Fault paths and troubleshooting failed approval submissions
Key Takeaway
If a stage or one of its steps fails and the stage has no fault path, the run fails and the submission's status becomes Error. A fault path lets the submission still end as Approved or Rejected. But if no approval work items were completed, the submission ends as Approved, so check for that case with a Decision element.
Each approval submission in a flow approval process has its own orchestration run. An error that nothing handles makes that run fail. Fault paths let an app builder define what happens instead, so the submission can still end as Approved or Rejected. When a submission does fail, the error email and debugging in Flow Builder help you find the cause.
What happens when a run fails
An unhandled error happens when a stage, or a step inside a stage, fails and that stage has no fault path. The orchestration run then fails, and the status of the parent approval submission becomes Error.
Unlike other orchestration runs, a failed orchestration run for a flow approval process can't be resumed.
Approval work items keep their state after a failure. Items completed before the error stay Approved or Rejected, and items assigned but not completed stay Assigned.
A failed approval submission doesn't necessarily roll back record additions, changes or deletions made before the run failed. For this reason, design and debug flow approval processes in a sandbox before deploying them to production.