Skip to main content

​
1. Feature overview

To meet developers’ needs for personalized app development, DingTalk OA Approval has been rolling out a set of exclusive OpenAPIs for Smart OA customers since September 1, 2024. These exclusive OpenAPIs deliver richer capabilities, address more personalized business requirements, and support internal app development across a wide range of scenarios. We encourage developers to use these OpenAPIs effectively to build a healthier DingTalk open ecosystem.

​
2. Applicable scenarios

DingTalk may add, modify, or remove the scope or specific features of the following APIs to comply with laws, regulations, policy adjustments, or regulatory directives, or to safeguard the security of DingTalk services. The APIs actually available to customers are subject to the content published on the DingTalk Open Platform at the time.

​
1. Self-hosted Approval Center

An organization has multiple business systems (either self-developed or third-party) whose approval tasks are already integrated with the DingTalk Approval Center. The organization wants to leverage DingTalk OA Approval’s open capabilities to build its own Approval Center with features such as filtering by source and batch approval:
Practical example of a self-hosted Approval Center, where the approval task list supports filtering by source and batch approval

​
2. Process handover solution

For organizations that want to leverage DingTalk OA Approval’s open capabilities to implement DingTalk official OA approval process handover within their own business systems. This enables admins to batch transfer approval tasks to other users in the organization. Admin queries the pending task list for a specified employee:
Practical example of process handover: querying the pending approval task list for a specified employee in the Admin Console
Admin batch transfers pending tasks to other users in the organization:
Practical example of process handover: after selecting pending tasks, a transfer approval form dialog appears to batch transfer tasks

​
3. Process center integration (custom business groups)

For organizations that want to centralize approval tasks from multiple third-party systems in the DingTalk Approval Center for a one-stop, immersive approval experience. They also want DingTalk To-Do to support custom business categories and one-click approval on the list page, delivering a superior experience for users—especially management with heavy approval workloads. Custom business categories in the To-Do Center make it easier to review to-dos sourced from third-party business systems:
Before-and-after comparison of the custom business group practical case: a second-level business source group is added under the OA Approval category in the To-Do Center
Quick approval is supported on the To-Do Center list page for pending tasks originating from third-party business systems:
Before-and-after comparison of the custom quick approval practical case: third-party system tasks can be directly accepted or declined on the To-Do Center list page

​
4. Process center integration (approval page hosting mode)

An organization has its own process engine in its business system and wants to integrate using its proprietary OA approval model. However, it lacks an H5 details page and wants to reuse DingTalk’s official OA approval details page while customizing the approval action area. This unifies approval form structure and styling across different business systems, providing users with a consistent experience across mobile, PC, and tablet. The buttons in the approval action area can be customized (Accept, Decline, transfer, Print, and more). Third-party proprietary OA approvals can use the official details page style:
Practical example of approval page hosting: a third-party proprietary approval form is displayed in the DingTalk official details page style
The mobile details page also supports customizing the approval action area:
Mobile details page for the approval page hosting practical case: the bottom action area displays custom Decline and Accept buttons
Third-party businesses can customize the configuration and rendering of approval action area buttons (Accept, Decline, and more), and can display third-party business error message details:
Before-and-after comparison of the approval page hosting practical case: PC details page action area buttons can be customized and error messages can be surfaced

​
3. Steps

For the exclusive OpenAPIs above, Standard Edition customers must upgrade to Smart OA before they can apply to use them. Some customers who joined the public beta before September 1, 2024, already have access to call these OpenAPIs. The rules are as follows: Permission application path: Developer Backend > App Development > DingTalk App > Create a new app or select an existing app > Click the app > [Manage permissions] > [OA Approval], then select the required permissions:
App permissions management page in the Developer Backend, where you can select the required API permissions under the OA Approval category

​
4. FAQ

Standard Edition DingTalk customers cannot use Smart OA’s exclusive OpenAPIs. You must first upgrade to Smart OA before you can call these APIs. Calling exclusive OpenAPIs consumes your Smart OA OpenAPI quota.
Starting September 1, 2024, developers can view the newly launched exclusive OpenAPIs in the Open Platform developer documentation and the Developer Backend.

Process center open solution

Overview of four solutions for integrating enterprise business systems with DingTalk OA Approval

Third-party process page integration

Initiated by the business system, with the business system details page opened for approval within DingTalk