TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Call out 1: When a workflow fails to create an approval group because the approver is unavailable.
- Call out 2: Editing an action node and adding an approval email
- Call out 3: When approvals are configured in consecutive workflows.
Call out 1: When a workflow fails to create an approval group because the approver is unavailable.
Current scenario: The workaround currently involves manually adding an approver and setting “Anyone” for the workflow to proceed.
Post-rollout of approval groups: This approach will not work because workflow-based approvals and manual approvals will be decoupled. For subsequent workflows to resume, enable non-blocking workflow settings.
Call out 2: Editing an action node and adding an approval email
Current scenario: Freshservice allows editing and adding a "Send Approval Email" action to an ongoing workflow. Post addition of the new action, the workflow dispatches the approval request and continues to progress without waiting for the approval response.
Post-rollout of approval groups: Existing action nodes cannot be modified for approval requests. Approval requests are only configurable for the final action node in a workflow, and cloning action nodes with approvals is prohibited unless it is the last node. Additionally, while adding a new action node that is not the last, the approval request option will not be displayed.
Call out 3: When approvals are configured in consecutive workflows.
Current Scenario: When approvals are configured in consecutive workflows—let us assume 1, 2, 3— the approval action is followed by additional nodes within the respective workflow. If the chain rule is set to "Any group approved," all groups across workflows may receive peer approval, potentially leading to parallel execution. Similarly, in Change approvals, Freshservice permits “Set Approval Status as” to be used in the same action node as “Send approval email to”.
Post-rollout of approval groups: To prevent conflicting actions in change workflows, the "Set Approval Status as" action can no longer be used in the same action node as "Send approval email to." "Set Approval Status as" should be configured in a separate action node. However, if non-blocking workflow execution is enabled, a scenario where Workflow 1 has an approval request and Workflow 2 has "Set Approval Status as approved" defined would still invalidate the approval request. This is because the overall status of the change will be set to approved, effectively approving that approval chain.
To get predictable outcomes post-rollout of approval groups, the following recommendations can be considered:
Avoid Conflicting Post-Approval Updates:
Do not set opposing values for the same attribute across different workflows.
Example:
Workflow 1: Sets the priority to "High"
Workflow 2: Sets the priority to "Low"
Use a timer node to delay workflow execution: Timers can help resume workflows sequentially when all group approvals are received.
Introduce timers to control the resumption of workflows.
Example:
Workflow 1: After approval, implement a 1-minute timer.
Workflow 2: After approval, implement a 2-minute timer.
