Can I set a Dependent Picklist to an unavailable value by Field Update?

Question

I don't want a user to manually set the Status to "Complete". I want to force them to press the Approve button - and let a Field Update in the Approval Process set it.

But I want the user to be able to manually set Status to other values, such as "Working - Almost Done".

So, I don't want a value such as "Complete" to ever be available in the picklist. So I'm making the picklist a dependent picklist in which the logic only allows values such as "Working - Almost Done" available to be manually chosen at all times.

My question : Will that cause an error when the Field Update in the Approval Process tries to set the value to "Complete" when "Complete" is not available due to dependent picklist settings ?

...or is there a better method than this ? It seems like a somewhat klunky solution.

Answer 1

Updating the value in dependent picklist from workflow will not cause any issues as long as picklist value is defined in the picklist (otherwise you could receive error if Restrict picklist to the values defined in the value set is chosen).

Ideally you can create a separate recordtype and page layout and assign the dependent values including Complete and during field update you will also update recordtype.