Complex Approval Flow - Can you connect a "Yes" response to another branch of the approval flow?

[CP153319]

I have a flow that goes like this:

1. Approval Sent to Manager
2. Manger approves
3. Upon approval, Emails automatically sent to various stake holders and the approval request goes to the next manager "up the chain"
4. Upper manager approves
5. Upper manager approval triggers Emails sent to the stakeholders
6. Flow ends.

Here is the issue: If the first Manager's approval times out I have a parallel approval request branch set to run only if that happens. That parallel approval request goes to the upper Manager telling him that the other manager timed out and asks the upper Manager to approve. 

When this upper manager approves under the "Yes" side I have to re-code all of those Emails that go the stakeholders which is extremely tedious. 

Question: Is there a way to jump from the timed-out approval "Yes" response to the existing "Yes" response which I'd previously set up with all those Emails already set up.  

Thanks for reading. 

[ScottShearer]

Take as look at the screenshot below.  I am saving off the approval decison to a variable. I am using a series of steps with "Configure run after" configured.  I wait to do my condition until after both approvals and evaluate the variable.

Please post if you need additional info.

Will this work for you?

[CP153319]

Hey Scott - I've watched a couple of your videos. They were very helpful to me - thanks!

I can see how this concept would work for a very simple approval but mine is very complex. Well, I think it is complex anyway... LOL

What I want to do is, if any approval in the flow is rejected then under the "NO" side of the condition a few Emails will be sent out and where you might place the "Terminate" control to end the flow there would be another control available which will allow me to make the next step JUMP OVER to the beginning of another existing branch of the flow. 

I have to account for the following variables in this flow - when any of these things happen a load of Emails has to go out and they are pretty much all the same. Also, each one of these variables results in the start of a new approval under the "No" branch of the condition:

1. If First approver times out
2. If Second approver times out
3. If First approver rejects 
4. If Second approver rejects
5. If Third approver rejects

If everyone accepts the approval there are still a bunch of Emails going out automatically under those 6 or 7 different approvals. It's like 50 Emails I had to do, individually. LOL

[ScottShearer]

I feel your pain.....

Unfortunately, I don't know of any way other than configuring "run after" that will get you the desired result.

That said, one thing you can do to organize things and at least make them appear to be less complicated and easier to understand is to wrap your approvals in scopes.  Scopes are a way to group actions and to treat actions as a group.  So, wrap the first approval and the approval that runs after a time out in a scope.  The scope can be collapsed.  You can even set a time out on a scope if it is called for.

Some might suggest wrapping everything in a loop but I don't believe that has any benefit here as your flows run sequentially and always forward - never backward to a previous stage.

Good luck!

Scott

[CP153319]

Thank you for the info. I actually saw scopes for the first time in one of your videos (I'm pretty sure it was you) and I plan to utilize them for my next flow. It will actually save me from writing quite a few separate branches because if the first "Scope" fails due to a timeout I believe I can get the next scope to start by configuring a  "run after". I tried to do this without using scopes (first manager times out > bunch of emails go out > Next approval starts) and I couldn't get the next approval to start no matter how I configured the "run after". If the scope thing works that'll save me from writing a separtate time-out branch of approvals for the first manager. 

Fingers crossed. 

Thanks Scott!

[v-xida-msft]

Hi @CP153319,

Could you please share a screenshot of your flow's configuration?

Could you please show more details about your scenario?

Further, could you please show a bit more about the following statement?

---

@CP153319 wrote:

Question: Is there a way to jump from the timed-out approval "Yes" response to the existing "Yes" response which I'd previously set up with all those Emails already set up.  

---

I have made created a flow on my side and please check if it is the flow that you have designed:

If you could provide more details about your scenario, we would provide a proper workaround for you.

Best regards,

Kris

[CP153319]

What I'd like the flow to do is connect from a "Yes" answer under a condition to a group of Emails coming off another flow "branch". Picture an actual flow chart where many separate situations can lead to one outcome. In a real flow chart you wouldn't draw a box with that outcome at the end of every situation... You'd draw ONE outcome and connect multiple situations to that outcome. 

In other words, I'd like many "Yes" answers from many approval branches to connect to ONE group of multiple Emails so I don't have to set up separate Emails for each "Yes".

I hope this makes sense.