"Wait for Completion" is a complementary feature of ADVANCED WORKFLOW. You can find more about ADVANCED WORKFLOW by clicking here.
But, in short, ADVANCED WORKFLOW is a feature that will allow you to assign responsibilities to every single section of your WORKFLOW.
In the following example:
KICK OFF section could be assigned to Bob, and FOLLOW UP to Mary. If we do so, as soon as the ACTIVITY is created/submitted, a TASK will automatically be created for Bob, and at the same time, another TASK will be created for Mary. Both TASKS will notify their assignees through email.
Bob will only have access to the KICK OFF section, and Mary will only have access to the FOLLOW UP section.
But what if we still want Bob to take care of section 1 and Mary to take care of section 2, but we don't want them working on their assignments at the same time?
What If we want to FIRST notify Bob, and notify Mary only when Bob is done with his section 1 (KICK OFF)?
If that's the case, we need to use the "Wait for Completion" switch. This switch will basically make that section and all of the above mandatory to continue working in the following sections.
This means that if we want Mary to only start working on the second section when Bob is done doing his part, then we need to do the following:
*NOTE: The key to easily understanding the "WAIT FOR COMPLETION" feature, is to look at the flow of the arrows on the left. When you activate the switch, the flow will have a hard stop on that same section, meaning that in order to continue, that section and all of the above will have to be completed in order to move on.
When ADVANCED WORKFLOW is active, sections can be assigned and also marked COMPLETED. When a TASK is automatically generated for Bob because he was assigned to a section, Bob will have to fill in that section and then MARK IT "COMPLETE" in order to be done with his TASK. MARKING his section COMPLETE (and saving changes) will tell the system that he is done doing his part. He will be able to work on his section for days, allowing him to save changes without marking the section COMPLETED. But as soon as he COMPLETES it, the system will know that is time to work on the next sections, in which case it will notify all of the assignees (just Mary in this case).
Ok, but what if I need one part of my process to be sequential and another part of the same process to not be sequential?
That's fine, you will only use the "Wait for Completion" whenever you need a sequential flow and not use it whenever you want sections to be worked on in parallel.
For example, what if I add a third section to our WORKFLOW, but instead of waiting for the second section to be completed, we want this third section to be worked on in parallel with the second (as soon as the first one gets completed).
That will look like this:
Again, if you look at the arrows on the left, you will easily understand the flow of this process. You will have a hard stop on SECTION 1. Nothing else will be done until SECTION 1 gets marked completed. And right after that happens, SECTIONS 2 and 3 will become available AT THE SAME TIME.