Building a Catalog Item Workflow in Flow Designer

[nand0o1]

Hi Guys,

to coordinate the backend processes to get a Catalog Item delivered to the customer, my company wants to create the workflow with the Flow Designer. I'm a first-timer in that area and currently the only person trying to build knowledge on that topic. I already read/watched some tutorials about Flow Designer, but none of them were specialized in Flows for Catalog Items.

That's why I am here now.

Luckily I found some existing Flows in our module and recognized some patterns in the building logic:

1. Trigger is obviously Service Catalog

2. The first 3 Actions are always the same

   2.1. Get Catalog Variables

   2.2. Update Request

   2.3. Update Requested Item Record

3. Approval actions, which decide in which way the process is going to go, depending on the approval or rejection 

4. More Record Updates depending on the length of the process

5. "End Flow" Action when the flow reaches the end

BUT when I check the Actions itself in detail, it looks everytime different and the patterns start to disappear. So these questions start to come up:

- In 2.1.: How do I decide which variables I need to get from the Action "Get Catalog Variables"? 

- In 2.2. & 2.3.: When and why do I need to update my records? And are there any other records (except REQ and RITM) which must be updated as well? 

- In 3.:  Can I use the Approval Action just to inform the manager and still let the workflow continue on the same lane, independent from the decision (approval or rejection). 

- In 4.: What are the main fields to Update in the first Action and what changes looking on the following? Do differences exist?

- In 5.: Not every Item Flow has the "End Flow" Action. Is this Action necessarily needed? 

Additional: Are these steps 1-5 already all main steps in an Catalog Item Workflow or are there more which were not mentioned but as mandatory as these in this post? 

I know every Catalog Item differs from the next one but I hope to find some "rules", best practices, frameworks or whatever to have some guidelines to hang on in the building process. 

I'm looking forward to have a great exchange and will be happy to read from all of your different approaches. 
Thank you!

[Alp Utku · Accepted solution]

2.1 - It is  completely up to your process and which variables you want to get. This action step is mainly used to make decisions by using If condition for example.

2.2 - For example, when you create a task and when that task is closed, you would want to close RITM and REQ. It is again up to you what you want to update. You might want update work notes before closing the task maybe

3 - No. You should use notification feature instead of approvals If your sole purpose is to inform the manager.

4 - It is completely up to you.

5 - No but It is great practise to use It.

Overall, catalog Item flows are unique to each company and / or process

[nand0o1]

Thank you @Alp Utku !

That's some valuable information. I hope someone else will still share his approach on building workflows.