Can I exclude approvers in previous states from approving in later states in Comala workflow
Asked by Emily Guerin:

I know that you can use workflow parameters to define approver groups and you can exclude approver/groups from an approval - when there are multiple approvals in the one state.

However in the workflows we use, there would be separate states for each approval. Each set of approvers for one state could have overlaps with approvers for another state.

**Is there any way to ensure that the person who actually approved in one state, can't approve in the next state ?**

See this workflow as an example:

{workflow:name=Seperation of Duties3\|key=spaceworkflow--331894580\|label=seperation_of_duties3\|content=pages\|updatestatus=true}  
{description}  
To have 3 states of approvals but no one person can approve more than once  
{description}  
{state:Dev Sign-off\|approved=Review Sign-off\|description=Sign off that development is complete}  
{approval:DEV Approval\|credentials=1\|rememberassignees=true\|allowedassigngroups=Jira_Developers\|selectedapprovers=Jira_Developers}  
{state}  
{state:Review Sign-off\|approved=Test Manager Sign-off\|rejected=Dev Sign-off\|description=Sign Off that code is reviewed}  
{approval:Review Approval\|credentials=1\|rememberassignees=true\|allowedassigngroups=Jira_Developers\|selectedapprover=Emily,Jane,Patrick}  
{state}  
{state:Test Manager Sign-off\|approved=Release Process Complete\|rejected=Review Sign-off\|description=Sign Off that testing is complete}  
{approval:Test Manager Approval\|credentials=1\|rememberassignees=true\|allowedassigngroups=Jira_Developers\|selectedapprovers=Emily,Jane,Patrick}  
{state}  
{state:Release Process Complete\|final=true}  
{state}  
{workflow}

In state Dev Sign off , anyone in the group Jira_developers can approve

In the following two states only Emily, Jane or Patrick can approve.

Emily, Jane and Patrick are also members of Jira_developers group.

How can I ensure that once for example Emily approves that she is excluded from the other two approvals.

Can this be done using the exclude option as I have not managed to get it working so far.


Answers:
author: James Conway
body: Hello [@Emily Guerin](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4514902)

Really interesting question! I asked our crack support team for some suggestions and I think we've found a really elegant approach using [Value References](https://docs.comalatech.com/space/CDML/6833014360/Value+Reference+Modifiers) to retrieve the user(s) that approved the previous approval(s).

```
{workflow:name=Seperation of Duties3|key=spaceworkflow--331894580|label=seperation_of_duties3|content=pages|updatestatus=true}    {description}         To have 3 states of approvals but no one person can approve more than once    {description}    {state:Dev Sign-off|approved=Review Sign-off|description=Sign off that development is complete}        {approval:DEV Approval|credentials=1|rememberassignees=true|allowedassigngroups=Jira_Developers|selectedapprovers=Jira_Developers}    {state}    {state:Review Sign-off|approved=Test Manager Sign-off|rejected=Dev Sign-off|description=Sign Off that code is reviewed}        {approval:Review Approval|credentials=1|rememberassignees=true|allowedassigngroups=Jira_Developers|exclude=@DEV Approval>approver@|selectedapprover=Emily,Jane,Patrick}    {state}    {state:Test Manager Sign-off|approved=Release Process Complete|rejected=Review Sign-off|description=Sign Off that testing is complete}        {approval:Test Manager Approval|credentials=1|rememberassignees=true|allowedassigngroups=Jira_Developers|exclude=@DEV Approval>approver@,@Review Approval>approver@|selectedapprovers=Emily,Jane,Patrick}    {state}    {state:Release Process Complete|final=true}    {state}{workflow}
```

Please let me know if that works for you.

Keep in mind that you can reach out to us anytime at <https://support.comalatech.com/>

All the best

James

comments: author: Emily Guerin
body: Hi James,

Thanks a million, this works.

I really appreciate the help and advice on this.

Kind Regards, Emily


Tags: comala

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migration-customer-care

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