Trigger suggestions for blank updates request

dpoulin

Hi everyone,

I have seen a handful of articles on this topic, but sadly none have made sense to me.

I have a process where a student submits a form, which through automation is in turn sent to an employer using the "Request Update" feature. The employer is supposed to review the content and then complete a series of acknowledgements at the bottom. Once the changes are submitted, an automation triggers a notification email to the program coordinators for final approval.

The issue: it's possible for the employer to submit the update request without making any changes because one can't make question mandatory on an update request. So if this happens,there is no trigger and no notification is sent.

I have seen suggestions around making helper columns with check boxes and dates, but I still don't understand how those would do what I need them to do.

Any ideas?

TLDR: How can I create a trigger when someone submits an update request with no changes.

TVang

@dpoulin, there is not a way to trigger workflows when blank updates are submitted. However, update requests expire 14 days after they're created. If you record the date that the request was sent, then you can use it to trigger another workflow.

Here's how this is done.
• Create a date column named [Date Request Sent].
• Add the Record a Date action to your update request automation, ensuring that the date is recorded in [Date Request Sent].
• Create a new automation workflow and configure it to run 2 weeks after the date in [Date Request Sent].

Hope this helped!