Workfront

seanSt1 · 5/1/16

I want tos setup 10 tasks each with an attached approval for one person, i want them to be sequential, the first task and approval must be completed before the second task and approval is triggered. When I try this all approvals get triggered once the project is set to a status of "current". Any ideas on how I can trigger only one task/approval and when approved trigger the next approval?

AmandaZu1 · 5/2/16

From what I can tell, this is the purpose of approval steps within an approval process. You can create a 10 step approval process and assign one person to approve each step. Approval steps within an approval process do trigger sequentially.

SkyeHa · 5/2/16

it doesn't sound like you set up any predecessors for any of your tasks. Can you confirm that task 2 has task 1 as a predecessor? Then, task 3 should have task 2 as a predecessor. And so on. Alternatively, you can also "enforce" the predecessors this way, by using an "e" after the task number (for example, instead of typing "1" in, as a predecessor of task 2, you would type in "1e") does that make sense?

seanSt1 · 5/5/16

Hi Yes I have all tasks linked and dependant on one another. In summary I have 3 tasks in one project 1 must be complete before 2 starts and 2 must be complete before 3 starts. On each task I have a single approval process, meaning one step approver, myself (for testing). approval for task one should start when the status of the task is = New. I set the project status from Idea to Current and no approvals are triggered? any ideas?

AmandaZu1 · 5/5/16

If you set the approval processes to trigger when the status is changed from New to In Progress instead of when the task status is New, does that work? It's not ideal but having the approval process trigger when the status is new doesn't seem to work properly, if I remember correctly, since task status is always new before it is worked on. The approval process will only trigger if the status changes.

EricLu2 · 5/6/16

Hi: We learned to always set it on a change from NEW to IN PROGRESS. That works great. Like Amanda says, below, the change in status triggers the approval workflow. Setting the approval workflow to trigger on NEW means that if someone changes the status from IN PROGRESS to NEW, it will trigger. Eric

seanSt1 · 5/6/16

Hi All

When I setup the Task workflow I only have the following status's to select from, I do not have an option for "In Progress"

I could be wrong but I think you are referring to the Project Approval status however I am working with the Task approval process

EricLu2 · 5/6/16

Hi: Someone has changed the default statuses. If you look at your project preferences, you can see what each status equates to. Here is a screen shot of ours: [cid:image001.jpg@01D1A775.1B6BD900] We use a change to Review status to trigger an approval workflow. Does this help? Eric

seanSt1 · 5/6/16

Hi Eric Thanks I do see the relationship now and I am using the status change from ‚Äö√Ñ√∫New‚Äö√Ñ√π to ‚Äö√Ñ√∫On‚Äö√Ñ√π but not working. Is there a project status that would also need to be considered to assist in triggering a task approval. I start with the project in ‚Äö√Ñ√∫Idea‚Äö√Ñ√π status and then change it to ‚Äö√Ñ√∫Current‚Äö√Ñ√π but as mentioned still not being triggered. [cid:image001.jpg@01D1A779.C8BB1400]

EricLu2 · 5/6/16

Hi: I am not aware that the project status, or the change of a project status, has anything to do with the triggering of an approval workflow on a task. I think they are decoupled events. Let me do a quick test and let you know what I find. Eric

EricLu2 · 5/6/16

Hi: I created a project and left it in IDEA status. I created a task and assigned it an approval workflow triggered when the task is moved to IN PROGRESS status. I changed the status of the task from NEW to IN PROGRESS. The task approval workflow kicked off and did what it is supposed to do. I conclude that the project status, or a change in project status, is not related to whether a task approval workflow kicks off or not. You can contact me directly at eric.lucas@crowley.com< , if you like. Thanks, Eric

seanSt1 · 5/6/16

Thank you for your help, I will go through this again just to make sure I am not missing anything. Sean

EricLu2 · 5/6/16

Be sure you‚Äö√Ñ√¥ve assigned the task workflow to the task. You can create the workflow, and add it to a list of task workflows, but you have to select it by task. Go to the task, More, Approvals, Select an existing workflow. Um, as long as the workflow is built to trigger on a status change, and the workflow is assigned to the task, when that status changes, it SHOULD trigger the workflow. Let me know if I can help further! Eric

seanSt1 · 5/6/16

Hi Eric I was able to get it to work, I changed the status to ‚Äö√Ñ√∫ON‚Äö√Ñ√π which equals in progress and it triggered the workflow. Now the issue is I want the next task to trigger it‚Äö√Ñ√¥s related workflow automatically once the first task is done however the second task remains in the ‚Äö√Ñ√∫New‚Äö√Ñ√π status. I need to manually update task 1 to complete so it triggers the workflow for task 2. Is there any way that you know of to have the second task move to in progress automatically once the first task is approved? Said another way can the approval of task 1 set the status of that task to complete, or it is a manual action that must be done to say the task is complete? Thanks Sean

EricLu2 · 5/6/16

Now you‚Äö√Ñ√¥re asking about a general workflow capability. The WorkFront workflows are limited in functionality to just Approvals. The WorkFront workflow has no capability to: 1) Set the status of a task, except to set it if the approval request is rejected; 2) Impact the status of any other task; 3) Send any emails except those directly related to the approval workflow; There isn‚Äö√Ñ√¥t even a way to automatically change the status of a task, not even when it is 100% complete. I can‚Äö√Ñ√¥t find a way to do something in one task that impacts another task. It appears to me that there is no way to cascade or trigger workflow steps across multiple tasks. Eric