Can an approval process trigger a workflow?

[noedskov]

Hi,

We have an approval process which in it's final approval actions performs a field update on Opportunity.Stage.

We then have a workflow rule that is triggered by a field update on Opportunity.Stage which sends out an email to certain people.

Now, if I login and update the stage of an opportunity to "Order confirmed" the workflow picks up on that and sends the email. This works fine.

However, if the stage field on the opportunity is set to the exact same "Order confirmed" the workflow does NOT pick up on the field update and NO email is being sent out.

Is this a bug or is it simply not possible to have a field update in an approval process trigger a workflow like that?

Kind regards,

Søren Nødskov Hansen

[Rajaram]

You can send those email alerts as part of the approval process itself. In the final approval actions section, send out the email alert.

[noedskov]

Yes, and I did that once I realized the workflows weren't triggered.

However, the email sent is an email to our support department telling them to create/update an account. Now, once the support department has finished they simply reply to that email to let the sales rep know that they are done and the customer can start using their account.

And this is where it creates a problem because the sender of the email (if sent as part of the final approval actions) is the whoever approved the opportunity and not the owner of the opportunity (the actual sales rep).

I guess my problem isn't so much who or what triggers the email but more a question of how I can make e.g. the opportunity owner be the one who is marked as sender of that particular email.

And thinking about it (as I write this post) I suppose I could just add another level/layer of approval so that once our finance department has approved the opportunity the approval proccess continues and needs a last approval by the sales rep and thereby he or she will be the sender.

/Søren Nødskov Hansen


Message Edited by noedskov on 06-04-2008 02:47 PM

[Joe_Ipsen]

Want to specify the From: address of a Workflow?

http://ideas.salesforce.com/article/show/69422/Designate_Send_From_email_for_Work_Flow_alerts

Or, perhaps, more control over the To: or CC: of a workflow?

http://ideas.salesforce.com/article/show/10092421

[threadkiller]

This is a clear and very counterintuitive shortcoming in the Approval Process functionality.  Bump this idea if you want it changed:

http://ideas.salesforce.com/article/show/10079842/Workflow_alert_not_triggered_by_approval_process

[amitabhagrawal]

We are facing similar problem while trying to send an e-mail notification to the Approver, who is not the owner of the record. Is there any easy way to do that?  We tried "Related User:Last Modified By" field in Final Approval Email Alert task but it's not working. Also, we tried by setting "Approved" status on a custom field & tried to initiate Workflow with the condition "Status = Approved", but seems workflow can't be initiated from the Approval process. If we login, Edit any record and change the Status to Approved, workflow works perfectively. Any help or guidance in this matter will be appreciated.