Approval Flow Notification Bug or am I doing something wrong?

JDen
JDen ✭
edited 05/18/20 inFormulas and Functions

Good morning everyone.

I have a sheet linked to a request form which based on the info submitted needs to be approved by a number of people. I have 14 approval workflows, based on country of the requestor, the total amount requested, and or reason for request. There are 4 to 5 approvals required based on the type of request. The issue is that after the first approval is captured, the remaining approvers receive 14 email notifications/requests to approve the request. Obviously I have tested by disabling some of the workflows and came to the conclusion that one email notifications/requests to approve is sent per active approval workflow on the sheet. Now I do not understand this, since all workflows have different conditions.

I have tried with triggers = ***when rows are added*or ***when rows are added or changed***

I will try and share this via screenshots but would appreciate any help. I have other sheets where approvals are required but only one approval - so difficult to see what I am doing wrong.

Thanks in advance.

PS:

I've attached screen shots of one full workflow for requests up to 25K. I've attached a screenshot of a second workflow similar to the first one but different in terms of the value of the request which is 25K to 100K; the approval steps are the same as the first workflow but just different people. These are the only workflows activated so I get 2 email notifications/requests to approve the request instead of 14; but only for all approvers after the first approval is captured.

Workflow #1 - 1.jpg
Workflow #1 - 2.jpg
Workflow #1 - 3.jpg
Workflow #1 - 4.jpg
Workflow #1 - 5.jpg
Workflow #2.jpg


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  • Ramzi K
    Ramzi K ✭✭✭✭✭

    Hi@JDen,

    I know you have redacted the email addresses so they can't be seen, but wondering if the approval request is going out to a particularperson, amailing list, or avaluein a contact cell?

    Ramzi Khuri - Principal Consultant @ Cedar Tree Consulting (www.cedartreeconsulting.com)

    Feel free to email me:[email protected]

    If this post helped you out, please help the Community bymarking it as the accepted answer/helpful.

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  • JDen
    JDen ✭

    Hi Ramzi,

    Thank you very much for taking the time to follow up on this, as I am stuck.

    电子邮件地址都是独一无二的,没有邮寄lis)t.

    If you can think of anything else that would be great.

    Best regards,

    JDen

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  • Andrée Starå
    Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    Hi@JDen

    It’s hard to see the complete overview/process.

    I’d be happy to take a quick look.

    Can you maybe share the sheet(s)/copies of the sheet(s)? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help. (share too,[email protected])

    I hope that helps!

    Be safe and have a fantastic week!

    Best,

    Andrée Starå

    Workflow Consultant / CEO @WORK BOLD

    ✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please help the Community bymarking it as the accepted answer/helpful. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

    SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER

    https://workbold.com/

    Andrée Starå| Workflow Consultant / CEO @WORK BOLD

    W:www.workbold.com| E:[email protected]| P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35

    Feel free to contact me about help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or something else entirely.

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  • JDen
    JDen ✭

    Hi all,

    I am happy and sad to say I found the issue.

    It seems that Smartsheet won't allow you to use the same "save response in" columnfor multiple workflows. I have 14 workflows (based on country, total amount, request type) and was using the same 4-5 save response in" columns to capture approvals. Well SmartSheet does not like that for some reason and was sending each approval request email 14 times.

    The only way now to avoid this is to create one "save response in" column per required approval per workflow. So I need to create close to 70 approval columns to avoid this issue.

    This is a going to be a real pain in the a** to do and it's going to be a pain to track.

    This is something SmartSheet should fix.

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  • JDen
    JDen ✭
    edited 05/25/20

    Thanks Andrée,

    That does seem to work but I still find it to be a lot of work considering the number of approval workflows I have going on and conditions. This took me another 3 hours to setup and I have another sheet with similar issue.

    Your solution seems to be a good fix but SmartSheet should work on fixing the root cause because most newbies will be totally lost and unable to go further. This translates in lost users and ultimately lost customers.

    Thanks again.

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  • Andrée Starå
    Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    @JDen

    Happy to help!

    Yes, I agree that there is room for improvement.

    Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment

    SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER

    https://workbold.com/

    Andrée Starå| Workflow Consultant / CEO @WORK BOLD

    W:www.workbold.com| E:[email protected]| P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35

    Feel free to contact me about help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or something else entirely.

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Hi, <\/p>

Instead of applying the formula to \"Multiselect Text String\" row, did you tried with \"Multiselect Values\" row?<\/p>

=IF(HAS([Multiselect Values]@row, [Component ID]@row), \"MATCH\", \"NO MATCH\")<\/p>

Thank you,<\/p>"}]}},"status":{"statusID":3,"name":"Accepted","state":"closed","recordType":"discussion","recordSubType":"question"},"bookmarked":false,"unread":false,"category":{"categoryID":322,"name":"Formulas and Functions","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/formulas-and-functions","allowedDiscussionTypes":[]},"reactions":[{"tagID":3,"urlcode":"Promote","name":"Promote","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":5,"count":0},{"tagID":5,"urlcode":"Insightful","name":"Insightful","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":11,"urlcode":"Up","name":"Vote Up","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":13,"urlcode":"Awesome","name":"Awesome","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0}],"tags":[]},{"discussionID":109493,"type":"question","name":"I am having trouble using \"And\", \"OR\" & \"Countif(s)\" to build a formula.","excerpt":"Hello, I am attempting to come up with a sheet summary formula that counts cells if they meet at least one of 3 different statuses in the same column, AND also meet one of 5 different statuses in a separate column. So using the screenshot I've provided as an example (although it doesn't have 5 different statuses in the…","snippet":"Hello, I am attempting to come up with a sheet summary formula that counts cells if they meet at least one of 3 different statuses in the same column, AND also meet one of 5…","categoryID":322,"dateInserted":"2023-08-25T20:03:21+00:00","dateUpdated":null,"dateLastComment":"2023-08-26T00:34:49+00:00","insertUserID":165710,"insertUser":{"userID":165710,"name":"SmarsheetNewb","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/SmarsheetNewb","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/defaultavatar\/nWRMFRX6I99I6.jpg","dateLastActive":"2023-08-26T00:33:27+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭"},"updateUserID":null,"lastUserID":161714,"lastUser":{"userID":161714,"name":"Carson Penticuff","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Carson%20Penticuff","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/userpics\/B0Q390EZX8XK\/nBGT0U1689CN6.jpg","dateLastActive":"2023-08-27T02:16:35+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭✭✭✭✭✭"},"pinned":false,"pinLocation":null,"closed":false,"sink":false,"countComments":3,"countViews":26,"score":null,"hot":3386005690,"url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/109493\/i-am-having-trouble-using-and-or-countif-s-to-build-a-formula","canonicalUrl":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/109493\/i-am-having-trouble-using-and-or-countif-s-to-build-a-formula","format":"Rich","tagIDs":[254],"lastPost":{"discussionID":109493,"commentID":392692,"name":"Re: I am having trouble using \"And\", \"OR\" & \"Countif(s)\" to build a formula.","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/comment\/392692#Comment_392692","dateInserted":"2023-08-26T00:34:49+00:00","insertUserID":161714,"insertUser":{"userID":161714,"name":"Carson Penticuff","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Carson%20Penticuff","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/userpics\/B0Q390EZX8XK\/nBGT0U1689CN6.jpg","dateLastActive":"2023-08-27T02:16:35+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭✭✭✭✭✭"}},"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/"},{"name":"Get Help","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/get-help"},{"name":"Formulas and Functions","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/formulas-and-functions"}],"groupID":null,"statusID":3,"attributes":{"question":{"status":"accepted","dateAccepted":"2023-08-26T00:33:25+00:00","dateAnswered":"2023-08-25T20:44:12+00:00","acceptedAnswers":[{"commentID":392662,"body":"

Try this:<\/p>

=COUNTIFS([Item Number]:[Item Number], OR(@cell = \"C001\", @cell = \"COO2\", @cell = \"COO3\", @cell = \"COO4\"), [Status]:[Status], OR(@cell = \"Green\", @cell = \"Yellow\", @cell = \"Red\"))<\/p>"}]}},"status":{"statusID":3,"name":"Accepted","state":"closed","recordType":"discussion","recordSubType":"question"},"bookmarked":false,"unread":false,"category":{"categoryID":322,"name":"Formulas and Functions","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/formulas-and-functions","allowedDiscussionTypes":[]},"reactions":[{"tagID":3,"urlcode":"Promote","name":"Promote","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":5,"count":0},{"tagID":5,"urlcode":"Insightful","name":"Insightful","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":11,"urlcode":"Up","name":"Vote Up","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":13,"urlcode":"Awesome","name":"Awesome","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0}],"tags":[{"tagID":254,"urlcode":"formulas","name":"Formulas"}]},{"discussionID":109474,"type":"question","name":"Help with date calculation formula","excerpt":"Hello, I'm trying to find a formula that will help me calculate how long an intake took to resolve. The rows I need to be calculated are Date Reported & Resolution Date. If the resolution date is blank I want it to use the current date in the calculation to see how long this issue has gone unresolved. Any help is much…","snippet":"Hello, I'm trying to find a formula that will help me calculate how long an intake took to resolve. The rows I need to be calculated are Date Reported & Resolution Date. If the…","categoryID":322,"dateInserted":"2023-08-25T16:29:39+00:00","dateUpdated":"2023-08-25T16:29:59+00:00","dateLastComment":"2023-08-25T23:01:30+00:00","insertUserID":165688,"insertUser":{"userID":165688,"name":"Nwest","title":"Systems Analyst","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Nwest","photoUrl":"https:\/\/aws.smartsheet.com\/storageProxy\/image\/images\/u!1!ukHVZ18ImX4!BcjWAe8S9SY!l7iQo_PZHOx","dateLastActive":"2023-08-25T17:22:30+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭"},"updateUserID":165688,"lastUserID":8888,"lastUser":{"userID":8888,"name":"Andrée Starå","title":"Smartsheet Expert Consultant & Partner | Workflow Consultant \/ CEO @ WORK BOLD","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Andr%C3%A9e%20Star%C3%A5","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/userpics\/0PAU3GBYQLBT\/nXWM7QXGD6464.jpg","dateLastActive":"2023-08-26T17:06:33+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭✭✭✭✭✭"},"pinned":false,"pinLocation":null,"closed":false,"sink":false,"countComments":3,"countViews":25,"score":null,"hot":3385987269,"url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/109474\/help-with-date-calculation-formula","canonicalUrl":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/109474\/help-with-date-calculation-formula","format":"Rich","tagIDs":[254],"lastPost":{"discussionID":109474,"commentID":392687,"name":"Re: Help with date calculation formula","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/comment\/392687#Comment_392687","dateInserted":"2023-08-25T23:01:30+00:00","insertUserID":8888,"insertUser":{"userID":8888,"name":"Andrée Starå","title":"Smartsheet Expert Consultant & Partner | Workflow Consultant \/ CEO @ WORK BOLD","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Andr%C3%A9e%20Star%C3%A5","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/userpics\/0PAU3GBYQLBT\/nXWM7QXGD6464.jpg","dateLastActive":"2023-08-26T17:06:33+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭✭✭✭✭✭"}},"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/"},{"name":"Get Help","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/get-help"},{"name":"Formulas and Functions","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/formulas-and-functions"}],"groupID":null,"statusID":3,"attributes":{"question":{"status":"accepted","dateAccepted":"2023-08-25T17:04:22+00:00","dateAnswered":"2023-08-25T16:36:59+00:00","acceptedAnswers":[{"commentID":392622,"body":"

\n \n https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/109474\/help-with-date-calculation-formula\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Hi, <\/p>

I hope you're well and safe!<\/p>

Try something like this.<\/p>

=IF([Date Reported]@row <> \"//www.santa-greenland.com/community/discussion/68392/\", IF([Resolution Date]@row = \"//www.santa-greenland.com/community/discussion/68392/\", NETDAYS([Date Reported]@row, TODAY()), NETDAYS([Date Reported]@row, [Resolution Date]@row)))<\/p>

Did that work\/help? <\/p>

I hope that helps!<\/p>

Be safe, and have a fantastic weekend!<\/p>

Best,<\/p>

Andrée Starå<\/strong><\/a> | Workflow Consultant \/ CEO @ WORK BOLD<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by <\/em>marking it Insightful\/Vote Up, Awesome, or\/and as the accepted answer<\/em><\/strong>. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!<\/em><\/p>"}]}},"status":{"statusID":3,"name":"Accepted","state":"closed","recordType":"discussion","recordSubType":"question"},"bookmarked":false,"unread":false,"category":{"categoryID":322,"name":"Formulas and Functions","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/formulas-and-functions","allowedDiscussionTypes":[]},"reactions":[{"tagID":3,"urlcode":"Promote","name":"Promote","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":5,"count":0},{"tagID":5,"urlcode":"Insightful","name":"Insightful","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":11,"urlcode":"Up","name":"Vote Up","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":13,"urlcode":"Awesome","name":"Awesome","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0}],"tags":[{"tagID":254,"urlcode":"formulas","name":"Formulas"}]}],"initialPaging":{"nextURL":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/api\/v2\/discussions?page=2&categoryID=322&includeChildCategories=1&type%5B0%5D=Question&excludeHiddenCategories=1&sort=-hot&limit=3&expand%5B0%5D=all&expand%5B1%5D=-body&expand%5B2%5D=insertUser&expand%5B3%5D=lastUser&status=accepted","prevURL":null,"currentPage":1,"total":10000,"limit":3},"title":"Trending in Formulas and Functions ","subtitle":null,"description":null,"noCheckboxes":true,"containerOptions":[],"discussionOptions":[]}">

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