Create a Workflow to Check Overdue Tasks Using SharePoint Designer

Lately, I’ve learned almost anything can be made possible when working with SharePoint. The things that seem the most difficult and complex can actually turn out to be rather simple. A couple of weeks ago a client had requested a new SharePoint workflow to improve their task list. First, an email must be automated when a task item is created. Second, users must be notified if a task is overdue. Last but not least, the creator of a task should be notified when a task is completed. An OOTB task list in SharePoint meets most of this functionality except it failed to meet the requirement of notifying users when a task is overdue. But wait, things got even better. Along with that, users needed to be warned how many days the task has been overdue. Two workflows were created to make the magic happen so let’s look at the nuts and bolts to this SPD workflow.

Let’s review the requirements once more….

1. Send an email when a task is assigned to a user(s)
2. Notify the user(s) when a task is overdue
3. Send a confirmation email to the creator of the task when the task is completed

The first workflow will cover requirements #1 and #2. The first stage in this workflow will send an email to the user(s) that are assigned to a task.

The second stage will notify users when a task is overdue. Good thing I referenced a great blog post by Colin Thornton on how to create a reminder workflow on a standard task list to create the overdue check. If you need more information, please reference his blog post. I took out a few fields that I didn’t need. As long as the task is not completed, the transition stage will loop and check if the task is overdue.  

The final step to the first workflow is to log the task as completed and end the workflow.

The second workflow in this process takes care of requirement #3 and only contains one stage. When a task is completed an email notification will be sent to the person that created and assigned the task.

By diving in and getting familiar with SharePoint Designer I was able to provide a practical solution and now you can too. However, I would suggest implementing it and testing it before going directly into production. Hopefully something like this can offer some value to your SharePoint task list!