FREE 51+ Approval Forms in PDF | Ms Word | Excel

The famous beauty influencer, cosmetic creator, and makeup artist, Jeffree Star, uses the phrase “Jeffree Star Approved” on every cosmetic product he considered good, a must-have, and practical. However, whether you are a makeup consumer or not, would you believe Star’s onscreen reviews without even using the product? Although the catchy phrase is totally suggesting that you have to buy these makeup palettes, foundation shades, lipsticks, and whatsoever, it still does not guarantee anything. This article will tell you about not only cosmetics, but also approval forms. Find out more below.

FREE 51+ Approval Forms in PDF | Ms Word | Excel

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What Is an Approval Form and Why Is It Important?

In most organizations, before a process can begin, it needs to be approved firsthand. Work items like monthly budgets, technical project intakes, creative tasks, marketing initiatives, and sales order transactions will go through a series of approvals before you consider them ready for kick-off or complete. That said, these organizations craft specific approval forms or quality management forms that tell how works should be approved or rejected all the time to utilize resources, unified process, and save time.

Furthermore, these approval documents are prevalent across different industries and organizations. An approval form carries out a creative asset, written content, or any process that needs approval before ending the transaction cycle. With that, this document is commonly associated with an evaluation form, feedback form, report form, recommendation form, business form, service form, and marketing form—all these will show the organization the essential aspects of any approval process.

What Is an Approval Process?

An approval process is a strategy that most organizations within a particular industry use to approve anything relative to a transaction, such as documenting, budgeting, proposing, reporting, and purchasing. With this, an organization can implement a standard approval process, whether internal or external. Also, this will help the organization save time by establishing a reliable and repeatable system. In other words, this process is a workflow—a sequence of work from start to end, which ensures flow control on any work the same way every time.

Moreover, establishing an approval process also means clearly defining the steps that will lead you to approve work. You can choose to make a manual approval process or an automated approval process. With a manual approval process, the employees of the organization follow specified steps and manually record the results. However, it can be a tedious and time-consuming, unlike an automated approval process. The reason is that an automated process has improved transparency and decision making.

Whether you are to create a manual approval process or an automated approval process, you should know the essential elements it is comprised of. But first, remember that every approval process differs based on its purpose or the organization’s specifications. Here are the tasks that you should include in designing your approval process:

1. Submission

Usually, an approval process begins with an employee submitting something (it could be a document, report, proposal, purchase order, etc.) With that, there is a need to make a submission entry portal that will receive the work. More so, it will be the stepping stone of every transaction. You can even include a submission receipt so that there is a proof of record.

2. Assign Approvers

The approval process needs someone to approve the work. It does not only hinge on the submitter. Hence, there is a need to assign someone to do the task. Identify a person or people who have the final decision. In case of a multiple level approval processes, define who will work on approving which aspects of work at what level.

3. Set Permission Level

A person or people should manage every level of the process. So, define the level of authority each user should acquire. The most effective way to oversee the approval process is to establish a centralized system that delineates every viewer, editor, and administrator. This way, you can maneuver who edits, rejects, or approves submissions.

4. Set Due Dates

Like any process, it is important to set due dates to keep the workflow operating and avoid accumulated work backlogs. Also, having a timeframe will tell you which work should be prioritized based on the schedule. In an approval process, you could expect some works to be finished earlier than planned or the other way around.

5. Alerts and Notifications

If you want to expedite the work, create a program that will automatically send alerts and notifications about the status of a submission. These alerts can be an approval or rejection notification, update request form, or a simple status update that notifies the user to advance to the next level. It is important to remember that submissions have to go several rounds of revision before they are considered approved.

6. Record or Log

Documenting every round of the approval process is most effective in ensuring increased transparency and consistency. With this, users will know where the submission is or who is editing it. It will also make the status of the document clearer and more organized.

Approval Forms: Different Types Defined

Because of the standard set by the industry, organizations should shout out the battle cry. If not, the slacking of competence might drag everything downhill. An approval form helps an organization monitor the quality of their work. And it also a tool that helps you align with the standard. Here are some of the most commonly used approval forms.

1. Payment Approval Form

A payment approval form is also called expense authorization, which is a form document that lists procedures and papers required to initiate transactions involving account payable and cash.

2. Work Approval Form

A work approval form is a document that authorizes an organization to grant a job vacancy to an applicant. It states conditions and terms related to the job.

3. Academic Approval Form

This approval form is common in schools, universities, and colleges. An academic approval form approves a student’s admission to a particular institution.

4. Travel Approval Form

The travel approval form is a document that grants travel permission to an employee, whether for a business trip or a personal vacation.

5. Participation Approval Form

This form approves a person’s participation in an event stated in the document. This gives the receiver information and guidelines about the event.

Let Us Spill the Tea: The “Approved” Drama

The terms trademark and copyright have been used incorrectly by a significant amount of users. These are two different labels. A trademark is any abstract or figural representation or slogan that is legally-protected and it is used by a company to establish brand identity in the market. On the other hand, copyright is the right of a person to distribute his or her original works (literary, musical, or any artistic work) legally. These differences could cause disputes if approved recklessly.

Like the drama between the Jeffree Star, a popular beauty influencer, and Michelle Dy, a Filipina YouTuber, which divided people’s opinion. Based on a post on Reddit, Star threatens to sue Dy over her onscreen series “Michelle Dy Approved Products.”

The controversy sparked when Dy posted a series of videos on her YouTube channel called “MD (Michelle Dy) Approved.” Then, Star noticed one of Dy’s video and commented. He even accused her of “stealing” his trademark.

Meanwhile, the chatter started a thread on Reddit with a lot of comments saying that Star should not take legal proceedings over Dy since other influencers are using the same phrase on their channel, like Tati Westbrook and Many Mua.

In light of the drama, the Reddit thread revealed that the account that left a comment under Dy’s video was not Star’s but a fake. Also, the phrase “Jeffree Star Approved” is not one of Star’s registered trademarks. Despite what happened, Dy apologizes by posting a public letter on Twitter saying she did not know that the “Jeffree Star Approved” title is copyrighted in the United States.

How Do You Make a Standard Approval Form?

Most organizations have a standard approval form format that they use. However, if you are to make one for yourself, there are things that need to be noted. For you to do that, start with a plan. Like any other task, you should establish your objectives so that you can create actionable steps to achieve those. And if you find it hard to begin, let us help you with these steps below, continue reading:

Step 1: Draft the Form

If you are to make a plan, it should begin by drafting the approval form. Take the time and think about the document you will be making. Then, start the layout with the portions you want it to carry out. Remember, an approval form serves as an authorization whether to continue a submission or not. So, the draft should allow you to make necessary changes as you complete your task.

Step 2: Download a Template

Like agreement forms, authorization forms, permission forms, and notice forms, one of the best ways to create an approval form is with the help of a template. If you think your draft will be useless because of the template, it is not. A template is an editable document, which means you can choose whether to customize its suggested content or leave it as it is. If you want to incorporate some portions from your draft, use editing software or application. Hence, you will be quickly finished with your task.

Step 3: Organize the Content

A simple form is a good approval form. That said, as much as you want the form to be aesthetically pleasing, you have to avoid novelty fonts and over-the-top colors. Simplicity will make the form refined. Additionally, organizing every portion makes the document easy to understand. Try to avoid the highfalutin words and figurative languages. It might confuse some of the users.

Step 4: Update the Form

After days, weeks, and months of using the approval form, there will come a time it needs to be updated. Changes in the organization’s process are the primary factor that affects the usability of the approval form. If that comes, your only choice is to streamline the content so that it will remain relevant. An out of date approval form is a renegade to your organization.

FAQs

When it comes to quality, people are very picky, especially in purchasing products. As you can see, there is a big gap in consumerism from ten years ago and today. We can hinge it to the influence of the approved on and off-screen reviews—it makes a significant difference in how people act. With that level of impact, approval content and forms become an essential part of any modern-day process. It also benchmarks standards to set the bar high up even more.