Nintex workflow delegation on Fridays only

  • 1 February 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 2 views
U
Badge +1

Hi All,

I'm new to Nintex workflows and was wondering if there is a way to create a delegation task on a list workflow to enable delegation every Friday? I'm using Nintex Workflow 2013.  

My workflow is a standard approval workflow, requiring each new item to be actioned once it has been approved. Each time a new item is added to the list (and the item is approved) the workflow is sent to a colleague to action. However, this colleague does not work on Fridays, so the workflow needs to be delegated to someone else where a new item is approved on a Friday.

Can anyone help please?

Thanks,

Gwendoline

5 replies

E
Userlevel 5
Badge +14

it sounds me the best option for this would be if a user configured automatic delegation of his tasks in his sharepoint profile.

this way you wouldn't need to change workflow at all, and user could manage delegation of his tasks on his own, even for other absences.

if you want to manage delegation with workflow, there are several possibilities, but there as well several aspects to consider which are not clear from your description, eg.

- should the delegation take place just for task being created/assigned on Fridays? if so, before you assign task you could check whether current day is Friday or not , and then assign task either to user or his deputy.

- or you could assign tasks to a group of users instead of single designated users. On Mo - Thu designated user would take care of tasks, on the others some other group member.

- if the delegation should take place as well for existing and/or long running tasks, you could create a site workflow a schedule it to run on Fridays. within the workflow you would determine by a given rules what user(s) and what task(s) need to be delegated and act accordingly.

and so on. other scenarios are possible, but we would need need to know more details of your business case.

U
Badge +1

Hi Marian,

Thank you so much for your feedback on this issue. I think automatic delegation may be a way forward, and I will discuss this with my colleague on Monday (today being Friday, he is not in the office). However, I will try to clarify the requirements of my workflow.

The main purpose of the workflow is to request approval for overseas travel requests. For example, a travel request to China could be submitted. The request is routed via the workflow to their Head of Department for approval. All approved requests then get forwarded to my colleague in IT to do his configuration bit. The problem is that if the approval happens on a Friday, and the request happens to be urgent, it will need to be actioned by a deputy. However, we do not want to use group delegation as we don't want the deputy's inbox being filled with approved travel requests on other days of the week, as the numbers do get high every now and again. Generally speaking, the majority of approved requests could wait until the Monday. The issue is if there happens to be some urgency.

I tried creating a site workflow but this did not work as it should. I also think that site workflows are somewhat limited in scope.

On another note, testing of the workflow in its current state revealed a separate problem yesterday: if IT configuration is not actioned after the travel request has been approved, the workflow status is recorded as 'Rejected' even where the travel request has been approved. See screen shots below.

213178_pastedImage_1.png

      Flexi Task 1: Travel Approval

213194_pastedImage_2.png

      Flexi Task 2: IT configuration

Is there a way for SharePoint to create a second workflow status column [Approved/Rejected for travel status and Actioned/Not actioned for IT status]? I should probably raise this as another question, but it only came to light yesterday during testing. 

Many thanks,

Gwendoline

E
Userlevel 5
Badge +14

if the approval happens on a Friday, and the request happens to be urgent

if you have a dedicated flag that a request is 'urgent', you should be able to check it within workflow, along with whether it is Friday or not, and decide whether to assign task to primary responsible and/or to deputy one.

if IT configuration is not actioned after the travel request has been approved, the workflow status is recorded as 'Rejected' even where the travel request has been approved

I see you use set approval status action in each flexi task's branch. are you aware of purpose of this action? it's supposed to set 'content approval' staus, not workflow status.is that realy your case? form the description you provided so far I don't think so.

check documentation

https://help.nintex.com/en-US/nintex2013/help/#Workflow/RootCategory/Actions/Nintex.Workflow.SetApprovalStatus.htm%3FToc… 

if you mean OOTB workflow status field, then check whether you should use a set workflow status action.

https://help.nintex.com/en-US/nintex2013/help/#Workflow/RootCategory/Actions/Nintex.Workflow.SetCustomWorkflowStatus.htm… 

Is there a way for SharePoint to create a second workflow status column

each workflow can create at most one status field OOTB.

by you can create as many custom status fields in list as you need and update them as/when you need.

U
Badge +1

Hi Marian,

Thanks for your suggestions. I have worked through some of them.

We don't have any flags set up to determine urgency. The urgency is determined by the amount of time between approval of a travel request and the date of travel. I'm not sure how we would go about setting up such flags on the workflow.

The OOTB workflow status field is updating as it should - it is marked as being 'In Progress' and then 'Completed' through the cycle of the workflow. As suggested, I added another column, but have found that this has to be updated manually. I figure there must be a way to automate the option selection on the additional column, I just haven't worked it out yet.

Re: set approval status, I had not realised that this relates to content approval status as opposed to workflow approval. It seems I have a lot more to learn about creating Nintex workflows.

I think my best bet will be to simplify things. Once we have an acceptable and functioning workflow, I can look into adding the bells and whistles!

Thanks again.

Gwendoline 

E
Userlevel 5
Badge +14

you're welcome happy.png

if that's all you needed (for now) please mark question answered.

Reply


View our Community Site Map

Nintex Community Sitemap
Terms & ConditionsCookie settings