workflow email: Can I provide link to alternate view of current item

Question

I am using Sharepoint and Infopath 2013 to create a Leave Without Pay Request workflow on LWOP (Leave Without Pay) list. It starts with a user filling out the form and initiating the workflow. It then goes to a supervisor for approval and if approved, on to a second supervisor for final approval. Fairly simple. As far as the workflow functionality goes - everything is working. I am now trying to make things more user-friendly for the supervisors.

The workflow is already emailing the supervisor letting them know they have a request waiting along with a link to the specific item. The problem is that the link takes them to the default view - which is the view for initially filling out the form and does not contain the editable fields that are necessary for approval. For those field to become available to them, the supervisor needs to select the view from the drop-down that is appropriate (1st level approval or second level). It's confusing to them.

I'm wondering if there is an easy way to provide a hyperlink to the appropriate list item along with the view needed for that particular supervisor? If not, is this something that is going to require multiple lists with interdependent workflows?

Answer 1

Since you are using InfoPath, you could look into using form load rules to change the view in InfoPath. So you could detect if the form has been filled out and waiting for the first approval and provide a different view. Otherwise, it looks like there are solutions to use query string parameters that you could use to control the view, but they involve doing code.

Answer 2

You could do follwoing.

• create an additional edit form page on the list in SP Designer,

• then add a webpart with the InfoPath form

• and put in the form view you want as the default

• Finally, update your workflow notification with the link to the new edit page.