How to build an approval audit trail and compliance dashboard in Formaloo

By the end of this guide, you'll have a request-to-decision workflow that works for any approval, a policy exception, a contract sign-off, a data access request. Every request captures the evidence up front, routes to a reviewer, and the moment a decision is recorded, Formaloo generates a signed audit PDF and notifies both the compliance inbox and the requester. A compliance dashboard rolls every decision into a searchable table, a reviewer pipeline, and a chart tracking approval versus rejection rates over time.

This is where everything starts. You'll build a single form that captures the request itself and, in the same place, a private decision section only your reviewers can see. Keeping both in one form means one submission and one PDF instead of stitching records together after the fact.

1. Open Magic Create: From your Formaloo homepage, click Magic Create, then describe the form: a compliance request form collecting the requester's full name, work email, department, a one-line request summary, a detailed description, and a file upload for supporting documentation, plus a yes/no confirmation that the information is accurate. Also describe the admin-only section: a Status dropdown (Pending review, Approved, Rejected), an Assignee field, a reviewer's typed name field, a decision rationale long text field, a decision date field, and internal notes. Click Create.

2. Verify your fields: Your form should look like this, Magic Create will have generated most of it. Verify each field and field ID matches exactly.

3. Add the warning statement: Add one more field manually, a static text field with the message "Please double-check your details before submitting, this record becomes part of a compliance audit trail." Give it the field ID accuracy_warning and hide it by default. You'll wire up the rule that reveals it in Part 2.

4. Mark the decision fields as required: Open Reviewer's typed name, Decision rationale, and Decision date, and turn on Required for each. This keeps a reviewer from changing Status to Approved or Rejected while the audit record is still incomplete.

5. Publish the form: Click Publish in the island bar at the top of the editor.

Before you touch email or PDF automation, wire up the one piece of logic that lives entirely on the form: the warning that appears if a requester says their information isn't accurate.

1. Open Advanced logic: In the form settings panel on the right side of the form editor, open Advanced logic, then go to the Logic tab.

2. Use Magic Logic: Click Magic Logic in the top right corner of the Logic panel, then paste: "If 'Do you confirm the information above is accurate and complete?' equals No, show the statement 'Please double-check your details before submitting, this record becomes part of a compliance audit trail.' Keep it hidden by default." Click Generate rules.

3. Approve the rule: Review the AI-generated rule preview, then approve it. Make manual adjustments if anything needs fixing.

4. Save: Click Save in the top right corner.

With the form live, build the two straightforward emails that fire the moment a request comes in: a confirmation to the requester and an alert to whoever it's assigned to.

1. Create the submission confirmation template: In your project, open Email templates and create a new template named "Submission confirmation." Use the AI Email Assistant to generate the body from a prompt, rather than typing static copy, so paste in the full template below.

Submission confirmation Subject: We've received your request, @request_summary Body prompt: Write a warm, professional confirmation email to the requester letting them know their approval request has been received and is now in review. Reference the request summary (@request_summary) and the department it was submitted for (@department). Reassure them the request is being tracked as part of a compliance audit trail and they'll be notified as soon as a decision is made. Keep the tone calm and factual, not casual. 3-4 sentences. HTML design: white background, single centered column, max-width 560px, Inter/system-ui font, a small "Pending review" status badge near the top, muted footer in #999 with the org name placeholder. Trigger: When the requester submits the form, immediately send this email to @requester_email.

2. Create the reviewer notification template: Create a second template named "New request assigned," again using the full template below.

New request assigned Subject: New request assigned to you, @request_summary Body prompt: Write a brief, task-oriented email to the internal reviewer letting them know a new request has been assigned to them. Include the requester's name (@requester_name), department (@department), and request summary (@request_summary). Prompt them to open the request and record a decision. 2-3 sentences, no filler. HTML design: white background, max-width 560px, Inter font, a compact two-row data table showing Requester / Department / Request, a clear "Review this request" link styled like a button, muted footer #999. Trigger: When the requester submits the form, immediately send this email to the reviewer assigned via the Assignee field's recipient option.

This is the document that makes the workflow defensible: a signed, permanent record generated the instant a decision is made.

1. Create a new PDF template: In your project, open PDF templates and create a new template named "Approval audit trail record."

2. Paste the template HTML: Switch to the HTML editor and paste the code below. It pipes in the request and decision fields, plus the real row-ID variable for a unique reference number, and renders the reviewer's typed name as a signature line.

3. Save the template: Click Save. You won't attach this to a trigger yet, that happens in Part 5.

This is the core of the audit trail: the moment a reviewer records a decision, Formaloo should generate the PDF and notify the right people without anyone touching Send.

1. Create the compliance record email: Create a new email template named "Decision recorded, compliance record," using the full template below.

Decision recorded, compliance record Subject: Decision recorded, @request_summary (Ref: AUD-@rowid) Body prompt: Write a short, formal email to the compliance inbox confirming a decision has been recorded. State the final status (@status), the reviewer who recorded it (@reviewer_name), and the decision date (@decision_date). Mention that the attached PDF is the official audit record for this decision. Factual, no persuasive language, 2-3 sentences. HTML design: white background, max-width 560px, Inter font, a status badge (green for Approved, red for Rejected) next to the reference number, muted footer #999 noting the PDF is attached. Trigger: When a reviewer changes Status to Approved or Rejected, this immediately generates the audit PDF and sends this email with the PDF attached to the compliance inbox address.

2. Create the requester outcome email: Create a second template named "Decision outcome," using the full template below.

Decision outcome Subject: A decision has been made on your request, @request_summary Body prompt: Write a clear, respectful email to the requester letting them know a decision has been made (@request_summary). State whether it was approved or rejected (@status) and include the reviewer's rationale (@decision_rationale) so they understand the reasoning. If rejected, keep the tone constructive, not final or cold. 3-4 sentences. HTML design: white background, max-width 560px, Inter font, a status badge (Approved = green, Rejected = red), the rationale rendered in a light gray inset block, muted footer #999. Trigger: When a reviewer changes Status to Approved or Rejected, immediately send this email to @requester_email.

3. Add the On update rule: Back in Advanced logic → Logic tab, switch to On update, then click Add rule. Set the condition to Status has changed to Approved, grouped with an "or" condition for Status has changed to Rejected.

4. Add the three actions: Add a Generate PDF action and select the "Approval audit trail record" template from Part 4. Add a Send email action for the compliance record template, sent to your compliance inbox address, with the generated PDF attached. Add a second Send email action for the decision outcome template, sent to @requester_email.

5. Save your rules: Click Save in the top right corner.

The last piece turns raw submissions into three role-based experiences: requesters tracking their own requests, reviewers working their assigned pipeline, and compliance watching the whole picture.

1. Activate the portal: From your project, click Activate portal.

2. Build the Requesters group: Create a "Submit a request" page with the form, and a "My requests" page showing a table filtered to the logged-in user's own submissions. Add "Approved" and "Rejected" pages using the same filter plus a Status condition.

3. Give requesters portal roles: Open Manage users, run the Setup Wizard, and create a Requester role for external submitters signing up without a Formaloo account.

4. Build the Reviewers group: Add an "All requests" Kanban board grouped by Status, plus "My assigned requests," "Pending, assigned to me," and "Decisions I've recorded" tables, each filtered to Assignee equals the logged-in user.

5. Restrict reviewer pages by team, not by portal role: Reviewers are internal staff, not external portal users, so they don't get a role through the Setup Wizard. Instead, make sure each reviewer is a workspace member, add them to a "Reviewers" workspace team, then on each reviewer page open the Access menu → Internal users → Specific teams, and select that team.

6. Build the Compliance & audit group: Add a "Compliance dashboard" page with a chart block tracking approval versus rejection counts grouped by month, an "All decisions" searchable table, and Status-filtered "Pending review," "Approved," and "Rejected" tables plus a "By department" table grouped by Department. Restrict every page in this group the same way as Reviewers, with a "Compliance" workspace team.

7. Add a resources page: Add a "How to use this template" reference page linking to the foundational articles above, so new reviewers have somewhere to start.

Note: You can set a custom domain on your portal, available on the Business plan or via the Brand removal add-on.

A single form captures every request with its evidence attached, and a decision made anywhere on that record instantly produces a signed PDF, notifies your compliance inbox, and tells the requester the outcome. Reviewers work their own queue without wading through everyone else's requests, and compliance leadership has a dashboard that turns approvals and rejections into a trend instead of a memory. If an auditor or regulator ever asks who decided what and when, the answer is one search away instead of a week of digging through email.

Don't build this from scratch, we've already put it together for you.

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