Multiple approvers FLow-check who is pending

[Aysan]

Hi,

I am working on an approval process flow for the Change request process. Flow is working properly, the only thing causing an issue is to tack the statute of the approval. The flow waits for all the assignees to approve, is there any way to check which assignee has been approved or pending? 

[ScottShearer]

@Aysan 

There is no supported way to find out who has/has no approved until the approval has completed.  You may be able to query CDS directly (Approvals data is stored in CDS) but that would require a premium license.

As an alternative, you could restructure your Flow to use Parallel approvals.  If you do, you can update a variable or even the list item to indicate who has/has not approved after the individual approvals complete. 

In a parallel approval scenario, you would have a separate approval action for each approval.  This link will show you how to get started with a parallel approval.

[Aysan]

Thanks, Scott. Is there a way to build parallel approval based on the email address which user type in? In the form I have this :

[ScottShearer]

@Aysan 

Yes but I am unaware of any way to do a parallel approval when you have a variable number of approvers.  Your screen shot seems to indicate that the number of approvers can vary.  As a result, parallel approvals may not work for you.  Sorry.....

I am creating an example of another method to try now...

[ScottShearer]

@Aysan 

Try the solution below.

This works because I set Concurrency control for the loop containing the single approval action to on.  This allows a number of loops to be running at the same time - not one after the other which is the default.  I create an array with all of the approvers.  I then assign an approval to each approver - they all get assigned at the same time because we have concurrency turned on.

Then I update the SharePoint list after every approval action completes with the outcome of that approval.  At any time during the approval process, you can see the progress of the approval (who has approved or rejected) simply by viewing the list item.  I also add the approval outcomes to a string.  After all of the approvals are completed, I update the list item with the overall outcome - if any of the approvers rejected the item, it is rejected.

In my example, the Decision column is a text column and the Responses column is a multi-line text column.

I could have eliminated the 3rd loop by using some advanced syntax but, for the sake of clarity and simplicity, I left it in. 

[Aysan]

Thank you so much for the flow sample, could you please kindly expand the approval step?

[Aysan]

This is how it looks like for me, as soon as I start the approval, the flow puts it in another loop 

as a result, I have double numbers of approvals ( the approver receives 2 emails )

[ScottShearer]

@Aysan 

It appears as though you have an extra loop in your Flow.  Please take another look at my example above.  If you still need help, post updated screen shots of your Flow to include the actions inside of your loops.

[Aysan]

@ScottShearer 

Yes, That`s the issue, could you please kindly expand your approval step in the test flow, the screenshot from that step will be really helpful. as soon as I select the assigned to  "approvers email" the extra loop being created automatically.

[ScottShearer · Accepted solution]

@Aysan 

Here is a screen shot of my approval action:

[Aysan]

Thank so much!