Can the approval workflow update the project status after each approval in serial workflow?

Yes, you can update the project status after each approval by breaking up serial approval requirements into separate workflow tasks, each with their own workflow-enabled status using the Manage Project Statuses task in the Setup and Maintenance work area.

In the Manage Project Statuses page, set the Status After Change Accepted (or Status After Change Rejected, depending on specific requirements) option to another workflow-enabled status. When the first workflow task completes, the project status will be changed and a second workflow task will be launched.

Note: Avoid infinite loops in your workflow rule design. For example, the use of automatic approvals for a participant could result in a circular flow of status changes. In such scenarios, the workflow will automatically exit the loop after 10 iterations, and set the project back to the last status that wasn’t workflow-enabled.

Example

Let's see how the approval workflow worked earlier.

Sequence	Project Status	Workflow-Enabled?	Workflow Approver (s)	Explanation
1	Draft	No
2	Submitted	Yes	Project Manager > FinancialController	The project status remains Submitted even after the project manager approves the workflow. The Status of project changes to Approved only when the financial controller approves the workflow.
3	Approved

Let’s look at this example and understand how project status change is achieved with each approval.

Sequence	Project Status	Workflow-Enabled?	Workflow Approver (s)	Explanation
1	Draft	No
2	Submitted for Project Approval	Yes	Project Manager	Status changes to PM approved.
3	Submitted for Finance Approval	Yes	Financial Controller	Status changes to FM approved.
4	Approved