Flow Designer Replacement for "Service Catalog Request" Workflow

[SwarnadeepNandy]

Hi ServiceNow Community,

I'm trying to understand the current state of Service Catalog request (REQ) processing in newer ServiceNow releases, specifically regarding the "Service Catalog Request" workflow.

I know that upon submission of a catalog item, a Request (sc_request) and subsequently a Requested Item (sc_req_item) are created. The Business Rule "Cascade Request Approval to Request Item" triggers the RITM creation upon REQ approval. The REQ approval itself has historically been managed by the "Service Catalog Request" workflow.

My questions are:

1. Is there a Flow Designer equivalent or replacement for the OOTB "Service Catalog Request" workflow that governs REQ approval in recent ServiceNow versions? If so, what is the name of that Flow?

2. Are both the "Service Catalog Request" workflow and its potential Flow replacement ever active concurrently for the same REQ?

3. I've observed in a newly provisioned PDI that the "Service Catalog Request" workflow still appears to be running for REQ approvals. Is there a configuration or setting to fully transition Service Catalog request processing to Flow Designer, or is the REQ approval process likely to remain tied to the "Service Catalog Request" workflow in newer instances?

Any insights or guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Swarnadeep Nandy

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@SwarnadeepNandy 

My responses

My questions are:

1. Is there a Flow Designer equivalent or replacement for the OOTB "Service Catalog Request" workflow that governs REQ approval in recent ServiceNow versions? ServiceNow is still using the same OOTB REQ workflow and no flow yet

2. Are both the "Service Catalog Request" workflow and its potential Flow replacement ever active concurrently for the same REQ? I don't think so, ServiceNow is handling REQ via OOTB Workflow and customers are good to have either workflow or flow on their catalog items

3. I've observed in a newly provisioned PDI that the "Service Catalog Request" workflow still appears to be running for REQ approvals. Is there a configuration or setting to fully transition Service Catalog request processing to Flow Designer, or is the REQ approval process likely to remain tied to the "Service Catalog Request" workflow in newer instances? Only ServiceNow can answer this if they are planning to obsolete the OOTB REQ workflow and by when, currently they are still using the OOTB REQ Workflow

If my response helped please mark it correct and close the thread so that it benefits future readers.

[SwarnadeepNandy]

Hi @Ankur Bawiskar ,
Thanks for clarifying my understanding.

It seems a bit odd that at one point ServiceNow is promoting flows and on the other hand still workflow is used across all REQ essentially.

If I want to remain OOTB on the REQ level, I need to continue using workflows.

I will keep this question open for some more time to see if we can get any more answers specially from ServiceNow patrons.

Kind Regards,
Swarnadeep Nandy

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@SwarnadeepNandy 

yes that's correct.

If my response helped please mark it correct and close the thread so that it benefits future readers.