore, have a detailed chronological record of every user action related to the document review.

WHAT FILE FORMATS ARE SUPPORTED?

ApprovalFlow supports three image formats, including PDF (portable document format), Jpeg, and Png. The platform also supports video and audio formats in the form of Mpeg4 video and Mp3 audio.

HOW DOES THE NUMBERING SYSTEM WORK?

Each new document is assigned a unique document number. The document number is comprised of the product name, country code and a sequential five-digit number. Example: ABC-AU-00001

The unique document number is configurable in the general settings page. It is possible to turn off the product and country code and only use the sequential document number.

CAN I SKIP A REVIEWER?

There may be instances where a reviewer becomes unavailable. In these cases, the approval process becomes blocked. The skip function in ApprovalFlow enables the originator of the document to skip reviewers. The skip function triggers an update to the timeline to ensure traceability of the approval process.

CAN I WITHDRAW A DOCUMENT?

There may be times when the review of a specific document is no longer required. The withdraw function in ApprovalFlow enables the originator to withdraw the document. When the withdraw function is triggered, the timeline is updated, and the document is moved from active documents to completed documents.

WHAT DOES THE RECALL FUNCTION DO?

The recall function enables the originator to stop the current review cycle. New information may require changes to the document. Instead of wasting the reviewers time with an incorrect version of the document, the originator recalls the document and resubmits the updated version.
When the recall function is triggered, the timeline is updated, and the review step reverts to the originator.

HOW DOES DELEGATION WORK?

In addition to the skip function, there is also a delegate function. The delegate function enables the originator to delegate a reviewer role to another user. The originator selects a reviewer and assigns the role to a different user in the system.

CAN I VIEW UTILISATION DATA?

ApprovalFlow has several reporting functions, which makes it easy to track how individuals are using the system. The user dashboard provides a real-time snapshot of utilisation data. The metrics include the number of active and completed documents and the average number of documents processed per month.

The reporting dashboard provides a rollup of all users. The dashboard tracks the total number of active and completed documents. Reporting data is downloadable in a Comma-Separated Value (CSV) file.

CAN I DOWNLOAD THE MARKED-UP PDF FILE?

At the end of a review cycle, the originator may need to share a PDF version of the marked-up document with stakeholders or external agencies. The export function in ApprovalFlow packages all comments and markup elements, added to the document, and generates a downloadable PDF file, ready to be shared with others.

WHAT IS THE PRICING MODEL?

ApprovalFlow offers a monthly subscription model and an enterprise model. With the monthly subscription model, there is a fixed monthly fee per user.

Enterprise customers pay a fixed monthly fee and have a dedicated server instance. Please contact our sales team at: sales@approvalflow.net to for enterprise pricing information.

IS A TRIAL VERSION AVAILABLE?

We offer a fourteen day trial. Once the trial period expires you will have the option to convert to a per-user subscription model.

We also have an enterprise model available, where a dedicated instance is set up for each company.

HOW SECURE IS APPROVALFLOW?

ApprovalFlow is hosted on Amazon EC2 with additional backups hosted on Amazon S3 Glacier. AWS is a leading provider of cloud hosting solutions.

ApprovalFlow encrypts customer data in transit and at rest. All customer data is encrypted in transit over public networks to protect it from unauthorised disclosure and modification.

CONTACT INFORMATION

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

sales@approvalflow.net