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Approval flow/ Status check by requester

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Hi, I have an approval flow that must (depending on requester hierarchy) ask from approval from three of four people before it’s approved finally. The flow is designed to stop until it gets a response from the first person in hierarchy, then it sends a request to second and so on. Is there an easy way to see whose approval is a request waiting for without having to go in every single request in the flow and check to see who approved or didn’t? After a request is submitted its status is always submitted for approval. It will change it state to approved or rejected in SharePoint i only when flow has completed. This field is linked to a PowerApps search engine our users can use to check the status of their request, but I would like to enable them to see something like (waiting approval from “First and Last name”) so that they know who they can contact in case they need urgent approval. Is there a way to do this in Flow and PowerApps? Thanks in advance

  • Re: Approval flow/ Status check by requester

    Thank you @manuelstgomes  for answering my question.

  • Verified answer
    manuelstgomes Profile Picture
    manuelstgomes 6,625 on at
    Re: Approval flow/ Status check by requester

     Hi @Anonymous ,

     

    This is a tricky one, but we'll figure this out.

     

    We could always include four approval steps right next to each other and between them store the results in SharePoint so that you can get the "First and Last name" and approval status. 

     

    But this can be an issue because if there is just 3 or 5, then we would have a problem. We need something independent of the number of approval steps. 

     

    Add in SharePoint 1 additional field that has the "Next Approver."

     

    Then create a new Flow that sends the approval process and stores the result in SharePoint. Just that. You can call it using the "Request" trigger and just doing an HTTP Post to call it in the source Flow. You can pass the next approver parameter and the id of the field that you want to update in SharePoint.

     

    The first Flow should trigger on changes and call the "Approval Flow." The second should update SharePoint with the next Approver.

     

    If there is no "next approver," then the flow does nothing.

     

    Since we're using a Flow to update the fields, you always have updated "Next Approver" so that your users know who to call. In the end, you'll have the result of the approval process.

     

    Sounds a bit confusing but it's quite simple. To resume:

    1. Add a field that stores the "Next Person."

    2. Create a Flow "Whole Approval Process" that triggers when there are changes to that list

    3. Create a Flow "Approval Flow" that receives a person and sends the approval process.

    4. Call the "Approval Flow" within the "Whole Approval Process"

    5. "Approval Flow" receives the result and stores in SharePoint.

    6. Since there was a change, the "Whole Approval Process" triggers again.

     

    Makes sense?

     

    If I have answered your question, please mark your post as Solved.
    If you like my response, please give it a Thumbs Up.

    Cheers
    Manuel

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