in flow approval related issue

shamsuddinm · 15 hours ago

In this flow, after the approval is rejected, the RITM correctly moves back to Work in Progress. However, when it is sent again for approval, and the approver approves it, the RITM state does not change to Closed Complete as expected.

Carlos Petrucio · 4 hours ago

Hi,

From your description, it seems the flow is partially working:

When the approval is rejected, the RITM correctly moves back to Work in Progress.
When the approval is resubmitted and approved, the RITM does not transition to Closed Complete as expected.

This behavior is usually caused by how the Flow Designer handles state transitions on re-approvals. Here’s a detailed breakdown of common causes and solutions:

1. Check the Approval Action

In your Flow Designer, make sure the Approval Action for “Approved” is configured to transition the RITM to Closed Complete.
Sometimes, the action only fires the first time the approval occurs. After a rejection, the flow may not recognize the re-submitted approval as a “new approval” unless configured properly.

2. Check Flow Conditions / Triggers

If your flow uses conditions like current.state == X, after a rejection the state changes, so when it’s re-approved, the original condition may no longer match.
Solution: Adjust conditions to handle resubmitted approvals, for example:
- state == Work in Progress and approval requested.

3. Configure “Wait for Approval” Correctly

Ensure the Wait for Approval step is set to resume after resubmission, not just the first approval cycle.
Look for options such as “Re-evaluate conditions after approval” or “Allow multiple runs” depending on your Flow Designer version.

4. Test RITM State Transitions

Add temporary debugging actions or notifications to confirm which paths the flow is taking after a re-approval.
Check if the state transition action is being skipped because the flow thinks the RITM already passed that step.

✅ Summary:
The issue usually occurs because Flow Designer logic only handles the first approval cycle. To fix this:

Ensure the Approved action transitions the RITM to Closed Complete.
Adjust conditions/triggers to account for resubmitted approvals.
Configure the Wait for Approval step to handle multiple approval cycles.
Use debugging notifications to confirm the correct path is executed.

By applying these adjustments, your RITMs should move to Closed Complete correctly after re-approval, just like the first time.

Was this explanation helpful? If so, please mark it as correct!

Carlos Petrucio
ServiceNow Developer

AnkaRaoB · 28m ago

Hi @shamsuddinm ,

in the current Flow Designer setup, when an approval is rejected, the Requested Item (RITM) correctly moves back to Work in Progress. However, when the item is sent for approval again and the approver approves, the RITM does not move to Closed Complete as expected.

Root Cause

This behavior occurs because the flow uses a “Wait for Requested Item Condition” action (waiting for the state to become Pending Closure Approval) and then loops back to it after a rejection.
In Flow Designer, a Wait for Condition action is evaluated only once per execution path and does not reliably re-trigger when reused in a loop. As a result, after the second approval, the flow never reaches the logic that updates the RITM to Closed Complete.

Recommended Solution (Best Practice)

Remove the Wait for Requested Item Condition and drive the flow logic directly from the approval outcome.

Updated flow logic:

Ask for Approval

If Approved → Update RITM state to Closed Complete
If Rejected → Update RITM state to Work in Progress, then send for approval again if required

This approach ensures that the approval result is always evaluated correctly, even after multiple rejections and re-approvals.

If this response helps you solve the issue, please mark it as the Accepted Solution