Platform Academy Session #35 - April 27, 2023 - Flow Designer Approvals

[@Sizzt-pu5on]

Thank you so much!!

[@ServiceNowCommunity]

You're welcome! - LH

[@DerKlinker]

I have a scenario where I have a catalog item with a multi row variable, where each one has an approver. The approvals need to be processed in parallel, and tasks created for each MRV afterwards if approved. I cannot use Do the following in Parallel, because I do not know how many approvals there will be (needs to be dynamic). I cannot For Each, because the Approval waits for a response before going to the next approval. What solution could I use in this case?

[@ServiceNowCommunity]

Hi there! I would use a combination of tools here. First, you can use this pattern to get the Requested Item approved. www.servicenow.com/community/developer-forum/subflow-to-create-approvals-from-results-of-mrvs/m-p/2627308 Next, you can use a for each to create the catalog tasks with the 'wait for completion' box unchecked, then further down the flow do a do the following until with a look up records to check if all catalog tasks have been completed. Add a little timer to that loop (something like 5 minutes or half an hour, depending on the use case) so it won't check back-to-back.

[@miguelteixeira7395]

Hello, I have a scenario where depending on a few field values the number of approvals may differ and they need to be sequential. For instance, if the value of field Amount is >= "50000" I need to send sequential approvals to group 1, 2, 3 and 4 but if it is < "50000" I only need to send it to groups 1 and 3. I have created a decision table to handle to which groups it should be sent, but I am having trouble finding a good solution to handle the sequential approval in my flow. I'd like to avoid having lots of nested ifs and else ifs, any suggestions?

[@ServiceNowCommunity]

Hi Miguel, one option to explore is to work with subflows. One to do two approvals, and one for all four. You can reuse the same decision table in each subflow to determine the approvers or decide to split your decision table into two. One to determine which subflow to run based on the amount (in case the amount changes, keep it in a decision table so you don't need to change the flow every time the value changes), and a second decision table for the approvers, in case they depend on other conditions (category, business service, priority, etc.) than just the amount. Check this article on decisions & dynamic flows: sn.works/CoE/FD/DynamicFlowDecision -LH

[@miguelteixeira7395]

Thank you, Lisa! I'll explore that idea!