Set data exchange options

External applications can exchange data with your Okta Workflows cards using either polling or webhook methods.

Polling

Most monitor events poll an external application for new data.

To launch the dialog for polling options, click Runs when from the Options menu on any polling event card.

You can choose from three options for when to run the flow:

Option	Description
Each record (default)	Sets your flow to run once for each new item. For example, if your flow starts with a Salesforce New Record event card, it polls Salesforce every 15 minutes (or any other duration you choose) to check for new records. If three new records were added since the last check, then the flow runs three separate times, once for each new record. However, if no new records were added, the flow doesn't execute.
No New Data	This option allows you to trigger the flow if no records are found that match the event and criteria you specify. For example, you could set your flow to check Salesforce daily at 9:00 to see if any new leads have been added since the previous check. If you choose the No New Data option, flow executes when no new items are found.
Every time	Your flow executes every time it checks the remote application. For example, if you're checking every hour for new rows in a spreadsheet, the flow runs exactly once every hour. Instead of getting data for a single row (as returned by the Each record option), your flow gets a list that includes data for all new rows. If there are no new rows, the list is empty. This option gives you the most flexibility to decide what actions to take. For example, your flow could execute different actions depending on the number of rows added that hour, or what to do if there are no changes reported.

Option

Description

Each record (default)

Sets your flow to run once for each new item.

For example, if your flow starts with a Salesforce New Record event card, it polls Salesforce every 15 minutes (or any other duration you choose) to check for new records. If three new records were added since the last check, then the flow runs three separate times, once for each new record. However, if no new records were added, the flow doesn't execute.

No New Data

This option allows you to trigger the flow if no records are found that match the event and criteria you specify.

For example, you could set your flow to check Salesforce daily at 9:00 to see if any new leads have been added since the previous check. If you choose the No New Data option, flow executes when no new items are found.

Every time

Your flow executes every time it checks the remote application.

For example, if you're checking every hour for new rows in a spreadsheet, the flow runs exactly once every hour. Instead of getting data for a single row (as returned by the Each record option), your flow gets a list that includes data for all new rows. If there are no new rows, the list is empty. This option gives you the most flexibility to decide what actions to take. For example, your flow could execute different actions depending on the number of rows added that hour, or what to do if there are no changes reported.

Each flow tracks its own polling of the application, independent from other flows. This means you can have multiple flows looking at the same events:

One flow that checks every 15 minutes for new items
Another flow that runs if there are no new items during the previous 24 hours
Another flow that runs at the end of every week to get all new items for that week

Webhooks

To launch the dialog for webhook options, click Run mode from the Options menu on any webhook event card.

Webhook events can also run with different options:

Option	Description
Each record (default)	Sets your flow to execute once for each new record received from the external application. For example, the Smartsheet New Row - Webhook event card notifies the flow when a Smartsheet sheet is saved with new rows.
List of records	Runs the flow once and passes a list of all new records. For example, you could set your flow to receive all User Profile Updated events from Okta as a batched list of events, rather than having each event trigger a separate flow execution.

Option

Description

Each record (default)

Sets your flow to execute once for each new record received from the external application.

For example, the Smartsheet New Row - Webhook event card notifies the flow when a Smartsheet sheet is saved with new rows.

List of records

Runs the flow once and passes a list of all new records.

For example, you could set your flow to receive all User Profile Updated events from Okta as a batched list of events, rather than having each event trigger a separate flow execution.