Is it a good idea to start parallel workflow in SPD?

Question

Is it a good idea to start parallel workflow in SPD? I want to develop a workflow in which user can multiple request at the same time and on the basis of workflow type workflows should start? 1. I doubt how I will track these workflows? 2. What about the reporting for e.g a user wants to know the status of his request then request is partially approved supposed 2 workflows has completed and other are waiting for approval? 3. What about of the management of these workflows (in case of debug)?

Answer 1

If you are referring to the parallel block, it will still depend on your requirement. Take note that parallel blocks are used to run multiple actions/approvals consecutively. This is usually done when you have a complex workflow with lots of steps and doesn't require on each other to complete to proceed to the next non parallel action.

To answer your other questions:

1. in SharePoint Designer workflows you can add details on the history of your workflow per action so that you know what specific action was completed
2. you can just create a specific view for your list/document library showing the approval status of each request so that users can see from which approver the action is still pending.
3. there are multiple ways of debugging a workflow. the easy way is using the workflow history items while there is also a way of debugging them by converting them to windows workflows and running them in visual studio. it really depends on what specific debugging you want to do.