Listen for change of a list item in a Flow

[HelgeNorvang]

Hi,

Is it possible in a flow, to create a new list item in some list and then listen for changes in that new item? I want my flow to wait for changes to specific columns/fields in the item and move on with specific actions based on what the changes are. 

I guess (without having tried yet) that I could use the Do Until condition - but is this a good solution? Are there other, better ways to do this?

Thanks!

[ScottShearer · Accepted solution]

@HelgeNorvang:

A Do Until loop is probably not a great idea as a Flow will run for a maximum of 30 days .

Also, SharePoint does not support monitoring for changes in a single column - you can only fire a trigger of the item/row of data changes.  You don't have easy access (need to call the API and have versioning turned on) to previous column values.

Most people would suggest storing a copy to the column data in a separate column.  You can run a Flow when an item is created or changed.  If, when the Flow runs, the values in the column and the copy of that column are not the same, the column value has changed.  At that point, you can take action as appropriate.  You'll also need to update the value of the column with a copy of the column data.

One final point - you'll also need to have you flow exit if it runs when an item is first created.  You can do this by using a column as a flag.  Check the value when the Flow runs - if you haven't set the flag yet then this is a new item.. You should set the flag and exit the Flow.  You'll also want to copy values of the columns that you are monitoring to the "copy" columns at this point.

Scott

[HelgeNorvang]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your reply and suggestion. I managed to hit the accept as solution button by accident, before I had read your whole answer.

If I understand the scenario you are descibing correct, it doesn't quite match the scenario I described. I'll broaded my description:

I have a flow that is a two stage approval flow. Because of the requirements to how it needs to work, I will probably have to skip using the OOT Approval action (long story short: apart from assigning a user to the approval - other users that are listed in a specific AD security group have to be able to take over the approval when for some reason the assigned user isn't able to (long term illness, away on vacation etc.). I don't belive this is possible with what's available OOT in Flow pr today...??

So, the idea here is to try to recreate (sort of) the task list that old school SharePoint Workflows uses - a custom task list where an item is created from the approval flow, which will serve as a approval task. The idea is that the approvers will change the status of the task in a form (approve, reject). So, this is the list item I was talking about, that I need to create and listen for changes in - in my approval flow. For example, if the status of the task changes to "Approved", the document in question gets published to a new main version.

I don't want to fire off another flow - unless this is the recommended way to do this, and it's possible to "connect" the two flows and exchange information between them in some way.

I hope I made my scenario more clear and didn't make it more confusing :).

[ScottShearer]

@HelgeNorvang:

This may/may not work for you but it is something to consider.....

You can have an approval action timeout after a specified time period.  When that happens, you can start a new approval - the second approval will only start if the first one times out.

You can design a multi-stage approval Flow that uses the escalation concept for each stage.

The issue that I see for you is that you can't assign an approval to an AD group - you need to assign it to an individual.

Also, please remember that a Flow can run for only 30 days.

Click here to see an video of an approval escalation such as I have described here.

Scott

[HelgeNorvang]

Thanks again. I don't think that meets the requirements.

The first approval stage is for a 'document owner' to accept the changes in the document, and the second stage is for users that are listed in a specific AD group (and have permission to approve document approvals in SharePoint). The second stage should not be reached unless the 'document owner' approves the first stage.

You mention that you can't assign groups to approval actions. That I know and this was handled by getting the users within the group (using Http Requests to Azure AD). That is not the problem.

But still, the idea of using a custom task list where the approvers can change columns (for example approve/reject) is what I would really want to go for. But of course, only if it's possible to monitor for changes in the task item from a running flow.

I think I'll try with a Do Until (it's fine that it times out - that's expected and totally ok) to check for changes in the list item... UNLESS somebody has a better solution.

Thanks.

[ScottShearer]

@HelgeNorvang:

OK - one more try....

Take a look at this blog post - it may be the answer for you.