Migrating Companies Off Email Approvals and Spreadsheet Trackers

1. Map the current methods: see how email and spreadsheets are used. 2. Move approvals to a workflow: route and track sign-off in the system. 3. Replace the trackers: put status in real time in one place. 4. Establish a single source of truth: retire parallel records. 5. Phase the change: migrate in stages, not all at once. 6. Preserve history: carry forward the records that matter. 7. Retire the old methods: deliberately stop email and spreadsheet use.

The first migration is approvals. Email approvals are untracked, easily lost, and leave their reasoning in private inboxes, so moving them into a routed, tracked workflow is the core change. In the new model, an invoice is routed to the right approver, reminders handle follow-up, and every approval is recorded with its context.

The benefit is immediate and visible: approvals stop disappearing, follow-up stops being manual, and there is a reliable record of who approved what. Demonstrating that the workflow is both easier for approvers, with full context in one place, and more reliable than email is what overcomes the habit of approving by reply.

The second migration is the tracker. A spreadsheet that records invoice status is only as accurate as its last manual update, and it becomes a job in itself to maintain. Replacing it with real-time status in one system means the picture is always current without anyone keeping it by hand.

This also removes a parallel record. As long as a spreadsheet tracker exists, the team maintains it alongside the system, which is duplicated effort and a source of conflicting information. Replacing the tracker with live status is what lets the team stop reconciling two versions of the truth.

The migration is not complete until there is a single source of truth and the old methods are retired. If email approvals and spreadsheets keep running alongside the new system, the team works in both, and the benefits never fully arrive. Establishing the system as the authoritative place for AP work, and deliberately retiring the old methods, is what locks in the change.

Preserving history matters during this transition. Carrying forward the records that matter, and keeping them searchable, gives the team continuity and audit support so nothing is lost in the move. Phasing the migration, rather than switching everything at once, lets the team build trust in the new system before the old methods are fully retired, which is what makes the change stick.

Stampli replaces email approvals with routed, tracked approval workflows, where invoices reach the right approver with full context, reminders handle follow-up, and every approval is recorded. Approvers act on the invoice itself rather than in their inbox, so the reasoning and the record stay with the transaction.

Stampli replaces spreadsheet trackers with real-time status, since the invoice is the workspace and its current stage is always visible without manual updates. The team sees what is in flight, awaiting approval, or aging in one place, which removes the parallel spreadsheet entirely.

Because everything lives on the invoice with an immutable audit trail and searchable history, Stampli becomes the single source of truth for AP work, with the records preserved and findable. That is what lets a company retire email approvals and spreadsheet trackers rather than run them alongside.