Flow Designer: How can a UI Action trigger the early-return portion of an existing Catalog Item Flow

[Brett25]

Question

I am looking for guidance on an OOB Flow Designer solution for an equipment-return process.

I have a Catalog Item called Equipment to Be Provided with a Catalog Item Flow.

The intended process is:

The requester submits the Catalog Item.
The Flow creates a Catalog Task for the equipment fulfillment.
The request contains an expected return date.
When the expected return date is reached, the Flow needs to initiate the equipment-return portion of the process.
However, the equipment may be returned before the expected return date.
If the equipment is returned early, I need the return process to start immediately rather than waiting for the scheduled date.

The current Flow is approximately:

Service Catalog trigger
Get Catalog Variables
Create Catalog Task
Get Catalog Variables
Wait for a duration based on expected_return_date
Create Catalog Task
Log information

The problem is the early return.

I have an Equipment Returned value associated with the RITM. I would like a user-initiated action, such as a UI Action on the existing RITM, to initiate the return process immediately.

What I do NOT want

I do not want to:

Create another RITM.
Create a duplicate Catalog Task.
Start a second independent Flow that could later cause the scheduled Flow to create another task.
Have one Catalog Item's process accidentally operate on another Catalog Item's RITM/task.
Use a scheduled process to periodically check for early returns.
Rely on simply changing a field/variable, because changing a value by itself does not cause the existing Flow execution to leave its Wait for a Duration step.
Create a custom RITM table/field or Business Rule if there is an OOB Flow Designer solution available.

What I am trying to accomplish

Ideally, the process would be:

Normal return

Catalog Item submitted
↓
Create equipment task
↓
Wait until expected return date
↓
Initiate return process
↓
Complete return task/process
↓
Main Catalog Item Flow completes

Early return

Existing RITM
↓
User clicks "Equipment Returned"
↓
Trigger the return portion of the EXISTING process
↓
Use the existing Catalog Task/RITM
↓
Main Catalog Item Flow completes

The important requirement is that the existing Catalog Item Flow remains the owner of the RITM lifecycle.

Question

Is there an OOB Flow Designer/Workflow Studio mechanism that allows a UI Action on the existing RITM to interrupt, resume, or otherwise cause the existing Catalog Item Flow execution to proceed, so that an early return can be handled without creating a second Catalog Task or second Flow execution?

If not, is there another OOB pattern that would allow the UI Action to act on the specific existing Catalog Task associated with that RITM and safely cause the original process to complete?

I am particularly interested in an approach that works with standard Catalog Item Flow / Flow Designer functionality and does not require Business Rules, custom tables, or platform-level customization.

I have considered a Subflow, but I do not want the Subflow to create another Catalog Task. If a Subflow is appropriate, its purpose would be to process the existing task/process, not create a duplicate task.

Any guidance from someone who has implemented this type of early-return/early-completion pattern in Flow Designer would be greatly appreciated.

[Deėpak Sharma]

Hi @Brett25 

In your Flow, completely delete the "Wait for a Duration" step. Replace it with a "Wait for Condition" step. Point it at your current RITM record and set the condition to wait for that "early_return_triggered" variable to become true.

Now for the date part. On that exact same Wait for Condition step, look for the checkbox that says "Enable timeout". Check it, set the duration type to relative, and point it dynamically to your Expected Return Date variable.