Automated Workflow Not Triggering as Expected in Delegate Sheet

Kevin1894

I have two different sheets, and I'm facing an issue with automation triggers not behaving consistently.

• The Main Sheet contains all data and approvals. I set up an automated workflow to send reminders every second day to approvers who haven't checked their assigned tasks. This works perfectly without manual intervention.
• Delegate Sheet: Contains approvers with an option to delegate tasks when they are on holiday (with an expiration date). I created a formula to detect when the delegation expires and set up an automation to trigger when that happens. The expected behavior is:
  1. The workflow identifies that the delegation has expired.
  2. It sends a notification.
  3. It clears the delegation and restores the default approver.

The Issue

Unlike the reminder workflow in the Main Sheet, the automation in the Delegate Sheet only runs when I open the sheet in the morning. It doesn’t trigger automatically in the background, even though both workflows are set up with the same logic.

I also tested scheduling the automation to run at the same time daily, but it still does not execute unless I manually open the sheet.

What I’ve Tried

• Confirmed that the automation settings are identical to the working workflow in the Main Sheet.
• Used different trigger types, including "When a date is reached" and "When a cell changes."
• Set a scheduled automation to run every day at the same time.

Questions

• Why does the automation only trigger when I open the Delegate Sheet?
• Is there a way to force Smartsheet to detect the expiration date change without manual intervention and it should run in the background?
• Could there be a limitation related to formulas not being considered as a "change" in automated workflows?

Thank you for your help!

mcullen

Hello @Kevin1894!

I've ran into this issue a few times and it is very frustrating! I found this article helpful when troubleshooting: Trigger blocks: When your workflow is executed | Smartsheet Learning Center

I've also tried the time-based settings for sending notifications and continued to have issues. As a workaround, I added a "Record Date (Helper) Column with a time-based workflow that updates the date on the sheet every day. The update to the sheet, allows my notification workflows to run without opening she sheet daily. It seems a little silly but works beautifully.