Idea Description
It would be useful if IBM Cloud Pak for Data / IBM Data Intelligence Platform workflows could be extended beyond standard manual approval steps to support configurable validation and integration points.
For example, during an approval workflow, the platform could allow calls to:
- Third-party approval systems.
- External REST APIs.
- Active Directory or enterprise identity services.
- Internal governance or ownership validation services.
- IBM CP4D platform APIs for asset, project, user, role or catalogue verification.
This would allow organisations to add automated checks before an approval is completed, especially during catalogue publication or data asset onboarding workflows.
Business Problem / Use Case
In many enterprise environments, approval decisions are not always based only on manual review. They may also depend on information held outside CP4D, such as:
- Whether the user belongs to the correct Active Directory group.
- Whether the user is the approved Dataset Owner or Data Product Owner.
- Whether the asset belongs to the project from which it is being published.
- Whether the asset already exists in the catalogue.
- Whether the publishing project is authorised to publish that type of data asset.
- Whether an external governance or approval system has already approved the request.
Currently, if these checks cannot be embedded into the workflow, teams may need to perform them manually or outside the platform. This increases operational effort and may lead to inconsistent governance controls.
Proposed Enhancement
Provide the ability to customise workflow approval steps so that they can trigger API-based validation before proceeding.
The workflow should ideally support:
Pre-approval validation
- Call an API before the approver receives or completes the task.
- Validate whether the request is eligible for approval.
Approval-time validation
- Call an external service when the approver clicks approve.
- Prevent approval if validation fails.
Post-approval action
- Trigger a third-party API or CP4D API after approval is completed.
- Update external systems or perform additional platform actions.
Active Directory / identity integration
- Validate user group membership.
- Confirm whether the approver is part of the required owner, steward or governance group.
CP4D API-based verification
- Verify the asset, project, catalogue, owner, classification or publishing context using CP4D APIs before catalogue publication.
Example Scenario
A data steward attempts to publish a data asset from a project to the enterprise catalogue.
Before the publication is approved, the workflow could automatically check:
- Whether the asset belongs to the correct owning project.
- Whether the approver is the Dataset Owner or Data Product Owner.
- Whether the same asset already exists in the catalogue.
- Whether the user has the correct AD group membership.
- Whether the governance system has already approved the publication.
If validation passes, the approval can continue.
If validation fails, the workflow can stop the approval, return a message, or route it to the correct owner or governance team.
Expected Benefit
This enhancement would help organisations strengthen governance while keeping workflows flexible and automated.
Key benefits include:
- Reduced manual validation effort.
- Better integration with enterprise approval processes.
- Stronger governance before catalogue publication.
- Reduced risk of incorrect or duplicate data asset publication.
- Better alignment with enterprise identity and ownership models.
- Ability to support phased implementation, starting with simple approvals and later adding automated controls.
