Why does workflow activated by creating a new item updates all items on the list?

[#1]

Hi Team,

I have a simple workflow to build, and clearly I must be missing something, as it refuses to work as expected.

For the purpose of this post, I will simplify it even further to clearly capture what I am trying to achieve.

I have one list with the following fields:

1. Title (single line text)

2. Project Type (choice)                            (user to choose from drop-down list a value of 1, 2, or 3)

3. Auto-populated? (Yes/No)                    (defaults to No)

4. IT (Yes/No)

5. Marketing (Yes/No)

6. Finance (Yes/No)

Scenario:

User creates a new record and populates the following fields only:

1. Project 1

2. 3                          (this is just a code for type of project)

Upon creating (saving) a new record, a workflow is activated.

It is supposed to do two things:

a) Run if Field 3. Auto-populated? on the newly created record (not all existing records) equals No, and then

b) Determine what value is in the Field 2. Project Type, and

depending on the value which can be either 1, 2, or 3, 

the workflow should then update Fields 4, 5, 6 with pre-defined values of either Yes or No.

For example,

Project Type 1 would have Field 4, Field 5, Field 6 as Yes

Project Type 2 would have Field 4, Field 5, Field 6 as No

Project Type 3 would have Field 4 as Yes, Field 5 as No, Field 6 as Yes

What I have done was to use Run If function on Field 3. Auto-populated?

And then I have set a separate condition for Project Type 1, Project Type 2, and Project 3 (one branching out from another one).

So, in my mind what this workflow was supposed to do was:

- to check value of Field 3. Auto-populated? of the newly created item, and if it equals Yes, abort the workflow, or if it is No, run it.

- Then I wanted it to check if Field 2. Project Type equals 1, and if it does, update Fields 4-6 with Yes, or if it does not, make another check on the same Field 2. Project Type, but this time check if it equals 2. If it does, it should update Fields 4-6 with No, or if it does not, update Field 4 with Yes, Field 5 with No, and Field 6 with Yes.

- And at the end, it was supposed to update value of Field 3. Auto-populated? to Yes. This is to ensure that when another new record is created, and activates the workflow, the Run If function will not pick and process the older record up again.

This was the plan

What my workflow does:

- It runs on all items on the list which have a value of Field 2. Project Type the same as the newly created record regardless of value in Field 3. Auto-populated?

- it updates Fields 4-6 depending on value of Field 2. Project Type (this is, by the way, the only thing that it does correctly)

- It does not update value of Field 3. Auto-populated? to Yes upon conclusion

I would appreciate your assistance.

Thanks!

Mike

[#2]

All sorted now.

[bburke]

Mike,

I have the same issue. Can you tell us how you sorted it out?

Thanks, Bill

[#4]

Hi Bill,

I did not quite remember what I have done, so I looked back at my test environment, and it looks to me that I have ended up using 'Set a condition action' instead of 'Run if'.

It was checking value of field 'Auto-populated' (Yes or No).

Newly created records would have it as a 'No' whilst older records would it have it as a 'Yes'.

• So if it is a 'No' then all sorts of fields get updated (workflow follows its natural course). The last calculation updates the field 'Auto-populated' to 'Yes' thus making this record 'old' and not picked up by workflow next time one creates a new record.
• If it is a 'Yes' workflow ends with no further action.

Please check it out and let me know if it solves your problem.

Thanks,

Mike

[bburke]

Thanks for the reply Mike. Mine was a simple failure to pay attention.

I was using the "Update Multiple Items" action when I should have been using the "Update an Item" action.