How to enable both Inline Editing (change_request) and Approveal in a single Dashboard List View?

lidorz
Tera Contributor

an hour ago

Hi everyone,

I’m facing a classic architecture dilemma with a client requirement and would love to get your insights or creative solutions on this.

The Requirement: The client wants a single dashboard List View where an approver can do two things simultaneously:

  1. Approve or Reject a pending Change Request.

  2. Inline-edit fields belonging to the Change Request itself (like the Description or Short Description) directly from the list, prior to approving.

The Dilemma:

  • If I base the list on the Approval (sysapproval_approver) table, they can easily approve/reject, but because the Change fields are brought in via Dot-Walking, they are strictly Read-Only and cannot be inline-edited.

  • If I base the list on the Change Request (change_request) table, they can easily use Inline Editing on the description, but they lose the native ability to approve/reject the corresponding approval record directly from the row.

 

Would love to hear how you resolved this or if there's a best practice I'm missing.

Thanks in advance!

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shaikha
Tera Guru

16m ago - last edited 14m ago

Hi @lidorz 

ServiceNow locks dot-walked fields if the parent reference field is marked as read-only. 
  1. Navigate to the Approval list or form.
  2. Locate the Approval for (sysapproval) reference field.
  3. Right-click the field label and choose Configure Dictionary.
  4. Ensure the Read-only checkbox is unchecked. 
  • Note: If you need this reference field to remain read-only on the form layout, use a UI Policy to restrict it rather than the Dictionary level. 
Create or Modify the List Edit ACL 
Because you are editing the value from a list view, you need a specific type of access control rule: 
  1. Navigate to System Security > Access Control (ACL). 
  2. Click New to create a rule. 
  3. Configure the ACL with the following parameters:
    • Type: record
    • Operation: list_edit
    • Name: Select Change Request [change_request] from the first dropdown, and Short description from the second dropdown.
  4. Scroll down to the Requires Role related list and add the admin or target role (like itil) that requires editing permission. 
  5. Click Submit.
Verify the Write ACL
A list_edit ACL cannot grant access by itself if a standard field-level write ACL blocks it. 
  • Ensure that the existing change_request.short_description Write ACL also permits the user role to modify the field.
Please mark any helpful or correct solutions as such. That helps others find their solutions.
 
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