How do I retrieve the value of a lookup-field in a workflow?

Question

I'm very new to SharePoint, and I'm working through understanding lists, workflows, and relationships between the two. I'm working on a SharePoint page to keep track of tasks completed in a timeframe. In my SharePoint site, I have 2 list objects;

• Timeframe
  • ID
  • Start Date
  • End Date
• Task
  • Title
  • Description
  • Timeframe # Completed In (Lookup field to Timeframe.ID)
  • Lookup: Start Date (Lookup field to Timeframe.Start Date when the IDs match)
  • Lookup: End Date (Lookup field to Timeframe.End Date when the IDs match)
  • Start Date (Field I want to save the lookup value into)
  • End Date (Field I want to save the lookup value into)

I've been creating a workflow that updates Task.Start Date and Task.End Date when an item is created or edited AND if Task.Timeframe # Completed In. First, we check if Task.Sprint # completed In is not empty. Then, Task.Lookup Start Date and Task.Lookup End Date are saved into workflow variables. Finally, we load the variable values into Task.Start Date and Task.End Date.

Each time I update a record, the workflow runs but is cancelled by an error. Error message:

Coercion Failed: Unable to transform the input lookup data into the requested type

Here's the workflow outline:

Step 1:
  if Current Item:Sprint # Completed In  is not empty
    Set Variable: lookupStart to Current Item:Lookup: Sprint Start Date
    then Set Variable: lookupEnd to Current Item:Lookup: Sprint End Date
    then Set Start Date to Variable: lookupStart
    then Set End Date to Variable: lookupEnd

How can I accomplish this? Thanks!

Answer 1

The workflow is looking for a Date and Time field, but lookups return text. You need to return the field as Lookup text.

Set Variable: lookupStart to Current Item:Lookup: Sprint Start Date, Return fields as Lookup Value (as Text)