Cancel Approval flow after user cancels request

[syhrh]

Hi,

I have a Leave Request list where the user clicks the cancel request, the status will change to Cancelled. Approval flow for that particular leave request has been sent to the Approver when the user creates a new item, so how to manage the Approval flow after it's been cancelled? The approver can mistakenly approve the cancelled one because they didn't know that request has been cancelled. Can the link or approval be invalid?

Thank you.

[Pstork1]

The only way to cancel an existing approval request is by using the Approval ID to delete the record in Dataverse approvals table manually.  To get the Approval ID you would need to replace the start and wait for apporval actions in your flow with Create Approval and Wait for Approval actions.  Then between those two actions you can save the Approval ID to the SharePoint record that matches that approval.  That way when its cancelled you'll have the Approval ID.  That will remove it from the Approvals dashboard,  but will not remove the emailed link.  There is no way to remove the email that is in process.

[syhrh]

@Pstork1 Dataverse needs premium, right? If I don't have the premium then I cannot do it? So there's still approval in the email, then if the approver clicks the approve, will the approval still runs?

[Pstork1]

Yes, Dataverse would require a Premium license.  There is no way to cancel an existing Approval using Power Apps or Power Automate without a premium license

[syhrh]

@Pstork1 if I use Cancel Flow Runs? It will cancel the flow but the approval still exists?

[Pstork1]

Cancel Flow Runs will cancel the existing flow, but resubmit it.  So you would need something in place to make sure that the resubmission doesn't just generate another approval.  I'm also not sure canceling the run would remove the existing approval.

[Shuvam-rpa]

@syhrh @Pstork1 Cancel the flow run will not cancel the Approval. the user can still approve or reject the approval which has been send earlier.

[syhrh]

@Pstork1 Okay, thank you for your explanation.

[syhrh]

Hi @Shuvam-rpa, so how to cancel the approval link that has been sent to the email? Can it be done by using only dataverse? 

[Shuvam-rpa]

@syhrh Yes as of now it's possible only with dataverse premium connector.

Kindly check below reference video link to get more info in this matter.

Link---> https://youtu.be/8CIKXNf3vcM

If this reply has answered your question or solved your issue, please mark this question as answered. Answered questions helps users in the future who may have the same issue or question quickly find a resolution via search. If you liked my response, please consider giving it a thumbs up. THANKS! 

[syhrh]

I don't have a premium license so I cannot use Dataverse. So there isn't any other workaround?

[Shuvam-rpa]

Try to use it on powerautomate premium trial. if it solve your issue then purchase it😅

[syhrh]

@Shuvam-rpa Too bad then 😅, Thank you

[QWales]

If RunningFlow <> null

  Cancel Flow Run

  Where Environment = workflow().tags.environmentName

              Flow = workflow().name

             Run ID = the previously captured WorkflowID

             

Capture current WorkflowID = workflow()?['run']['name']

Do stuff e.g. approval

Set WorkflowID = null if flow completes successfully 

[Pstork1]

That will cancel the flow run, but won't cancel the approval itself.

[RickJ]

Disappointing there still isn't a accompanying action to cancel an Approval, would seem standard functionality to me. I assume the decision internally was to not include in M365 licence, but even then there isn't a premium version "Cancel Approval".

[DS1060]

The user who sent the approval request can always go in his approvals request list in Teams and cancel it. If you created the approval request on behalf of that user.

[RickJ]

We are talking about a integrated process with timeouts or escalation processes - which is all possible but results in orphaned approvals which look and act like they are still valid to the end user, but result in no backend action. 

Without the possibility to programmatically cancel sent approvals they have a very limited use case unfortunately.

[Pstork1]

There is no action to cancel an approval, but you can delete an approval by editing the Approvals table in Dataverse. The problem is that requires a Premium license.  That is specified in my original reply to the post.  The objection to that approach is that it requires a Premium license. But you can cancel an approval programmatically.

[Caddy1]

Hi, 

are there any specific admin rights needed to delete records from this table or could any Maker (e.g. in Default environment) do this (with the records he/she created)?
What are the minimum rights I should give the person via security role on the table?

Thanks and best regads 

Caddy