Sequential Approval Flow - Too many nested items

[Mavex]

Dear Power Users,

Im looking for your help with a flow of mine. I have built a flow, with 4 conditions (3 approvals and 1 if condition).

But now I would like to add 1 more approval and I am running into the issue of more than 8 nested items (9 to be exact).

The 4 approvals in this flow need to be sequential, so only send the next approval if the previous approval was accepted.

See flow below:

Is there any workaround for the nested issue in my scenario?

Many thanks!

Mavex

[Mavex]

Forgot to add, if possible I would like to stay away from Child Flows.

[David_MA]

Your screen shot is too small and I cannot tell exactly what you are doing. However, it looks like you have a condition within the yes side of another condition after an approval. Move the condition after the approval to outside of the condition it is in, and I think that will accomplish what you want. 

[Mavex]

Hi @David_MA ,

Thanks for your reply. 

I am trying to achieve a sequential approval flow, which if I take it out of the condition no longer will be sequential I am afraid.
Basically we have 4 layers of approvals, and the next layer should only receive the approval if the previous layer accepted it, if that makes sense. But based on the requested amount, the flow follows another branch. It looks something like this:

• Layer 1: RES Manager
  • AMOUNT 500 or more
    YES
    • Layer 2: DoF
    • Layer 3: GM
    • Layer 4: Accounting
  • NO
    • Layer 2: DoF
    • Layer 4: Accounting (Layer 3: "skipped")

See below more detailed screenshots:

[Mavex]

Forgot to mention, we currently have 3 approval layers in place. But I would like to add one more approval at the end, and that's where I am running into the "too many nested items" issue.

[David_MA · Accepted solution]

I think I am understanding what you need. Basically, you need to skip the Layer3 approval if the amount is less than $500. I think you can set up your flow like this:

In the list I set this up in to illustrate, I don't have a field named Amount so I just hard coded the field in the condition. And I didn't add everything you have since it is just for illustrative purposes. 

Within the Condition Layer3 GM Approved is the same logic as the Layer2 DOF Approved logic.

The terminate actions are set up as succeeded.

I hope this makes sense...

[Mavex]

@David_MA Thanks a million, your suggestion worked like a charm!! You made me realise I was thinking too much "inside the box".
Just a question on the side, why would you use for Create Approval + Wait approval, instead of Start and Wait approval?

[David_MA]

The biggest reason I use the create and wait actions is that you can then set up reminders for your approvals and also set up a timeout action on the approval. I think I also just got into the habit of using the two actions instead of one 🙂 Here is an example:

The do until sends a reminder every seven days if the approval is not completed. Under the Wait for an approval, the wait has a timeout of 21 days. The first action on the right under the wait is set to run on failed or timeout. This way if it is not completed within 21 days, which is the requirement for this process, it notifies the process owner. This is a new process, so that may change. For now, it is a placeholder so the process owner can get a sense of how many approvals are not completed on time. 

Down the road if this is a big issue, I could replace the send e-mail with something else such as calling a child flow (workflow is within a solution) to start an escalation approval process or do an auto-reject.

[Mavex]

@David_MA Many thanks once again for the elaborate explanation!