Things to Check If There Are Issues with Workflow Tasks

Task Isn't Getting Assigned to Approvers

One main way to tell this is happening is that when users open a workflow task, they see a message saying that the approval history can't be displayed. That usually means something about the related approval rule is not quite right, so approvers can't be found. Here are some things to check to make sure the rules are working correctly:

Click the Show Advanced Settings icon for the rule set and rules to make sure that both are active and effective.
If the rule is routing to an approval group, make sure that the group actually exists and has members.
If the list builder is using the supervisory hierarchy, check for these things:
- Are there enough manager positions to fulfill the number of levels needed for approval?
- Does the supervisor hierarchy go up that far from the task creator or the person the task is created for, depending on which is the starting participant?
- Is there a top participant defined in the rule?
- Is the rule configured to always route to an implementation user instead of managers in the hierarchy?
Review the rules in general to make sure the conditions have enough information to be true.
If the rule is defined to automatically approve or reject, ask the task creator to try and submit their transaction again.

Assignees Don't Get a Notification

In the Transaction Console work area, look for the transaction, which would have an error. If available as an option, withdraw the transaction. Otherwise, review the error and logs, if any, and address the issue.

To confirm that something went wrong with the notification, the task creator or the current assignee can also check for tasks with errors, for example in the notifications list in the global header or the Worklist: Approvals and Notifications work area.

Assignees Can't Approve By Email

Here are some things to check:

Is this an email-only issue? Can the assignee can approve from somewhere else, for example the notifications list in the global header or the Worklist: Approvals and Notifications work area?
Does the email have links that the assignee can click to take action? If not, open the task configuration and make sure that the Make notification actionable check box is selected in the More section of the Notifications subtab.
Did the assignee already take action on the task elsewhere, outside email?

Pending Task Prevents Further Update

If there's no movement on a task for a while, future approvers can't act on the task and move things along.

It could be that there's nothing wrong. The task is just pending action from the current assignee. In which case, remind them to act on the task.
Find out who created the task and check if there's an error with the task.
- If you recently had an upgrade and the error wasn't already there before the upgrade, make sure to resolve the issue.
- If the creator wants to withdraw the task, whether there's an error or not, they can do that themselves or have you withdraw for them from the Transaction Console work area.

Approvals Are Complete But Result Isn't Reflected

Even though a workflow task has a Completed status, it could be that what you expect to happen next due to the approval hasn't happened yet. In which case, check on these things:

Did all approvers act on the task? Did any approver reject?
Has the task expired? Check the task configuration to see if expiration policies are set on the Deadlines subtab. Also, the task creator should have received a notification if it expired.
Did the task creator get any notifications about errors with the task? In the Worklist: Notifications and Approvals work area, they should select Any for the Status filter to make sure they review all notifications.

Note: If the Approvals work area is enabled, it replaces the Worklist: Notifications and Approvals work area.