Approval Coordinator workflow activity

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Approval Coordinator workflow activity

    The Approval Coordinator workflow activity in ServiceNow orchestrates approvals whose outcomes depend on multiple child approval activities, such as Approval - User, Approval - Group, and Manual Approval activities. It is designed to run only on tables that extend the Task table. This activity simplifies managing complex approval processes by consolidating multiple approval results into a single decision point within a workflow.

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    After placement on the workflow canvas and configuration via its activity form, the Approval Coordinator allows you to specify child approval activities. Upon completion, it automatically cancels any pending approvals created by its child activities to streamline approval management. Additionally, if a single user is assigned multiple approval roles within the same workflow, subsequent approvals for that user are skipped to avoid redundant approvals.

    Key Features

    • Configurable Wait Conditions: Define how the approval outcome is determined using the Wait for input variable with options such as:
      • Any child activity approved
      • All child activities approved
      • First approval or rejection received
      • Custom script-based condition
    • Rejection Handling: When configured to wait for all or any child approvals, specify behavior on rejection:
      • Reject immediately and complete the activity
      • Wait for other responses before deciding, allowing users to reconsider
    • Script-Based Approval Logic: For advanced scenarios, use a script to dynamically determine approval outcomes based on the counts of approved, rejected, and pending child activities.
    • Automatic Cleanup: Pending approvals created by child activities are marked as No Longer Required once the Approval Coordinator completes, ensuring clean approval statuses.

    Input Variables

    The activity’s behavior is controlled by input variables, primarily:

    • Wait for: Determines which child activity outcomes trigger the Approval Coordinator’s completion.
    • When a rejection occurs: Specifies how to handle rejections depending on the Wait for setting.
    • Approval script: Used if Wait for is set to a script-based condition, enabling customized approval logic.

    Results and Conditions

    The final result of the Approval Coordinator can be Approved, Rejected, Deleted, or Cancelled, based on the child approval outcomes and configured rules.

    The activity provides conditions such as Approved and Rejected that determine workflow transitions based on the aggregated approval status.

    Activity States

    The Approval Coordinator activity progresses through states that the workflow engine uses to manage its lifecycle:

    • Executing: Activity execution has started.
    • Waiting: Activity is paused until a triggering event occurs.
    • Finished: Activity has completed, with results available.
    • Cancelled: The activity or entire workflow was cancelled.
    • Error: A JavaScript error occurred; logs should be reviewed.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    This activity enables customers to efficiently manage complex approval workflows involving multiple approvers and diverse approval types. It centralizes approval coordination, reduces redundant user approvals, and provides flexible configuration options to align with business policies. The automatic cleanup of pending approvals and script-based customization enhance workflow accuracy and responsiveness, ensuring streamlined approval processes within ServiceNow workflows.

    The Approval Coordinator activity creates an approval whose outcome depends on the outcome of one or more child activities, including one or more Approval - User, Approval - Group, and/or Manual Approval activities.

    Note:
    This activity is only available when the workflow runs on a table that extends Task.
    To create an Approval Coordinator activity, first drag the activity onto the workflow canvas, causing the activity form to display. On the activity form, fill in the appropriate fields, then click Submit.

    After you click Submit, the activity appears on the workflow canvas. From there, specify the child activities by clicking the links that appear on the body of the activity.

    When the Approval Coordinator activity completes, all pending approvals that were created by any of the Approval Coordinator approval activities are immediately set to No Longer Required. If a single user is called as an approver twice by the same workflow, such as when a single user is both a product approver and an executive approver, any approvals for that user after the first are skipped.

    Results

    The result value of the Approval Coordinator activity depends on the approval actions taken by the approvers and the approval conditions specified in the Wait for field. Possible result values are:
    • Approved
    • Rejected
    • Deleted
    • Cancelled

    Input variables

    Input variables determine the initial behavior of the activity.

    Table 1. Approval Coordinator activity input variables
    Field Description
    Wait for
    Indicate what to wait for to indicate that the approval activity is approved or rejected. Options are:
    • Any child activity to be approved: Any child activity (User, Group, or Manual Approval) that completes with a result of approved causes the Approval Coordinator activity to complete with a result of approved.
    • All child activities to be approved: All child activities of the Approval Coordinator activity must complete with a a result of approved to cause the Approval Coordinator activity to complete with a result of approved.
    • The first approval or rejection from any child activity: The first child activity that completes with a result of approved or rejected causes the Approval Coordinator activity to complete with the same result.
    • Condition based on script:Call a script to determine how to manage an approval or rejection.
    When a rejection occurs

    Only appears if Wait for is set to All child activities to be approved or Any child activity to be approved.

    		 Specify what the coordinator should do when it sees a rejection from any one of the child activities. Options are:
    • Reject the approval: Immediately complete the Approval Coordinator activity with a result of rejected.
    • Wait for other responses before deciding: Wait until we get other responses from other child activities before making an approval or rejection decision.

      This allows users to change their minds until a decision is made.

      In addition, if Wait for is set to Any child activity to approve then a single child activity completion with a result of approved will cause the Approval Coordinator activity to complete with a result of approved even if other child activities have completed with a result of rejected.
    Approval script

    Only appears if Wait for is set to Condition based on script.

    		 If the Wait for variable is set to Condition based on script this script is called to determine how to handle an approval or rejection. The script needs to set the variable answer to , approved or rejected to indicate the overall approval status for this approval. When called, the following variable is available to the script:
    counts.total = total number of child approval activities that are part of this approval
      counts.approved = # of child approval activities that approved so far
      counts.rejected = # of child approval activities that rejected so far
      counts.requested = # of child approval activities that are pending approval

    Conditions

    The conditions determine which transition runs after this activity.
    Note:
    Approval activities run as the user whose actions match the approve or reject conditions the workflow was waiting for and advances the workflow.
    Table 2. Approval Coordinator activity conditions
    Condition Description
    Approved The users from the groups have approved the request based on the Wait for rules.
    Rejected The users from the groups have rejected the request based on the Wait for rules.

    States

    The activity state tells the workflow engine what to do with the activity.
    Table 3. Approval Coordinator activity states
    State Description
    Executing The workflow engine starts the execute function of the activity.
    Waiting The workflow engine ignores the activity until a specific event to restart the activity is fired.
    Finished The activity finished running. See the result value for the outcome of the activity.
    Cancelled This activity, or the workflow that contains this activity, was canceled.
    Error A JavaScript error occurred. Review the logs for error details.