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Batching multiple approvals

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Posted on by annetoal

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I have a Flow that goes through a SharePoint Library and finds all the files for which document review is due. The column is called "Reviewdue." The Flow sends a notification to the person who last approved the file. I have two things I'd like advice on how to approach:

Right now, the Flow finds a file that meets the condition, sends an email to the approver, then waits for the approver to respond. Then it sends the next approval request. Could I send all the approval messages at once? So if there are 5 files that meet the condition, the approver gets all 5 messages at once?
Some approvers have over 100 files and I'd like to know if it's possible to batch all the approvals up into a single email for each reviewer where his own files could still be individually approved.
1. For approvers who have large numbers of files to approve, does it make sense to send them a notification that doesn't ask for approval, but only lists the files to be approved? Should they be instructed to go to the SharePoint library and edit the metadata to show approval status?
2. Another approach for approvers with large numbers of files might be to stage them out in groups so they only get a few per week.

Has anyone done a Flow similar to this? Surely it is not a new idea. Would you share your approach and ideas?

Thanks,

Anne

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jinivthakkar 4,187 on at

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@annetoal here is my answer for your questions :

Right now, the Flow finds a file that meets the condition, sends an email to the approver, then waits for the approver to respond. Then it sends the next approval request. Could I send all the approval messages at once? So if there are 5 files that meet the condition, the approver gets all 5 messages at once? - I don't think this can be done as the idea here is to get approval for a specific item/file.
Some approvers have over 100 files and I'd like to know if it's possible to batch all the approvals up into a single email for each reviewer where his own files could still be individually approved.
For approvers who have large numbers of files to approve, does it make sense to send them a notification that doesn't ask for approval, but only lists the files to be approved? Should they be instructed to go to the SharePoint library and edit the metadata to show approval status? - Yes this is the easiest solution and even I would have advised the same.
Another approach for approvers with large numbers of files might be to stage them out in groups so they only get a few per week - Even this sounds like a good plan.

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jinivthakkar 4,187 on at

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@annetoal additionally if you have a person column which has approvers name, you can create a new view in your library with filter [Me] and status pending(or any other condition you have)

My list view logged in as jiniv.thakkar
My list view logged in as User1
View filter

And then you can send email notification for each approvers with list of files pending approvals and in the same email, you add the link of the view which will directly open a library view which will show them all pending approvals just making the approval process faster as the approvers doesn't have to search through all items now.

Hope this helps.

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annetoal 1,934 Moderator on at

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That's bad for me, because editing the SP library is the least workable solution.
@jinivthakkar, I found that by using Create an approval and not including a Wait for approval step, I could get it to send all the approval notices at once. I need to update a column in SP based on the outcome of the approval. Is there any way to expose the Outcome of the Approval without having the Wait for approval step?

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Retrotube 36 on at

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Not sure about at the time but now there is the "Set Content Approval Status" function of the sharepoint connector.

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