Add human-in-the-loop approval to a workflow

Not every refund should auto-approve. Refunds above a threshold need a supervisor to sign off. In this exercise, you author a human-in-the-loop (HITL) workflow that evaluates the requested refund amount, routes above-threshold requests to a supervisor via Approvals, and updates the Returns record based on the decision.

You will complete the following tasks:

  • Author a second workflow with a threshold branch and an approval action.
  • Update the Dataverse row based on the approval outcome.
  • Return typed outputs to the agent, publish the flow, and attach it as a tool.
  • Test both the above-threshold and below-threshold branches through the agent's Preview tab.

This exercise should take approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Before you start

This exercise builds directly on the previous exercise in this lab. Complete Exercise 1 — Author a workflow that writes to Dataverse and sends confirmation email first. You should have the Create return authorization workflow published and attached to the agent, and at least one Returns row created through Preview.

[!NOTE] Task 9 uses Copilot Credits.

Task 1 — Create the workflow

Create a second Copilot Studio workflow with an agent-callable trigger and give it a clear display name and description. Where the first workflow authorized returns, this one evaluates the refund step — route it above the threshold or auto-approve it below.

  1. In Copilot Studio's left navigation, select Workflows.

  2. Select New workflow → Workflow.

  3. Select the Start node and set Trigger type to When an agent calls the workflow. A Respond to the agent node is added automatically.

  4. Rename the flow to:

    Approve refund request

Task 2 — Define the trigger inputs

Define the three trigger inputs the agent supplies at call time — the authorization number, the requested refund amount, and the supervisor to route above-threshold requests to.

  1. On the When an agent calls the workflow node, add three inputs:

    Name Type Description
    authorizationNumber Text The RA-... authorization number from an existing Returns row.
    requestedAmount Number The refund amount the rep is requesting for this return.
    supervisorEmail Text Email address of the supervisor who should approve above-threshold requests.

Task 3 — Look up the Returns row

Before you update anything, look up the Returns row by authorization number so later steps have the row ID to update.

  1. Add a Microsoft Dataverse → List rows from selected environment action after the When an agent calls the workflow node.

  2. On the List rows from selected environment action, configure:

    Field Value
    Environment Select your environment from the dropdown.
    Table name Returns
    Filter rows sup_authorizationnumber eq ' then dynamic content authorizationNumber then '. (Use the expression editor if the filter builder doesn't accept mixed content.)
    Row count 1

Task 4 — Add the threshold condition

Add a Condition action that branches on the requested refund amount. Refunds up to $100 auto-approve; above $100 route to a supervisor.

  1. Add an If/Else condition action after List rows from selected environment.

  2. Configure the condition with requestedAmount (dynamic content) as the Property, Greater as the Operator, and 100 as the Value.

  3. Two branches appear: If for refunds above $100 and Else for refunds of $100 or less.

Task 5 — Above-threshold branch: request approval

Configure the above-threshold branch. When the requested amount exceeds the threshold, the flow sends the supervisor an approval request through Teams (with email fallback) and updates the Returns row based on the approval outcome.

In the If branch:

  1. Add an Approvals → Start and wait for an approval action.

  2. In the Start and wait for an approval action, add a connection, and then configure:

    Field Value
    Approval type Approve/Reject — First to respond
    Title Refund approval needed: + dynamic content authorizationNumber
    Assigned to Dynamic content: supervisorEmail
    Details Short summary referencing the authorization number and requested amount.

    [!NOTE] Approvals uses Microsoft Teams by default and falls back to email when the assignee doesn't have Teams. If you don't have a second user available for testing, use your own email as the supervisor address and approve your own request.

  3. After the approval action, add a Switch on the approval's Outcome output. In the On field, select Outcome from the Start and wait for an approval action, then configure:

    • Approve → Update a row in selected environment (Microsoft Dataverse) with Status = Approved, Expected refund = requestedAmount, Approved by = supervisorEmail.
    • Reject → Update a row in selected environment (Microsoft Dataverse) with Status = Rejected, Expected refund = 0.
    • Default (timeout or other outcome) → Update a row in selected environment (Microsoft Dataverse) with Status = Escalated.

    In each case, use a Microsoft Dataverse → Update a row in selected environment action targeting the Returns table, with Row ID set to the first row's ID from the List rows from selected environment step.

Task 6 — Below-threshold branch: auto-approve

Configure the below-threshold branch. When the requested amount is at or below the threshold, the flow auto-approves and updates the Returns row without human involvement.

In the Else branch:

  1. Add a Microsoft Dataverse → Update a row in selected environment action targeting the Returns table.

  2. Configure:

    Field Value
    Environment Select your environment from the dropdown.
    Row ID First row from List rows.
    Status Approved
    Expected refund Dynamic content: requestedAmount.
    Approved by auto-approved (or leave blank — up to you).

Task 7 — Return outputs to the agent

Return typed outputs to the agent so it can summarize the outcome back to the rep. Every branch of the condition must feed one of these outputs so the agent always has an answer to report.

  1. Delete the Respond to the agent action that was added automatically when you set the trigger.

  2. At the end of each Switch case and at the end of the Else branch, add a Respond to the agent action.

  3. In each Respond to the agent action, add the following outputs:

    Name Type Value
    outcome Text Approved, Rejected, or Escalated as a fixed value in each branch.
    finalRefundAmount Number requestedAmount on the approve and auto-approve branches, 0 on the reject and default branches.
    notes Text A short human-readable summary the agent can echo.

    [!NOTE] In practice, you might place a separate Respond to the agent action at the end of each Switch case with different output values. That's supported — see Modify an existing flow to use with an agent at https://learn.microsoft.com/microsoft-copilot-studio/flow-modify-use-with-agent — as long as every branch has one.

Task 8 — Publish and attach to the agent

Save, publish, and attach the flow to the agent — the same publish-then-attach pattern as the previous exercise. This makes the approval flow available to the orchestrator at the next Preview turn.

  1. Save the flow, then Publish it.

  2. In Agents, open Customer Support Rep Assistant.

  3. On the Build tab, select + next to Tools → Workflows → Approve refund request.

  4. Select the workflow and confirm the input parameters are correct.

  5. Add the following description:

    Evaluates the requested refund amount for an authorized return, routes above-threshold requests to a supervisor for approval, and updates the Returns record with the outcome. Call this when the rep asks to process, approve, or resolve a refund.

  6. Select Save.

Task 9 — Test in Preview

Test both branches through the agent's Preview tab, starting with the above-threshold path so you can see the approval request arrive. A below-threshold spot-check afterward confirms the auto-approve branch fires too.

[!NOTE] This task uses Copilot Credits.

[!NOTE] The confirmation email is sent to whatever value the rep provides for customerEmail. For this test, use your own tenant email address so you can see the message arrive.

  1. Note the authorization number from an existing Returns row (the one you created in the previous exercise's Preview test).

  2. In the Preview tab, send:

    For return <paste RA number>, the customer is requesting a $250 refund. The supervisor is <your-tenant-email>. Please process the refund.

    Replace <paste RA number> with the actual authorization number from the Returns table and <your-tenant-email> with your tenant email address.

  3. Confirm:

    • The above-threshold path fires.
    • You receive an approval request in Teams or by email at the supervisor address.
    • Approving updates the Returns row to Approved with Expected refund = 250.
    • The agent's reply summarizes the outcome.

  4. (Optional) Repeat with requestedAmount = 40 to confirm the below-threshold path auto-approves without an approval request.

You've added a second workflow with a threshold branch, an approval action, and outcome-aware Dataverse updates — all triggered from the same rep-side conversation. In the next exercise, you inspect the run history for both flows so you can answer "what did the agent do, and what happened next" from inside Copilot Studio.