Approval Workflow issues

Question

I am trying to create a simple workflow to approve a final a "pre-final" version by two managers before calling it final. Do you have any places to start digging ?

Best regards.

Answer 1

If you need to approve a document, You can use a built-in approval workflow by activating Publishing Approval Workflow in Site collection features.

If you need to build a custom approval workflow for list item via SharePoint designer , check the following :

1. Open SharePoint Designer and SharePoint Site.

2. Click on Workflows option in the left Panel.

3. Click on List Workflow from the ribbon in top and select your List.

4. Provide the Name and Description of the workflow and keep Platform type as SharePoint 2013 in the Create New Workflow Pop up. Then click the OK button. 5.Workflow designer will open. By default Stage 1 is created. Rename it to Manager Approval by clicking over it. In the ribbon, click on Action and select Set Workflow Status. This will add a new action in the workflow.

5. Click on this message link in the action and provide text as “Pending Manager’s Approval”.

6. Add a log message to workflow history action in the next step. This will add logs in the workflow history list which will be helpful in debugging and audit trail.

7. Create a workflow variable Due Date and add an action in order to add 3 days from current date to due date.

8. Insert “Assign a Task” in the workflow. This will create an approval task in Tasks List and will be assigned to specified person for Approval.

9. Now we need to assign a task to the manager specified in the request. For this, click on This User link in the “Assign a Task” action à. Click on “…” against Participants à, from a popup click on “Workflow lookup for user…” à in Lookup for Person or Group. Then select data source as Current Item and Field from source as Manager Name. Click OK on all popups.

10. In Task Title provide “Please approve vacation request”.

11. In Description provide vacation details as described in the image below.

12. Provide Due Date as a variable we have created in previous steps.

13. In the Task Option section, select Wait for task completion.

14. In Outcome Options keep the current selection as it is.

15. Add a condition in the next step, check if outcome of the task is Approved or Rejected.

16. If Outcome is Approved then send mail to Requestor, CC HR and Manager.

17. If Outcome is Rejected then send mail to Requestor and CC Manager.

18. In the Transition to Stage section, select the Go To stage action and configure it to go to End of Workflow.

19. Below is the screenshot of a complete workflow.

20. Go to the workflow design page by clicking on the workflow name.

21. In the start Options, select second option “Start workflow automatically when an item is created”.

22. Now the workflow is complete, click on the save button and then click on Publish.

For more details with image check How to create an Approval workflow in SharePoint 2013