Decision with waiting step

This pattern requires three automations, not two. It handles “Is something ready?” - either proceed immediately or wait until it is.

The pattern

YES - skip waiting, go directly to the next step
NO - show a waiting step, then continue when it’s done

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

Example: payment confirmation

Say you have three steps:

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

All three automations

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 wait, 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

Haven’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

This is the critical piece. When the waiting step finishes, it reveals the confirmation step.

Common mistake

Without automation 3, the confirmation step stays hidden forever after the waiting step completes. The NO path dead-ends.

Why you need all three

Here’s 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 closes the loop on the NO path.

Examples > Exclusive choice

Tallyfy’s exclusive choice pattern lets you branch a single process into one of several paths based on a form field condition — like using a radio button to select an employee role and then automatically showing only the relevant onboarding steps for that role while hiding all others.

Examples > Synchronization

Use the AND operator in Tallyfy automations to wait for multiple approvals or conditions before proceeding to the next steps.

Actions > Automate hiding or showing tasks

Tallyfy’s visibility actions let you dynamically show or hide specific process steps based on conditions like form field values or task completion status so users only see relevant steps and you can enforce sequential task order by hiding steps by default and revealing them through IF-THEN automation rules.

Automations > Logic operations explained

Tallyfy automations use simple IF-THEN rules instead of complex flowcharts to watch user inputs and automatically adjust workflows by showing or hiding steps and reassigning tasks and changing deadlines based on conditions that can be combined with AND/OR logic and evaluated left to right in the order you add them.

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Decision with waiting step