Decision with waiting step

Automation Example: Decision with Waiting Step

Need your process to ask “Is something ready?” and either proceed immediately or wait? This pattern handles that - but it requires three automations, not two.

The pattern

Here’s what you want:

• YES → Skip waiting, go directly to the next step
• NO → Show a waiting step, then continue when it’s done

Most users create two automations (one for YES, one for NO) and stop there. That’s the mistake.

Example: Payment confirmation workflow

Let’s say you have three steps:

1. Decision step: “Has the customer paid?” (YES/NO field)
2. Waiting step: “Hold until payment received” (hidden by default)
3. Confirmation step: “Record payment evidence” (hidden by default)

Required automations (all three are necessary)

Automation 1 - YES path (customer already paid):

IF (Payment field) is "Yes"
THEN HIDE "Hold until payment received" step
THEN SHOW "Record payment evidence" step

Customer paid? Skip the waiting step, go straight to confirmation.

Automation 2 - NO path (customer hasn’t paid yet):

IF (Payment field) is "No"
THEN SHOW "Hold until payment received" step
THEN HIDE "Record payment evidence" step

Customer hasn’t paid? Show the waiting step. Hide confirmation for now.

Automation 3 - Waiting complete (the one people forget):

IF "Hold until payment received" step is Completed
THEN SHOW "Record payment evidence" step

When the waiting step is done, show the confirmation step.

Common mistake

Most users stop after automations 1 and 2. Without automation 3, the confirmation step stays hidden forever after the waiting step is completed. The NO path never reaches the confirmation.

Why all three automations?

Think about what happens with only two automations:

Scenario	What happens
YES selected	Works fine - confirmation step appears
NO selected	Waiting step appears, confirmation hidden
Waiting step completed	Nothing! Confirmation stays hidden

Automation 3 completes the NO path. Without it, the workflow dead-ends.

Summary

When combining decisions with waiting steps:

1. Create your YES automation (skip waiting, show next step)
2. Create your NO automation (show waiting, hide next step)
3. Don’t forget: Create a “waiting completed” automation to show the next step

All three automations work together. Miss one, and the workflow breaks.

Related articles

Examples > Synchronization

Tallyfy’s synchronization automation uses the AND operator to ensure processes wait for multiple approvals or conditions to be met before proceeding with the next steps.

Actions > Automate hiding or showing tasks

Visibility actions in Tallyfy use IF-THEN logic to dynamically show or hide workflow steps based on conditions like field values or task completion status enabling you to create sequential task dependencies by hiding steps by default and revealing them through automation rules when previous steps are completed.

Automations > Logic operations explained

Tallyfy’s automation logic uses simple IF-THEN rules that watch user inputs and automatically adjust workflows based on conditions like form selections task approvals or specific requirements while combining multiple conditions with AND/OR logic to create intelligent processes that adapt to different business scenarios.

Tutorials > Create an automation

Tallyfy automation rules use IF-THEN conditional logic to intelligently adapt workflows based on user inputs task completions and other triggers eliminating manual adjustments while automatically showing relevant steps assigning tasks and responding to changing circumstances throughout your processes.

Was this helpful?

YesNo