By design when an approver selects the request change action in a workflow the workflow item is assigned back to the workflow submitter to make the change. However prior to the latest service update 10.0.8 platform update 32 a drop down box was available to select the user to assign the change request back to and this could be different to the person that submitted the workflow item for approval. The same functionality is still available when delegating or reassigning a workflow item.

This function was used frequently by my organisation when a workflow item needs urgent approval and the person that submitted the workflow item is unavailable for any number of reasons (leave, illness, different time zone, no longer employed etc.) and it makes not sense to assign the workflow to them to make a change. Under these circumstances the approver simply selects an appropriate alternate user to make the requested change, they make the change and re-submit the workflow for approval all of which is captured in the workflow history.

If this were to be reintroduced some suggested improvements would be:-

1. Make it configurable so an organisation can choose whether they want this option to be available on all or selected workflows

2. Default the user name of the person that submitted the workflow for approval in the drop down box

3. Allow the list of users in the drop down box that a request for change can be assigned to, to be limited to a group of users