Approval Outcome Email

[SharonR]

I'm trying to set up a simple flow and it has been anything but simple!  I have a form that when a person completes the form they choose NEW for the status.  The flow I created will automatically create the List item.  I wanted the list item status to change to PENDING.  I dont know how to do this. 

Once the List Item is created My flow will trigger an approval.  The approval seems to be working great.  However, once everyone approves there is NO outcome email.

I need an approval email to send to my manager which shows everyone that approved.  The manager wants a paper copy of the approval so the OUTCOME email is imperative.

I have two approvers in Assigned to:

Heres the full picture that got cut off:

THANKS ALOT! for any help on this.... 

[Pstork1]

Right now you are sending one email for each approver. If you want a single email for all the approvers then replace the email action you have now in the responses loop with something that aggregates all the approvers into a variable.  There will be one approver for each Responses object.  Then when you exit that loop send a single email with the results and the responders names that you have aggregated.

[SharonR]

is there any way you could Please add a screenshot of that?  The variable that I have here i just copied from a you tube video.  I'm not a programmer.  I'm an end user and i'm just trying to replace the workflow that i created years ago in sharepoint 2010.  

[Pstork1]

Here's a screenshot of the overall loop.  Then I'll do individual shots of each step.

Initialize a variable of type array and send the approval set for "Everyone must approve"

The outcome of the Approval will be a comma delimited string of whether each person approved or rejected.  It will wait for everyone to respond or until the first person rejects the approval.  So I test whether Outcome contains "Reject".  If it doesn't then everyone approved.

Then in the Yes side (where the item was approved) I loop through the responses and append them to the array variable I created earlier.  After processing all the responses I convert that array to an Html table and embed that table in the email.

YOur details will vary, but that is the general process.

[SharonR]

thank you for helping me! 

I got an error message:

  HERE IS MY SUMMARY:

This is what I added:

  I never got the Outcome Email.

For some reason I also didnt get the attachment on the approval email.

I

[Pstork1]

Why are you creating an HTML table from Outcome?  Outcome is a string you use to decide whether the item was approved or rejected.  To create a Table you need an array of values.  That is what the variable is for.  You are adding specific values from each approver to the array so you can turn it into a table to embed in the email.  Take a look at the screenshots I posted in my last response.

[SharonR]

is this what i should put?

[Pstork1]

Yes, but that and the send an email shouldn't be inside an apply to each or you will send multiple emails.  The apply to each is to populate the variable.  But you don't create a table with it until after you exit the loop.

[SharonR]

I moved it out of the apply to all and it still failed.

[Pstork1]

Back to the previous comment.  You are trying to create an HTML table from Outcome, not the variable.  Just moving things around isn't going to fix the flow.  Look at each action and try to understand what it does.  Until you understand the logic you aren't going to be able to get it to work.

[SharonR]

I won't understand the logic because I have zero training.  I am simply trying to

"get it to work" so I can move on.  Since Microsoft is depreciating the 2010 workflow approval in SharePoint I have to get another solution.  Flow is very complicated I have been watching you tube videos for weeks.  I am a business analyst.  I dont have any formal training in this.   It is a long shot that I will understand the logic.  Moving things around and watching youtube videos has gotten me this far.  I have one more step to get the outcome email.  then I am done and will not use power automate again.  This is why I am on the community board.  I am looking for some quick help.  

Logically speaking it makes sense to me that the HTML would be based on the Outcome.  But then you said it should be an array.  I do not know where the array is in the dynamic content.  

[Pstork1]

Outcome is just a comma delimited string like "Approve, Approve, Approve". In that case there were 3 approvers who all approved. Responses is an array of objects that contain all the detail, like the approvers name, their comments, whether they approved or rejected, their email, etc.  That's why you use Responses, or something aggregated from Responses, to create the HTML table.

But the logic I'm talking about isn't flow specific.  I simply mean the logic that if you want to send one email with multiple results then you can't send the email inside the loop where you are processing the results or you will get multiple emails.  Its the logic involved in processing the things you want to get the results you want.  That's the same whether its flow or SharePoint Designer.

To learn flow I suggest starting with some of the free learning courses that Microsoft provides.  Like this one: Get started with Power Automate - Learn | Microsoft Docs Then start watching videos.  But when reading blogs and watching videos you need to try to understand what the presenter is doing and why.  Not just copy the details.  Otherwise flow is going to be a very frustrating tool.

[SharonR]

Yes it s very frustrating.  Microsoft took an out of the box solution that an easily implemented and replaced it with a complicated solution that only people who are trained in computer science would understand.  Unfortunately, that doesnt change my situation.  I need this to work and I have only a few weeks to get it done.  I will keep posting on the board since that is the only place I can go for help. 

I did take a microsoft class but they didnt cover approvals.  if there is a class on the approvals i would definitely take it.

i will try to focus on responses as you suggested.

[SharonR]

Actually I DID put varResponses and I still got the error message.  

[Pstork1]

When you initialized varResponses did you make it an array or a string?  If you declared it as an array can you show me the action inside the loop where you appending each response to varResponses?

To learn approvals try this free class from Microsoft: Build approval flows with Power Automate - Learn | Microsoft Docs

Personally, I don't agree that flow is more difficult or complicated than SharePoint Designer workflows.  But as you said that doesn't help your problem.

[SharonR]

I removed the variable entirely and that seemed to work.  

I'm not able to see realtime the person who is still pending.  In 2010 there was a task list to see realtime the next person in line to approve.  I cant seem to locate a task list anywhere.  Is this gone too?  

[Pstork1]

That is one of the limitations of the new Approvals actions.  You would have to query the Dataverse database directly to find out who has not responded.

Data Select is another way to get specific values out of the responses array to turn into a table.  I didn't originally mention it because it doesn't use a loop and I didn't want to confuse you by making that major change to the way you went about it.

[SharonR]

I looked into the approval table in the dataverse.  The approval that i sent out yesterday had four approvers.  Someone did not approve and I was hoping to find out who in the dataverse approval table.  I dont have a column header with approver information.  Should that be there?  

I was hoping that it would be near the status column but there is no information on the assigned approvers...

its not a limitation its more of a deal breaker.  My approvers are located in regions across the country.  I dont know them personally so i would have to know WHO the culprit is.    I'm assuming that I can add a column but i cant figure out where to do that.  I was up all night trying to figure that out and i'm stuck.  do you know how to do that?

[SharonR]

1

[SharonR]

I also checked the Approval Request table and owning user is empty!   I feel like Microsoft is out to destroy me.