Automatic assignment of approver when the status of a project is changed automatically

Hello,

I have created a specific status on the "Workflow" space called "Approval in progress" showing that an approval flow needs to be launched/finalized for any project. I have added in this specific status by default two assigned approvers.

In addition, I have created an automation rule stating that if all the sub-items of the project turn to completed and cancelled, then the status of the project changes automatically to "Approval in progress".

The issue here is that when I change manually the status of the project to "Approval in progress", then the approval flow is automatically assigned to the two assigned approvers, however when the status is automatically changed according to the automation rule, the approval flow is not launched nor assigned automatically to the two approvers.

My goal is the following one: when the status changes automatically to "Approval in progress", then an approval flow will automatically be launched with the two assigned approvers included.

Thank you in advance for your help! ☺️

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Zoe Jarrett

I have experienced similar problems, it seems that automations cannot trigger other automations.

Would be good to see this change so that you can stack automations, either as default or by an option to link them together to create automation flows.

Pietro Poli

Hi @Nawel DJELALIA, @Zoe Jarrett, is not possible trigger an automation based on the result of another automation.

Have you setup approvers directly into Workflow status?

Zoe Jarrett

I have not, our approvers for a status change wouldn't always be going to the same person/people and the Approval set up in the workflow seems to require a specific assignee?

My use case for this was slightly different, what I would like to achieve is when the tester signs off the last bug in a bug list this marks the bug list ticket to Approved and then that change amends the status of the project to Approved to alert the Project owner.

Individually you can do either, but it requires a manual step to achieve both. So either the tester has to mark the main task as Approved (which is currently what we do) or someone would have to mark the Project to Approved.

I have had a few cases like this where we could cut out loads of small pieces of admin time if we could make automation flows, which would lead to significant time gains. This would also reduce cases of user error where people just forget to update parent tasks when they are open to a subtask.

Pietro Poli

Hi @Zoe Jarrett
if I understand correctly, there are a series of "bugs" that are managed by different people, once the bug has been assigned, and then completed, whoever finished the work signals that the project owner will have to verify and approve the resolution of the bug. Correct?

If so, I would work this way:

1. I create a form that the Project Owner fills in every time a bug occurs
2. The bug is assigned to a specific person, who when he finishes the work, puts it in "to approve" status
3. When the status changes, an automation adds an approval to the author of the bug (i.e. whoever filled out the form)

Can this work for you?

Nikki Richardson

I have a similar issue: I have a workflow in use for Problem Solving and corrective action activity. When the assignee working the corrective action changes the status to "Countermeasure Implemented", an approval is automatically assigned through the work flow settings.

I am currently working to roll this out to multiple physical locations. Each location will have a different individual assigned for approval.

I assumed this would be a quick fix as I thought I could use an automation that would assign a specific individual as the approver based upon the value in a custom field that identifies the location, but could not find that as an option.

Is there anything in the queue to add something like this as an automation?

The only ideas I have are not effective or efficient:

Option 1: Embed instructions within the task explaining how to the task assignee, HOW to assign an auditor without changing the automated status changes for accept/reject and hope they are followed and executed correctly.

Option 2: Create a status for each location that triggers a different approver when the status changes (ie: Countermeasure Implemented Location 1 assigns John, Countermeasure Implemented Location 2 assigns Jane, etc..) and hope they select the correct status. If not, we could be violating customer confidentiality agreements between our locations by accidentally sharing an approval with someone outside of that specific agreement.

Any thoughts?

Ashley Fischer

@Pietro Poli I have an automation that changes my project status to "Approval Needed" once all tasks of the project have been completed. In the workflow itself, I have set up the approval.

When testing the project status change automation, I noticed 2 issues:

When the status changed to the "approval needed" status, the approval didn't kick off, even though the approval is built into the workflow, not a secondary automation.
When I added myself as the approver and gave an approval decision, the project status didn't change even though the workflow has this built out too

I then changed the status back one level so that I could manually change it to the approval status. Everything worked as it should. The approval kicked off and when I gave the approval response, the system changed the project status.

Is this a bug?

Pietro Poli

Hi @Ashley Fischer ,
can you share more screenshots?
So I can check all your configurations

Ashley Fischer

@Pietro Poli This is the automation that changes the status (this is the part that works):

However, even though the status changed, it didn't kick off the approval, and after manually adding an approver to the stage, the project status didn't change after giving the approval response. I have it set the workflow step that either way the approval goes - there should be a status change.

I understand that since I created the approval manually that I would need to set the advanced criteria in the pop up, but we shouldn't have to manually create the approval.

Pietro Poli

This is strange. @Ashley Fischer
Open a ticket with support team.