Hi ‌,

This situation is much more complex than the previous one. Some more input is needed.

For instance, do all managers need to approve/reject before action takes place or if manager A approves for Word, then already some extra action needs to take place?

Also, how to deal with the situation when manager A needs to approve for Word and Excel and manager B needs to approve for PowerPoint. Do you want one approval task for all that apply? Will this be your situation?

Cheers,

Rick

Knowing the amount of options (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, ...) to choose from is also useful.

Hi Rick

Thanks for the reply.

So on the Beta version we have 5 choices of applications.

No, not all managers need to approve before action is taken. There would be one approval task for each application. So Manager A would need to approve Word and Manager B would need to approve Excel, each task could be independent from one another.

Does that make sense?‌

In that case, I would add an second list (containing at least the fields 'Application' and 'Requestor'). The main workflow (workflow on first list) adds an item in that list for everyone needed approval. On the extra list, a workflow is added which deals with the approval task and the follow up.

The logic for an approval, like getting the manager for the application from a configuration list (this will be a third list) could be in the main workflow or the workflow on the second list. Using a third list lets you change the manager without changing the workflow. Where possible I use this.

When you want to bundle approvals (one manager approves for multiple applications), the logic needs to be in the main workflow. The second list needs to have a field 'Applications' now since there can be multiple. Bundling approvals has an advantage, but also an disadvantage. It is an all or nothing approach.

Thanks but a bit confused as to how that would work. Would it be that on the InfoPath form a user selects Excel and Word which then starts a Workflow which adds an item to a second list which then kicks off a second Workflow? Would this be able to cope with the repeating table field on the InfoPath form and the user selecting three applications?‌

And I guess I'd use a loop to add the multiple choices?

You indeed need to break up the individual rows of the repeating section in the main workflow and loop through them.

You then create an item per application per employee in the second list, one for Word, one for Excel etc.

Okay, I think I may be edging towards an understanding of this...

When I try out the original form and click on insert item the Application drop down (which is already pointing to a separate list of Applications) inherits the drop down from the first selection which I can't seem to change.

BTWRick Bakker‌  if I understand the way you're detailing it should work, is that the first workflow loops through the applications requests which then populates a 'Applications required' field in  A N other list. This A N other lists then kicks off a second workflow based on the list of applications which would run simultaneous approval tasks?  

For every item in the second list, a workflow is started yes. With small numbers this is just fine. So, for instance, when there are like 3 applications selected, there will be 3 workflows started in the second list (one per item) and thus also 3 approvals tasks are created.

Ah right! So 'if item =Word then approval wprkflow.' + 'if item =Excel' then approval workflow. Cheers Rick. Last thing how could I have each of the drop downs in the repeated table be a new selection and not inherit the parent selection?

Could you please explain this one a bit more because I do not understand it. Like: What do you mean with parent section?

Sorry, probably used the wrong term there, but as with the screen grab. There's a few choices of what a user can pick a number

of different applications, say Word, then click Insert Item, and select Excel, but currently if I select SharePoint then every addition drop down defaults to that choice. If I change it, they all change.

O. I am not so into InfoPath forms so I cannot help you on that one. From what you say, it sounds there is something strange/non-default behavior happening though.

Please "close" this question if you think it has been answered.

Cheers,

Rick