Our quote approval workflow has suddenly stopped working at the manager approval stage. Sales reps can create quotes and submit them for approval, but when they reach the assigned manager in the BPM Worklist, the task just sits there indefinitely. The manager sees the task in their worklist but clicking ‘Approve’ or ‘Reject’ does nothing - no error message, no progress.
We’re on 23B and this workflow has been stable for 6 months. The BPM task shows status ‘Assigned’ but won’t move forward. I checked the manager hierarchy sync and all reporting relationships look correct in HCM. About 15 quotes are currently blocked waiting for manager approval which is impacting our sales pipeline. Has anyone seen BPM task assignment issues where the workflow appears stuck even though the task is visible?
Check if the manager’s user account has the proper approval privileges. Sometimes role assignments get modified and the user can see tasks but can’t act on them. Also verify the workflow definition hasn’t been accidentally modified - go to BPM Worklist Administration and review the task configuration for your quote approval process.
You’ve identified the root cause - the failed notification mailer is creating a cascading issue with your BPM workflow. Here’s what’s happening and how to fix it:
BPM Task Assignment Issue:
The workflow engine is waiting for notification confirmation before allowing the next action. When the notification mailer fails, it creates a lock on the task that prevents managers from completing their approval action. The task appears ‘Assigned’ but the backend is in a waiting state.
Manager Hierarchy Sync:
While your HCM hierarchy looks correct, the BPM workflow cache hasn’t refreshed after the notification failures. You need to force a sync:
- Navigate to Setup and Maintenance > Search: ‘Workflow Configuration’
- Run ‘Synchronize Workflow Directory Service’ to refresh the approval hierarchy
- This ensures BPM has the latest manager assignments and clears any stale task locks
Escalation Notification Resolution:
Fix the notification mailer to unblock current and future workflows:
- Go to Setup and Maintenance > Manage Workflow Notifications
- Verify SMTP settings are correct (often fails after password changes)
- Test the notification by sending a test email
- Once working, run ‘Retry Failed Notifications’ from Scheduled Processes
For the 15 stuck quotes, you have two options:
- Wait for the notification retry to complete (can take 2-4 hours)
- Use BPM Worklist Administration to manually reassign tasks, which forces a refresh
After fixing the notification mailer and running the directory sync, new quote approvals should work normally. The stuck tasks should automatically become actionable within a few hours once the notification system catches up. Monitor the ‘Workflow Notification Mailer’ job to ensure it stays healthy - set up alerts if it fails again since this will immediately impact your approval workflows.
Have you checked if there are any scheduled ESS jobs related to workflow notifications that might have failed? Sometimes the BPM engine relies on background processes to move tasks through stages. Go to Scheduled Processes and filter by ‘Workflow’ - look for any failed or stuck jobs in the past week. Also check if the escalation notification process is running properly since that can sometimes block normal task progression.
Found several ‘Workflow Notification Mailer’ jobs that failed over the past few days. Could this be preventing the workflow from progressing even though the managers can see the tasks? The error log mentions something about SMTP configuration but I’m not sure if that would block the actual approval action.