ApproveThis manages your Teamwork Integration approvals.

Why Approval Workflows Break Without the Right Tools

Project managers know the drill: a task gets created, someone forgets to flag it for review, and suddenly you're explaining budget overruns to stakeholders. Teamwork excels at organizing work, but approvals often happen in email threads or Slack channels - scattered, untracked, and prone to oversights. This disconnect between planning and permission creates bottlenecks that delay projects and strain client relationships.

How ApproveThis Fixes What Spreadsheets and Emails Can't

ApproveThis acts as the missing layer between Teamwork's task management and actual decision-making. While Teamwork tracks what needs doing, ApproveThis defines who must approve it, under what conditions, and with what escalation paths. Together through Zapier, they create closed-loop processes where:

• No task moves forward without proper sign-off
• Approval bottlenecks surface before deadlines are at risk
• Every decision is auditable with timestamps and comments

Real-World Impact Across Industries

A marketing agency uses the integration to require client approvals on campaign briefs before designers start work in Teamwork. Approval thresholds automatically route $10K+ budget items to senior partners, while smaller tasks get fast-tracked. Their project over-deliveries dropped 22% in Q1.

A construction firm links Teamwork tasks for material orders to multi-stage approvals in ApproveThis. Field supervisors request purchases via mobile, approvers get SMS alerts, and approved orders auto-update Teamwork task statuses. They cut purchase order processing from 3 days to 4 hours.

Four Ways to Connect Teamwork & ApproveThis (Without Coding)

Through Zapier, these platforms handle the heavy lifting so you can focus on execution:

1. Gatekeeper for New Tasks

Problem: Junior team members creating tasks that exceed their spending authority.
Solution: Zapier triggers an ApproveThis workflow whenever a Teamwork task includes budget-related custom fields. Calculated fields in ApproveThis determine if approval needs to go to department heads (over $5K) or stay with project leads.

2. Turn Approvals Into Actionable Tasks

Problem: Approved requests getting lost between email and project boards.
Solution: When ApproveThis approvals include deliverables (like contract sign-offs), Zapier auto-creates Teamwork task lists with assigned due dates. Legal teams get notifications within their existing project workspace.

3. Stop Scope Creep in Client Comments

Problem: Clients adding "quick requests" in Teamwork comments that derail timelines.
Solution: Zapier detects comments containing specific keywords (e.g., "change order", "additional revision") and routes them as approval requests. Clients approve via email without needing Teamwork logins.

4. Audit-Proof Project Updates

Problem: Compliance teams wasting time cross-referencing approvals with task histories.
Solution: Approved requests in ApproveThis auto-update Teamwork task statuses and attach approval certificates as PDFs. Denied requests trigger comment threads explaining next steps.

Setting Up Your First Integration (Under 15 Minutes)

1. Create a Zapier account if you don't have one
2. In Zapier, choose Teamwork as your trigger app (e.g., "New Task")
3. Select ApproveThis as your action app ("Create Request")
4. Map Teamwork fields to ApproveThis templates (task title → request title, custom fields → calculated fields)
5. Test with a $1K sample task to confirm routing rules

Department-Specific Wins

Project Management Offices (PMOs)

Enforce stage-gate processes without micromanaging. If a Teamwork milestone task completes, ApproveThis requires phase review approval before the next phase's tasks auto-unhide.

Finance Teams

Prevent rogue spending by tying Teamwork task budgets to approval thresholds. A $50K equipment request in Teamwork auto-triggers CFO review in ApproveThis, complete with 3-bid comparison attachments.

Operations Leaders

Reduce compliance risks by linking safety inspection tasks in Teamwork to multi-department approvals. Maintenance can't mark a task complete until EHS signs off in ApproveThis.

The Hidden Advantage: External Approvers Don't Clog Your Licenses

Unlike native approval features in Teamwork, ApproveThis lets clients or partners approve requests via email without consuming seats. A manufacturing client saved $1,200/month by removing 15 external vendors from their Teamwork plan while maintaining supply chain approvals.

When to Stick with Native Approvals (And When Not To)

Teamwork's basic approval features work for simple yes/no decisions on individual tasks. But if you need:

• Multi-step approvals across teams
• Conditional logic based on dollar amounts
• Audit trails meeting SOC 2 requirements

ApproveThis becomes non-negotiable. A healthcare IT team reduced audit prep time from 3 weeks to 2 days by using ApproveThis' timestamped logs alongside Teamwork activity histories.

Ready to Stop Chasing Approvals?

ApproveThis complements Teamwork like brakes complement a race car - they let you move faster because you have control. Start with a free ApproveThis trial, connect your Teamwork account via Zapier, and automate your first approval workflow in under an hour. For complex setups, book a custom demo to see how calculated fields and approval thresholds work in your specific scenarios.