Change workflow triggered with new item

I have two approval workflows, one for initial approval, triggered by “when rows are added” and “email address” changes to anything.

Second is a change request workflow triggered by when “rows are changed” and “start date” or “end date” changes.

When I add new rows, the both workflows are triggered and I can’t figure out why.

There are no other workflows that are triggered when new rows are entered that would be editing any values, let alone the start/end date fields. Why is the second workflow triggering when I add new rows?

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Workflows in Smartsheet

Approval Request

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Darren Mullen

@Andrea Zenner How are the start and end dates entered, are they entered in the form or calculated as a formula?

Andrea Zenner

@Darren Mullen They are entered on the form. I disabled the workflow that is triggered by the date range and I did not have the issue. So that workflow, for some reason, is kicking off when new rows are added.

Kerry St. Thomas

The first workflow boils down to: When rows are added, do a thing. The second workflow boils down to "When changes are made, do some other thing." The kicker is "a thing" can include updating metadata (so things like "Modified" can be captured and stored, even if not surfaced) - so technically there's A LOT of background activity to identify when a row is created versus when it's saved. So the first could be forcing one of those updates - technically saving the row, so that when the date is recorded as part of the form submission it appears to be a "change."

Personally, I very much prefer using Conditions in combination with the Triggers. For example, if you use a STATUS column that includes "New Submission" or a similar thing when your initial form is submitted, you could set up an automation that is triggered whenever a row is added OR changed, condition Status = New Submission, action do a thing associated with your first screenshot, then end with updating status to "In Progress." Then your second screenshot could include Condition where Status = "In Progress."

Of course this isn't the ONLY way to address, but it's by far the one that I prefer - it seems to give me a bit more control over "order of operations" logic. Good luck!

Andrea Zenner

@Kerry St. Thomas I will try something like that, but the kicker is, I have this exact same set up in multiple other workspaces (this is a PTO application we use in 5 or 6 business units, they each have their own set of sheets/reports/dashboards and workflows). I don't have this issue in the other workspaces, just this new one. Maybe something changed in SS to cause this? Thanks for the tip!

Andrea Zenner

@Kerry St. Thomas Thinking this through a bit more, I think this is an issue with SS workflows. If my trigger is "when something changes and the change is X" any change other than X should not kick off the workflow (and hasn't in the past, I use this in MANY workflows). If that isn't the case, what's the point of even offering these different options of "added", "changed", or "added or changed"?

In my case, my condition to trigger the second approval is either the start date or end date changes. I can't predict to what they will change since many people request PTO date changes. Sometimes they move them forward, sometimes back, and at totally random intervals.

I'm going to review other workflows I have using "when rows are changed and X changes" and see if they have also stopped working as I expect.

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