Which draft is approved — and whose turn is it?
A printing business receives change requests by email. The latest draft is attached to a reply, the delivery address is still missing and production is asking for approval. The account manager has to piece together the current position from several messages.
The aim of a shared order view: the customer sees only their own orders, the current draft and their next task. Staff can see which details are missing and who needs to act on the same order.
- An approval is not tied to a specific draft version.
- The missing delivery address appears in a follow-up email but not in the order status.
- The customer and production team ask the same account manager what happens next.
What order P-104 could look like in the portal
Fictional print order with invented people and data. These states illustrate a possible workflow, not a real client reference or an application already delivered.
- 1. Order and roles
- P-104 · 500 brochures · A5 format · Draft broschuere-v2.pdf. Lea, the customer, can view the order, add details and approve the draft. Nina, the account manager, checks details and uploads drafts. The production team takes over only once the details are complete and approval is recorded.
- 2. Visible: delivery address missing
- Status: “Details missing”. Draft: “Version 2, not yet approved”. Open item: “Please add the delivery address”. Action owner: Lea. Next action: enter the address. The order cannot yet be handed over to production.
- 3. Entering and checking details
- Lea enters “Musterweg 8, 8000 Zürich” and selects “Submit details”. Status: “Details under review”. Action owner: Nina. She checks the address on the order and confirms it. The customer view then shows “Draft awaiting approval”, with “Review version 2” as the next action.
- 4. Approving the specific version
- Lea opens broschuere-v2.pdf and selects “Approve version 2”. The order now records “Version 2 approved by Lea” with a timestamp. A question would instead go to Nina; it would not count as approval.
- 5. Handover with a next action
- Status: “Ready for production”. Delivery address: checked. Draft: version 2 approved. Action owner: production team. Next action: schedule the order. Lea sees “Your approval has been received; scheduling is still pending”. This neither promises a delivery date nor means production has started.
How Peak Pioneers can contribute to this workflow
Our offering covers small web applications, agreed requirements, an initial usable version, testing and handover. For this example, we would define the scope around order P-104. The required fields and status changes shown here follow fixed rules and do not need AI.
Check existing software and the gap
Can your order software already provide customer views, questions and version-specific approvals? We review the workflow, users and systems with you and limit the initial scope to the remaining task.
Develop a usable first version
Build customer and staff views for the agreed workflow: add details, provide a draft, approve it and hand over the order. Connecting to your order software depends on its interfaces, licences and permissions.
Test and hand over
Check core functions, failure cases and access rights, then hand over the solution with documentation. Hosting, maintenance and ongoing support are agreed separately; your business assigns responsibility for the operational tasks.
When are email or standard software sufficient?
For a small number of orders with one regular contact, a clear order reference, a shared document location and an explicit approval rule may be enough. If your existing software already has suitable customer views and approvals, assess configuring or extending it first. An additional login alone does not improve a workflow.
A custom web application is an option when the same exchange happens frequently and an important requirement remains unmet: for example, customers need to see only their orders and add details, while staff need to handle approvals for specific versions across several systems. The remaining gap and expected benefit must justify development.
A new version needs its own approval status
In the example, Lea’s approval applies to version 2. If Nina uploads version 3, it must be visible that this version has not yet been approved. Production must not apply the earlier approval to the new draft. Define how questions, withdrawn approvals or accidental approvals return to the account manager.
Customers can access only their own orders. Staff know who checks details, replaces drafts and starts production. Each status describes the agreed step: “Ready for production” does not mean the order has been scheduled.
Check the initial scope using the sample order
Ask a customer and a member of staff to work through P-104: add the missing address, check the details, approve version 2 and take over the order. Also try a question and a new draft version. Is it clear who needs to act at every step?
Before launch, also agree help with access, backup and recovery, and data export. Assign responsibility for operation and support. Customer service remains a task within your business; the portal makes outstanding tasks visible.
What should improve compared with the email chain
In this example, the address, draft and approval are brought together on the same order. Nina no longer needs to match an emailed approval to the right version. Assess whether this helps in practice using typical orders and the customers involved:
- Can customers identify what is missing and what they need to do without an explanation?
- Can production find the approved version and checked address without asking Nina?
- Does time spent searching and correcting work decrease even when customers need help signing in — and does that justify development and running costs?