MS Connect Suggestion: Allow Workflow Steps to Have Multiple Parents

I have another Workflow related MS Connect Suggestion I’d like you to vote for.

I have worked on a number of projects for clients implementing Workflow 2.0 where being able to set one step with multiple parents would greatly reduce the work involved in creating the workflow.

For example I have recently worked with a client who has a Function segment in the chart of accounts, which requires approval by the Function Approver, which is a different person for each Function, and then a second level of approval by a Finance Panel, which is always the same five people.

When we create the workflow for POs we need to create forty Steps, one for each Function with it’s set of approvers, and then forty Finance Panel Approval Steps after each of the Function approval steps.

For example:

Step for Function = "IT"
	followed by a Finance Panel approval step.
Step for Function = "HR"
	followed by a Finance Panel approval step.
Step for Function = "TRAINING"
	followed by a Finance Panel approval step.
Step for Function = "SALES"
	followed by a Finance Panel approval step.
Step for Function = "ADMIN"
	followed by a Finance Panel approval step.
Step for Function = "OPERATIONS"
	followed by a Finance Panel approval step.

If we could define the Finance Panel step and assign it to follow multiple steps instead of only the one parent which can be assigned at the moment, it would save so much time and effort when creating and maintaining the workflow.

You can vote on the suggestion here.