Advanced approval actions allow admins to create automated workflows, calledaction flows, that create approval requests and then perform subsequent actions based on the response to the approval request. This makes it possible to automate what happens next, such as pausing, continuing or ending the process, notifying stakeholders, or updating fields.

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Summary: ◀▼

Advanced approval actions let you automate workflows by creating approval requests and triggering next steps based on responses like approved, denied, or withdrawn. You can set up multi-branch action flows to handle different outcomes, update tickets accordingly, and manage timeouts. Joining the early access program is required to use these features for automating approval processes and notifications within your support workflows.

Advanced approval actions allow admins to create automated workflows, called action flows, that create approval requests and then perform subsequent actions based on the response to the approval request. This makes it possible to automate what happens next, such as pausing, continuing or ending the process, notifying stakeholders, or updating fields.

Creating human-in-the-loop approval action flows

You can use the Create approval request step in action flows and configure it to wait for a response. This causes an action flow to wait for up to 30 days for a response to the approval request. Creating action flows that include this action makes it possible to automatically create approval requests and automate the next steps based on the response to the approval request.

For example, the following example action flow uses branch steps to define automated paths for all possible responses to an approval request:
  1. Step 1 - Action flow trigger: The action flow trigger. This could be anything related to a ticket, such as creation or a specific type of update. For this example, let's use the Ticket created trigger and specify conditions that the ticket must meet.
  2. Step 2 - Get ticket details: Retrieve information about the ticket using the ticket ID as a variable input from the action flow trigger.
  3. Step 3 - Send approval request: Select Wait for response as the step's response handling behavior, specify the ticket ID as a variable input from the action flow trigger, select a user directly or a user ID variable to dynamically identify the appropriate approver, and then enter the subject and description of the approval request.
    When the step is configured to wait for a response, a branch is automatically created for each possible outcome:
    • Approved
    • Denied
    • Withdrawn
    • Expired (primarily used when the step timed out because no response was received within 30 days)

  4. Step 5 and beyond
    1. Under the Approved branch, add steps that continue the workflow. For example, you could add another approval request step for a multi-level approval process, followed by another branch to handle the three possible outcomes.
    2. Under the Denied branch, add one or more steps that update the ticket with a field update, tag, or comment indicating the denial as the resolution to the ticket.
    3. Under the Withdrawn branch, add one or more steps that update the ticket with a field update, tag, or comment indicating the request was withdrawn.
    4. Under the Expired branch, add one or more steps that update the ticket with a field update, tag, or comment indicating the action flow timed out waiting for a response to the approval request.
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