Modify OOB Publishing Approval workflow in SharePoint 2010 to add 2nd level approval step

Question

I am looking to customize the out-of-box Publishing Approval workflow in SharePoint 2010, using SPD 2010, in order to add a second approval step that is routed to a new group, "Publishers", before pages and other publishing assets are published on the site.

This is for a public-facing internet site on SP2010 using the Publishing Site template.

I already have the site done, and the default Publishing Approval workflow works fine, but I now need to add that 2nd approval step.

My questions are:

1. Can this be done with SharePoint Designer 2010 Worfklows? I am not looking to start from scratch, but rather to "extend" the OOB Publishing Approval workflow, by adding a new step.
2. Is it best to customize the existing workflow and save over it, or should I "copy and modify"? If the latter, how do I then associate my new custom Publishing Approval workflow with the Publishing Site template, so that it replaces the OOB one for my pages libraries, master page libraries, etc? I have several sub sites within the site collection, so this workflow need to be used for all site in the site collection.

Thanks!

-- Thiago

Answer 1

Go to the list that contains the pages that have the Approval workflow associated, OOTB you usually go to Site Actions - View All Site Content - click on the Pages Document Library. On the library go to the workflows associated with that library. OOTB you will usually have Page Approval workflow. You should be able to click on the workflow and edit the settings to add the extra layer of approval. Hope this helps

Answer 2

Yes, this can be done with SharePoint Designer 2010. And, yes, I use Copy & Modify so that the out of the box Workflow can still be used in other cases. Once you have finished your modifications, you should be able to use Associate to List and/or Associate to Content Type from the Workflow Settings ribbon.