Automation contract approval procedure
Problem to solve
Automate authorization matrix rather than manually send reminders.
For a vendor contract approval matrix the finance team has a finance issue tracker - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/finance/issues/new?issue%5Bassignee_id%5D=&issue%5Bmilestone_id%5D=&issuable_template=vendor_contracts. At this moment the team members that are involved in the process have to be chased manually. I was wondering whether we could automate chasing team members in the authorization matrix (i.e. when first in the matrix approves, the next in line gets a signal automatically that approval is needed).
Intended users
For now it would be the authorization matrix of this issue, i.e. Business Ops, FP&A, CEO (in case of >50k contract value), Accounting, Security, Legal and CFO. Nevertheless I would expect that this could be implemented on a broader scale.
Further details
Use case: contract approval Benefits: efficiency, faster approval process
Proposal
this is my first feature request - let me know what I need to do and happy to dive into this!
Permissions and Security
Only an automation of an existing procedure, I would expect no permissions are required (however only two weeks working for GitLab so I could be wrong)
Documentation
What concepts and procedures should the docs guide and enable the user to understand or accomplish?
- include authorization matrix, matrix automatically updated once reviewed by the first in the matrix, etc.
To this end, what new page(s) are needed, if any?
- not 100% sure but I would assume a new page with authorization matrix
What pages/subsections need updates? Consider user, admin, and API doc changes and additions.
- update finance issue tracker in such a way that the authorization matrix is run automatically
For any guide or instruction set, should it help address a single use case, or be flexible to address a certain range of use cases?
- as far as I know this is the only use case for the finance department
- it could help other issues that have a similar concept of an authorization matrix https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/finance/issues/new?issue%5Bassignee_id%5D=&issue%5Bmilestone_id%5D=&issuable_template=vendor_contracts
Do we need to update a previously recommended workflow? Should we link the new feature from various relevant locations? Consider all ways documentation should be affected.
- yes; this one I presume https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/finance/issues/new?issue%5Bassignee_id%5D=&issue%5Bmilestone_id%5D=&issuable_template=vendor_contracts
Are there any key terms or task descriptions that should be included so that the docs are found in relevant searches? Include suggested titles of any pages or subsections, if applicable.
- automated contract approval procedure
What does success look like, and how can we measure that?
- decision time increases
- efficiency of contract review increases
- not sure how to measure however I understand we could measure the time span between the date of uploading a contract and the date of the approval (prior to this update and after)
What is the type of buyer?
from my perspective this is an internal use case and too short with the company to suggest a tier - could be a buyer for all tiers I reckon as this can be a standard procedure in all kinds of authorization matrices