How to let a requester fill in additional variables on a submitted RITM from Employee Center

[avgabriel]

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a catalog item and need advice on the best way to let the requester provide additional information on their RITM after it has been submitted.

Process:

1. The requester submits the RITM.
2. An internal team validates the request and sends it back to the requester.
3. The requester then gets an approval outside ServiceNow, which can take days or weeks.
4. After that, the requester must come back to the RITM and provide:
   • the result of the external approval (Yes/No)
   • a reference number and approval dates
   • an evidence attachment
   • optional departments (List Collector on cmn_department), which trigger an approval for each department head in a subflow
5. The flow continues with the department approvals, and the internal team completes and closes the RITM.

Constraints and what I've tested:

• Requesters typically only have snc_internal.
• In Employee Center they can only comment and attach files on the RITM. Variables are read-only after submission.
• I tested a Catalog Task assigned to the requester with the variables linked to it. It works in the backend for users with roles like task_editor/sn_request_write, but a user with only snc_internal can't access the task in the backend, and it doesn't appear in Employee Center.
• I tried a Record Producer that would receive the RITM sys_id via URL and update the original RITM variables via script, but Record Producers on Request Management tables (sc_req_item) are not supported.

I'm considering using a small custom table as the Record Producer target, or a separate catalog item whose flow updates the original RITM.

Questions:

• What is the recommended or most common pattern for this scenario?
• Is there an OOTB way to let requesters edit specific variables or complete a task from Employee Center without fulfiller roles or licenses?
• If a custom table or a separate catalog item is the way to go, are there best practices for moving an attachment-type variable to the original RITM?

Any guidance or examples would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[jcmings]

I'd recommend looking into Universal Tasks ("Collect Employee Input" task type).

If that's not an option, I'd probably go down the sc_task route and create a custom ACL to allow the snc_internal role to read/edit the sc_task records assigned to them. As for licensing... you'll have to reach out to your account executive to see how that would play out.

Regarding your question on copying attachments -- there is a flow action called Copy Attachment.

[CN-L]

Hi @avgabriel,

Without an understanding of the background to this, I'd start by reviewing the current process to understand why the requester has to raise a ticket first, for an internal team to validate it, for the requester to then have to obtain approval?

Would it not be more efficient to build those fields (point 4) into the catalog item and have the requester obtain approval before submitting their request? That way, they'll be able to attach the approval and provide all of the required information at the very start of the process.

[Kieran3]

Hi @avgabriel, one way you could do this is to have a separate catalogue item for inputting that information.

1. The requester submits the original RITM.
2. An internal team validates the request. When they close their Catalog Task, the original flow moves the RITM into a Waiting for external approval details state and sends the requester an email containing a link to a separate catalogue item, for example, “Submit approval details”.
3. The requester obtains the approval outside ServiceNow, which may take days or weeks
4. Once they have the external decision, the requester opens the “Submit approval details” item and provides:
   • the related request, using a reference variable to sc_req_item filtered to show only eligible RITMs for the original catalogue item that were opened by, or requested for, the current user;
   • the result of the external approval, such as Yes or No;
   • the approval reference number and relevant dates;
   • an evidence attachment; and
   • any optional departments, using a List Collector referencing cmn_department.
5. When the supplementary item is submitted, its flow validates that the selected RITM belongs to the requester and is still waiting for this information. It then copies or associates the submitted information and attachment with the original RITM.
6. The supplementary flow updates the original RITM to indicate that the information has been received. The original flow, which has been waiting for this condition, can then continue and trigger the appropriate approval for each department head.
7. Once the department approvals are complete, the internal team can complete and close the original RITM.

You could also have the flow control the availability of the "Submit approval details" item so it only becomes visible to users when they're in this process (if you have concerns about catalog items appearing when they're not useful) but this isn't key.

Hope this helps! If you found it useful, feel free to leave a 👍 Kudos. If it answered your question, accepting it as a solution helps others find the answer too.