approval flow updates list item with flow owner name. Useless for audit

[nvikey]

While creating approval flows in power automate based on New sharepoint item trigger, the approvals are happening outside the SharePoint ecosystem. Even though the approval summary can be capture in the SharePoint list column, all the updates are happening on the name of the flow owner. 

How can this help during the audit without any trace of who has approved, when? How can I prove the items are not manually updated by the flow owner?

[SudeepGhatakNZ · Accepted solution]

@nvikey ,

What you are experiencing is how it is designed.

Flow actions will use the connection details while performing inserts/updates, so you will always find the flow owner in the Created By/Modified By fields.

If you have auditing needs, create a separate Audit list with custom columns Approver, Approval Date, Approval Outcome, and Approval Comments. Below is how I do it.

You can even use JSON formatting to improve UX

[nvikey · Accepted solution]

@SudeepGhatakNZ I am following that way already to capture the details in the list column. But all that are only cosmetic solutions and did not satisfy me as a real evidence. 

Now I handled it in a better way I believe. Let me tell you How. Along with the approver name, outcome and timestamps, I am also capturing now the ApprovalID property from the output of the Approval action. Later if someone questions the integrity of the Approval, we can cross refer the Approvals table in the Dataverse with the help of this Approval ID. It is unique. 

Correct me if I am wrong. 

[SudeepGhatakNZ]

I get your Point. Your approach looks good. ApprovalID can be used as the evidence and Approvals table in Dataverse can serve as your Audit Table.