To send approvals to third party through integration which is best practice, feasible & efficient?

[KM SN]

for catalog items I am depending on third party i.e. power automate to get approvals done created in ServiceNow. Through integration I am sending approval details to power automate, once after approval is done will get back approval status to ServiceNow.

I have made generalized sub flow so that one can use multiple times in same flow or in different catalog items as well.
ex. If I have 4 approvals, I am calling 4 times sub flow inside the flow.

or else I can do on same approval table? which is good to go?

I am going to have multiple catalog items where I should make these calls either inside the flow or from approval table itself using Business rule?

Note: details might change according to catalog item which I need to send them.

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@KM SN 

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[KM SN]

Thanks for response. However, do you feel is it good to go with BR on approval table? is its best practice?

anyhow I am having the flow which manages the item, so I thought of calling sub flow inside it whenever approvals needed.

but new suggestion came that why inside the flow why can't you write BR?
Is it good practice or not? what are the complications that going to come If I did at approver table level? JUST thinking out loud!!
 

[Shubham_Jain]

@KM SN 

• Use a Subflow to trigger approval requests and send details to Power Automate.
• Store approval details in the Approval Table (sysapproval_approver).
• Use a Business Rule on the approval table to listen for status updates and trigger necessary actions.
  • When Power Automate sends back approval status, the Business Rule can update the relevant request.

[KM SN]

Generally, flow is mandatory right for every catalog item, and we do have a flow for every item as we have multiple decision-making points inside the flow after that I can make update accordingly RITM. why should I need to write BR to update request?

The whole point is to make rest calls to third party what is the best place is it inside the flow/sub flow or on approval table itself?

I am trying to explore justifications for these methods either to go with them or to deny.

[Vishal Jaswal]

Hello @KM SN 

Option#1: If between step#6 and 7 you have any server side logic within ServiceNow, then you can continue to use that to achieve step#8.

Option#2: If between step#7 and 8 you want to use After Insert Business rule, then you can do it with some coding/development. This will be faster as runs synchronously as well as if in near future you want to introduce some complexity in this logic then it is easily achievable.

Option#3: If between step#7 and 8 you want to use a new Flow, then you can do it with no code approach or zero coding. This will be slightly slower than Business rule as runs asynchronously and for complex logic, you end up writing flow script to set some values etc.

Hope that helps!