Fields get cleared out when specific criteria has been met

[Deku42]

Hello,

We have a PHP website that utilizes an Access 2003 SP3 database. This website is used as an authorization process for a business process in our company. On the website, 8 different people must "sign off" on the process. This sign off process simply consists of typing your name and date into two different text boxes, as well as a third drop-down menu for "APPROVED" or "DENIED". These, of course, correlate to their respective fields in the Access database.

Within the past year or so, the 8th approval section was added. Since then, there have been sporadic issues where all of the approval fields would simply be erased and everyone has to go back to the form and "re-approve" their fields. I believe we have narrowed the issue to when the 8th person signs off before the 7th person. However, the approvals are not cleared every single time this happens, but this condition exists every time data is cleared. So my question is, would this be an issue related to access, or with the coding of the website?

Thanks

[orange]

It sounds like your approval process has some inherent logic. If your edit /validation does not follow that logic, then "errors/anomalies" could occur. Your comment that if the 8th sign off occurs before the seventh, then an error can happen.

You need some logic in the code to ensure that all previous sign off fields for (1-7 sign offs) are valued (and verified) before accepting data into the 8th sign off fields.

This seems to be something that could be exhaustively tested and corrected. However, we don't know the business process and business facts, and haven't seen the edit/validation coding.

[Deku42]

To clarify, this is not a workflow-like structure where one approval needs to happen before the other. The 8 different departments simply need to have it all signed off independently of one another

[orange]

Well if I misunderstood that there was an order to signoffs it was from your comment

I believe we have narrowed the issue to when the 8th person signs off before the 7th person. However, the approvals are not cleared every single time this happens, but this condition exists every time data is cleared. So my question is, would this be an issue related to access, or with the coding of the website?

I suggest you post the vba code for the validation of the signoffs. I have 2003 -- just remove any confidential /personal info.