Request cancellation

Happy

Hi, I create a smartsheet project for user to request an refund purposes process. In this smartsheet, first the user will fill out the form, and it will go to the HOD for approval and then to Finance for approval.

My question here is: when the process ongoing is being cancelled by a tick box, how do I make the whole respective request stop working, such that the approval email sent to the HOD will then expire and the whole workflow will stop?

Next is, when the request is complete, how do I make the cancellation checkbox impossible to click? I tried using the automation "status" template, but it does not work for me. Not sure how to apply formula with this if it is possible.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Happy

What I would do in this instance is make sure that the "cancelled" checkbox being un-checked is part of the Condition Blocks of any workflows of this process:

That way, even if the HOD approves the submission, the next workflow won't send out to Finance if the row has been cancelled in the meantime.

Then I would set up a second workflow that changes the Approval columns to be "Cancelled" when the checkbox is checked:

While this won't prevent someone from opening up an Approval Request if it's previously been sent out, it will update the field values when they go to Approve the request.

This means that you could add custom text to your original request to make it clear that if the value says "Cancelled" they can ignore this email. I've done a very rough draft here, but you can customize your text however you want:

The final thing you can do is set up a workflow to lock a row once the Finance approval is either Approved, Declined, or Cancelled:

Admins and the Owner of the sheet will still be able to update row content, but any of your other collaborators won't be able to make changes to the checkbox for that row (or any other cell in that row).

Here are some Help Articles that you may find useful:

Action blocks: Specify what kind of automation is triggered / Condition Blocks: Filter What Your Automated Workflows Send

Cheers,

Genevieve