Process page variants

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 7 minutes to read
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    Summary of Process Page Variants

    Process page variants in the CSM Configurable Workspace enhance agent visibility and efficiency by providing tailored experiences based on user roles. Utilizing UI Builder, administrators can create pages that display playbook processes, allowing agents to track their progress and access in-context information relevant to their tasks.

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    Key Features

    • Horizontal Stage Picker: Offers agents a full overview of the playbook process and their current stage, facilitating progress tracking.
    • Record and Contextual Information: Displays essential information like contact details and related records in a side panel, improving accessibility.
    • Customizable Templates: Admins can create process page variants using templates that include either horizontal or vertical stage pickers, depending on the number of stages in a process.

    Key Outcomes

    By implementing process page variants, ServiceNow customers can:

    • Deliver a comprehensive process experience tailored to different user roles.
    • Enhance agent productivity by minimizing clicks and maximizing the use of screen space for critical information.
    • Streamline the case resolution process through organized access to tasks and related records.

    Activate and use process page variants in the CSM Configurable Workspace application so that your agents get visibility into a playbook's overall process, see which stage they're at within the process, and have access to in-context information.

    Overview of pages, process page variants, and page templates

    UI Builder is a web user interface builder that you use to create pages for CSM Configurable Workspace. A page includes a layout, components, and data resources. With these pages, your agents can view and interact with the table and record data. A page template is a pre-defined page configuration. When you create a page in UI Builder, you can select a page template as a starting point. After creating a page from a template, you can customize the page and create process page variants to target experiences for different audiences. A process page variant in UI Builder is a variation of a page that exists at the same path that targets different audiences by using user criteria, such as assigned roles.

    Playbooks, pages, and process page variants provide the base structure for how the system displays the information in a playbook. A process page variant includes the containers and modular components that enable you to quickly build process experiences. If you have the admin role, you can configure these containers and modular components in UI Builder.

    Process page variants provide a process-based agent experience for cases and case types that are associated with one or more Process Automation Designer (PAD) processes. These process page variants move the playbook from a tab on the record page and make it the main experience for agents as they work to resolve cases.

    The following example shows how an agent can use the onboarding playbook with the onboarding case type process page variant.
    Figure 1. Onboarding case type process page
    Onboarding playbook with stages displayed in a horizontal playbook picker, playbook activities and case information in the custom side panel, and related search results in the contextual side panel.
    Process page variants include the following features:
    • A horizontal stage picker that gives the agent a complete view of the entire process and where they currently are in that process. Agents can use the stage picker to track their overall progress as they work on cases.

    • Record information on the left side of the page, such as the contact information.

    • Related records in the contextual side panel that use the dynamic related records component.
    The following table lists the Customer Service Management playbook applications and process page variants that you can activate and use with the cases and case types in CSM Configurable Workspace. For more information, see Playbook plugins.
    Table 1. Customer Service Management applications and process page variants
    Application Page variant Description
    Case Playbook for Complaints v5.0 Complaint case type process page Activate and use this process page variant with the complaint case type and the Case Playbook for Complaints. It includes a horizontal stage picker at the top of the record that provides a view of the entire complaint process.
    Case Playbook for Onboarding v5.0 Onboarding case type process page Activate and use this process page variant with the onboarding case type and the Case Playbook for Onboarding. It includes a horizontal stage picker at the top of the record that provides an end-to-end view of the onboarding process.
    Case Playbook for Product Support v4.0 Product Support process page Activate and use this process page variant with customer service cases and the Case Playbook for Product Support. It includes a horizontal stage picker at the top of the record that provides an end-to-end view of the product support process.
    Note:
    By default, process page variants are read-only. To customize a process page variant, you can create a copy of the page variant.

    Benefits of using process page variants

    Customer requests involve the execution of tasks across multiple users, departments, and systems. Different users are responsible for different tasks within the overall resolution process. By using process page variants, you get the following benefits:

    • Provide an entire process experience that is tailored to agents and other users.
    • Provide agents with visibility into the overall process and the current stages within the process.
    • Enable agents to complete tasks faster with access to the in-context information.
    • Minimize clicks and maximize screen usage.

    Process page templates

    With the admin role, you can use templates based on the process page variants to create your own process page variants. These templates are available with the Playbooks for Customer Service Management v3.0 application.
    Table 2. Process page templates
    Template Description
    Process experience with horizontal stages Template that includes a horizontal stage picker in the record and an activity picker on the side of the page. Use this template when there are no more than five stages in a process so that all the stage names can be displayed.
    Process experience with vertical stages Template that includes a vertical stage and activity picker on the side of the page. Use this template when there are six or more stages in a process.
    For more information, see the following topics:

    Configuring agent experiences by using process page variants

    See the following table to configure the experiences for your agents that use process page variants.
    Table 3. Process page variant configuration tasks
    Configuration task Description
    Activate a process page template or page variant Activate a process page variant and set the page order.
    Note:
    Process page templates and page variants aren’t active by default.

    For more information, see Set record page order.
    Customize the page header for a process page variant Configure the page header for a process page variant. The page header includes a primary value and several secondary values. These fields can provide case, account, and contact information at a glance.

    For more information, see Set up a form header in CSM Configurable Workspace.
    Customize UI actions for a process page variant Configure the UI actions to display in the action bar for a process page variant.
    Customize content in the left side panel for a process page variant Add the custom components in the side panel. By default, this panel includes the Customer360, Timeline, and Active SLA components.
    Customize tabs in the contextual side panel for a process page variant Add or remove the tabs from the contextual side panel. Use these tabs to perform multiple tasks, such as adding the attachments and viewing the recommendations.
    Customize the dynamic related records for a process page variant Configure the Dynamic Related Records feature to display the related records in the contextual side panel.
    Configure the app route to use an existing subpage Create an app route to make an existing page a part of the page collection.
    Configure an optional activity for a case type playbook Configure an optional activity in  the Process Automation Designer  (PAD) at various stages in a playbook.
    Set up a record generator for case type Create a record for a case type by using a playbook record generator.
    Configure email templates Configure new email templates to enable agents to create emails for common issues quickly.

    Using process page variants

    The agent experiences that you create with process page variants enable your agents to view and complete their tasks more efficiently. The following table describes the process page variant user tasks.
    Table 4. Process page variant user tasks
    User task Description
    Create a record using a playbook If a playbook is configured to use the feature, an agent can create a record by using a playbook activity. Creating a record opens the playbook and initiates the first activity, which is to guide an agent through the record creation process.

    After saving the case, an agent moves to the next activity in the current stage or to the first activity in the next stage.
    Resolve a case by using a process-based playbook experience
    Opening a case takes the agent to the first open assigned activity. An agent can do the following actions while working on the activities in a playbook:
    • View the entire playbook process in the horizontal stage picker.
    • View the activities for each stage in the stacked playbook activity view.
    • Use the activity stream in the contextual side panel
    • Filter activity cards.
    • Select an activity and perform the work required in the main work area.
    • View and update the case details by using the View Details button.
    • View the persistent contextual information in the left side panel, such as the account and contact.
    • View the related list tabs in the Dynamic related records component in the contextual side panel.
    • Access information in the contextual side panel, including the activity stream, form ribbon, Agent Assist, Dynamic related records, attachments, and templates.
    • Create tasks, compose email, and add worknotes.
    • Open reference fields in subtabs under the session tab.
    Add an activity to a playbook Add optional activities to a playbook stage.
    Note:
    This feature requires that you have the admin role.
    Case summarization in the process page Use the Now Assist for CSM case summarization skill to summarize the case details and display this information on the process page case record.
    Compose an email from an email template Quickly compose emails for common issues by selecting an email template in the Compose Email page instead of manually drafting an email.
    Note:
    For tasks that an agent completes outside of a playbook, the system automatically updates the playbook activities.