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  • 1.  One Approve Button for Multiple Approvers

    Posted 12-13-2018 02:39
    Hi,

    I'm still new to QB so apologies if this is basic. I've created an app with a workflow of 3 approvers and I'm wondering if it is possible to create an Approve/Reject button that would work for all of them or if I need to create 3 sets of Approve/Reject buttons.

    Here're the details:
    These approvers are based on roles from a business unit, e.g. Approver 1 is Business Leader, Approver 2 is VP, etc. I have a separate/related table of the actual users in each role by business unit, e.g. Business Leader for Marketing can be Jane Doe and VP for Marketing is Bob Smith. I've created 3 fields with Approved/Rejected for each of the roles/approval levels, e.g. Business Leader Approval, VP approval, etc. and I've also created a lookup field of the person that needs to approve based on the business unit of the request. I also have a field called 'Current Approver' to show where the request is sitting. 

    Is it possible for me to create a button that only shows up if Current User = Current Approver, and then IF Current User = VP, then update the field VP Approval=Approved, ELSE IF Current User = Business Leader, then update the field Business Leader Approval=Approved?

    I have looked at other posts of related topic but each seem to have a hard-coded fid for the specific field that needs to be changed to 'Approved', but I was wondering if I can make it more dynamic based on who is approving, which fields get updated?

    If that's not possible, what is a good alternative to make the end user experience easier with buttons for approvals? I'm also hoping to use these buttons for e-mail notifications later. Do I just need to create 3 sets of approve/reject buttons (one for each level of approval) and hide the other buttons from the other approvers? 

    If you do have a URL code to suggest, it would be great if you could call out the placeholders where I would need to update like DBID, fid, etc. since I'm still pretty new to this. Thanks in advance!


  • 2.  RE: One Approve Button for Multiple Approvers

    Posted 12-13-2018 15:17
    I would suggest three buttons or three sets of buttons (if you need a button to Approve or Reject).  Then have the buttons calculate to blank where they no longer make sense to offer.  Then the button will disappear.

    There approval workflow type apps are actually tricky to get working  and be firing the emails correctly to the correct people and then you typically need safety net Daily Subscription emails ot back up the email Notifications.


  • 3.  RE: One Approve Button for Multiple Approvers

    Posted 12-13-2018 17:01
    Since you are new to QuickBase I would suggest you follow Mark's advice and master native capabilities first. However, just about every question in this forum can be solved using scripting without any substantial comprise in your original requirements.


  • 4.  RE: One Approve Button for Multiple Approvers

    Posted 12-13-2018 18:18
    Thanks both for the quick response! I will build the 3 sets of buttons then. Just one last quick confirmation - if in the future we do decide to try out scripting to fulfill the original requirements, will that require a lot of re-work? E.g. will I have to consolidate the 3 sets of fields into one in the future, or just use more advanced scripting but we can still keep the current framework? Wanted to just confirm in case there will be issues with our data later if we need to change the structure in the future.