Status Update Requests - When predecessor tasks have not yet been completed

We have set up daily status update requests for our projects for task owners 1 day before "Planned Finish" date. We run into an issue when one or more "Predecessors" have not yet been completed. The automation pings users for successor tasks, that they can not start/finish, as they are waiting for the predecessor task to be completed. Is there a way to prevent status update request from being triggered if a predecessor has not yet been completed?

Best Answers

  • Julio S.
    Julio S. Moderator
    edited 12/18/21 Answer ✓

    Hi @[email protected],

    If ensuring end dates in predecessors are always up to date isn't an option as @Dale Murphyproposes. You may create an additionalcheckbox Column(Predecessor completed? in my example below) in your project where each task has a formula in the line of:

    =IF(AND([Task Status]7 = "Complete", [Task Status]9 = "Complete"), 1, 0)

    where each Task Status number represents each predecessor for any given row. This should check the box in cases where any of the referred tasks are complete. In rows that only have a single predecessor you can get rid of the AND statement and just have

    =IF([Task Status]7 = "Complete", 1,0)

    Please reviewANDandIFto know more about these functions.

    You can then add this checkbox being checked as a condition for your Workflow to run as shown below:


    Screenshot 2021-12-18 at 09.52.41.png


    Hereyou can find more information about Conditions in Workflows if you need.

    I hope this solution can be of help. If you'd need further advise, please include some captures of your source sheet and the Workflow you've created making sure to delete or hide in some way any confidential data.

    Cheers!

    Julio

  • tariq.shaikh@signspecialists.com
    [email protected] ✭✭✭✭
    Answer ✓

    HiJulio S.- Thank you. That is very helpful and works!

Answers

  • Dale Murphy
    Dale Murphy ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    @[email protected]Not to be glib about it, but shouldn't someone adjust the end date on the unfinished tasks? Then the successor start date would move, and the workflow wouldn't be triggered.

    dm

  • 戴尔-在一个理想世界中,是的。我点的managing 50+ concurrent, fast-paced projects each, continual adjustment of Planned Finish Dates is not practicable.

  • Julio S.
    Julio S. Moderator
    edited 12/18/21 Answer ✓

    Hi @[email protected],

    If ensuring end dates in predecessors are always up to date isn't an option as @Dale Murphyproposes. You may create an additionalcheckbox Column(Predecessor completed? in my example below) in your project where each task has a formula in the line of:

    =IF(AND([Task Status]7 = "Complete", [Task Status]9 = "Complete"), 1, 0)

    where each Task Status number represents each predecessor for any given row. This should check the box in cases where any of the referred tasks are complete. In rows that only have a single predecessor you can get rid of the AND statement and just have

    =IF([Task Status]7 = "Complete", 1,0)

    Please reviewANDandIFto know more about these functions.

    You can then add this checkbox being checked as a condition for your Workflow to run as shown below:


    Screenshot 2021-12-18 at 09.52.41.png


    Hereyou can find more information about Conditions in Workflows if you need.

    I hope this solution can be of help. If you'd need further advise, please include some captures of your source sheet and the Workflow you've created making sure to delete or hide in some way any confidential data.

    Cheers!

    Julio

  • tariq.shaikh@signspecialists.com
    [email protected] ✭✭✭✭
    Answer ✓

    HiJulio S.- Thank you. That is very helpful and works!

Help Article Resources

Want to practice working with formulas directly in Smartsheet?

Check out theFormula Handbook template!
Try this:<\/p>

=COUNTIFS([Item Number]:[Item Number], OR(@cell = \"C001\", @cell = \"COO2\", @cell = \"COO3\", @cell = \"COO4\"), [Status]:[Status], OR(@cell = \"Green\", @cell = \"Yellow\", @cell = \"Red\"))<\/p>"}]}},"status":{"statusID":3,"name":"Accepted","state":"closed","recordType":"discussion","recordSubType":"question"},"bookmarked":false,"unread":false,"category":{"categoryID":322,"name":"Formulas and Functions","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/formulas-and-functions","allowedDiscussionTypes":[]},"reactions":[{"tagID":3,"urlcode":"Promote","name":"Promote","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":5,"count":0},{"tagID":5,"urlcode":"Insightful","name":"Insightful","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":11,"urlcode":"Up","name":"Vote Up","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":13,"urlcode":"Awesome","name":"Awesome","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0}],"tags":[{"tagID":254,"urlcode":"formulas","name":"Formulas"}]},{"discussionID":109490,"type":"question","name":"HAS exact match within multiselect - Numbered Values","excerpt":"Scenario: Trying to identify a match if a value shows up in a multiselect from another sheet. Approach: I'm able to get 95% of this done through an index(collect(contains))) formula, but having some false positives show up wherever a partial match is found. I later found some suggestions that (has) would be more…","snippet":"Scenario: Trying to identify a match if a value shows up in a multiselect from another sheet. Approach: I'm able to get 95% of this done through an index(collect(contains)))…","categoryID":322,"dateInserted":"2023-08-25T19:26:32+00:00","dateUpdated":null,"dateLastComment":"2023-08-26T00:49:48+00:00","insertUserID":154049,"insertUser":{"userID":154049,"name":"Rob W.","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Rob%20W.","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/defaultavatar\/nWRMFRX6I99I6.jpg","dateLastActive":"2023-08-26T00:49:37+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭"},"updateUserID":null,"lastUserID":154049,"lastUser":{"userID":154049,"name":"Rob W.","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Rob%20W.","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/defaultavatar\/nWRMFRX6I99I6.jpg","dateLastActive":"2023-08-26T00:49:37+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭"},"pinned":false,"pinLocation":null,"closed":false,"sink":false,"countComments":2,"countViews":18,"score":null,"hot":3386003780,"url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/109490\/has-exact-match-within-multiselect-numbered-values","canonicalUrl":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/109490\/has-exact-match-within-multiselect-numbered-values","format":"Rich","lastPost":{"discussionID":109490,"commentID":392694,"name":"Re: HAS exact match within multiselect - Numbered Values","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/comment\/392694#Comment_392694","dateInserted":"2023-08-26T00:49:48+00:00","insertUserID":154049,"insertUser":{"userID":154049,"name":"Rob W.","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Rob%20W.","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/defaultavatar\/nWRMFRX6I99I6.jpg","dateLastActive":"2023-08-26T00:49:37+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭"}},"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/"},{"name":"Get Help","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/get-help"},{"name":"Formulas and Functions","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/formulas-and-functions"}],"groupID":null,"statusID":3,"image":{"url":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/KJPRLKL2FW16\/capture-png.png","urlSrcSet":{"10":"","300":"","800":"","1200":"","1600":""},"alt":"Capture.PNG"},"attributes":{"question":{"status":"accepted","dateAccepted":"2023-08-26T00:49:35+00:00","dateAnswered":"2023-08-25T23:58:23+00:00","acceptedAnswers":[{"commentID":392688,"body":"

Hi, <\/p>

Instead of applying the formula to \"Multiselect Text String\" row, did you tried with \"Multiselect Values\" row?<\/p>

=IF(HAS([Multiselect Values]@row, [Component ID]@row), \"MATCH\", \"NO MATCH\")<\/p>

Thank you,<\/p>"}]}},"status":{"statusID":3,"name":"Accepted","state":"closed","recordType":"discussion","recordSubType":"question"},"bookmarked":false,"unread":false,"category":{"categoryID":322,"name":"Formulas and Functions","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/formulas-and-functions","allowedDiscussionTypes":[]},"reactions":[{"tagID":3,"urlcode":"Promote","name":"Promote","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":5,"count":0},{"tagID":5,"urlcode":"Insightful","name":"Insightful","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":11,"urlcode":"Up","name":"Vote Up","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":13,"urlcode":"Awesome","name":"Awesome","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0}],"tags":[]},{"discussionID":109474,"type":"question","name":"Help with date calculation formula","excerpt":"Hello, I'm trying to find a formula that will help me calculate how long an intake took to resolve. The rows I need to be calculated are Date Reported & Resolution Date. If the resolution date is blank I want it to use the current date in the calculation to see how long this issue has gone unresolved. Any help is much…","snippet":"Hello, I'm trying to find a formula that will help me calculate how long an intake took to resolve. The rows I need to be calculated are Date Reported & Resolution Date. If the…","categoryID":322,"dateInserted":"2023-08-25T16:29:39+00:00","dateUpdated":"2023-08-25T16:29:59+00:00","dateLastComment":"2023-08-25T23:01:30+00:00","insertUserID":165688,"insertUser":{"userID":165688,"name":"Nwest","title":"Systems Analyst","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Nwest","photoUrl":"https:\/\/aws.smartsheet.com\/storageProxy\/image\/images\/u!1!ukHVZ18ImX4!BcjWAe8S9SY!l7iQo_PZHOx","dateLastActive":"2023-08-25T17:22:30+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭"},"updateUserID":165688,"lastUserID":8888,"lastUser":{"userID":8888,"name":"Andrée Starå","title":"Smartsheet Expert Consultant & Partner | Workflow Consultant \/ CEO @ WORK BOLD","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Andr%C3%A9e%20Star%C3%A5","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/userpics\/0PAU3GBYQLBT\/nXWM7QXGD6464.jpg","dateLastActive":"2023-08-26T17:06:33+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭✭✭✭✭✭"},"pinned":false,"pinLocation":null,"closed":false,"sink":false,"countComments":3,"countViews":23,"score":null,"hot":3385987269,"url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/109474\/help-with-date-calculation-formula","canonicalUrl":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/109474\/help-with-date-calculation-formula","format":"Rich","tagIDs":[254],"lastPost":{"discussionID":109474,"commentID":392687,"name":"Re: Help with date calculation formula","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/comment\/392687#Comment_392687","dateInserted":"2023-08-25T23:01:30+00:00","insertUserID":8888,"insertUser":{"userID":8888,"name":"Andrée Starå","title":"Smartsheet Expert Consultant & Partner | Workflow Consultant \/ CEO @ WORK BOLD","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/profile\/Andr%C3%A9e%20Star%C3%A5","photoUrl":"https:\/\/us.v-cdn.net\/6031209\/uploads\/userpics\/0PAU3GBYQLBT\/nXWM7QXGD6464.jpg","dateLastActive":"2023-08-26T17:06:33+00:00","banned":0,"punished":0,"private":false,"label":"✭✭✭✭✭✭"}},"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/"},{"name":"Get Help","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/get-help"},{"name":"Formulas and Functions","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/formulas-and-functions"}],"groupID":null,"statusID":3,"attributes":{"question":{"status":"accepted","dateAccepted":"2023-08-25T17:04:22+00:00","dateAnswered":"2023-08-25T16:36:59+00:00","acceptedAnswers":[{"commentID":392622,"body":"

\n \n https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/discussion\/109474\/help-with-date-calculation-formula\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Hi, <\/p>

I hope you're well and safe!<\/p>

Try something like this.<\/p>

=IF([Date Reported]@row <> \"//www.santa-greenland.com/community/discussion/comment/\", IF([Resolution Date]@row = \"//www.santa-greenland.com/community/discussion/comment/\", NETDAYS([Date Reported]@row, TODAY()), NETDAYS([Date Reported]@row, [Resolution Date]@row)))<\/p>

Did that work\/help? <\/p>

I hope that helps!<\/p>

Be safe, and have a fantastic weekend!<\/p>

Best,<\/p>

Andrée Starå<\/strong><\/a> | Workflow Consultant \/ CEO @ WORK BOLD<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by <\/em>marking it Insightful\/Vote Up, Awesome, or\/and as the accepted answer<\/em><\/strong>. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!<\/em><\/p>"}]}},"status":{"statusID":3,"name":"Accepted","state":"closed","recordType":"discussion","recordSubType":"question"},"bookmarked":false,"unread":false,"category":{"categoryID":322,"name":"Formulas and Functions","url":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/categories\/formulas-and-functions","allowedDiscussionTypes":[]},"reactions":[{"tagID":3,"urlcode":"Promote","name":"Promote","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":5,"count":0},{"tagID":5,"urlcode":"Insightful","name":"Insightful","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":11,"urlcode":"Up","name":"Vote Up","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0},{"tagID":13,"urlcode":"Awesome","name":"Awesome","class":"Positive","hasReacted":false,"reactionValue":1,"count":0}],"tags":[{"tagID":254,"urlcode":"formulas","name":"Formulas"}]}],"initialPaging":{"nextURL":"https:\/\/community.smartsheet.com\/api\/v2\/discussions?page=2&categoryID=322&includeChildCategories=1&type%5B0%5D=Question&excludeHiddenCategories=1&sort=-hot&limit=3&expand%5B0%5D=all&expand%5B1%5D=-body&expand%5B2%5D=insertUser&expand%5B3%5D=lastUser&status=accepted","prevURL":null,"currentPage":1,"total":10000,"limit":3},"title":"Trending in Formulas and Functions ","subtitle":null,"description":null,"noCheckboxes":true,"containerOptions":[],"discussionOptions":[]}">

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