Flow diagramming view

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Flow diagramming view

    The Flow diagramming view in ServiceNow enables customers to create and visualize flows as diagrams, showing the paths a flow can follow and the connections between Workflow Studio components. This feature must be installed from the ServiceNow Store and allows users to add and edit components within specific flow paths, improving flow design and understanding.

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    Key Features

    • View selector: Switch between flow diagramming and flow description views.
    • Add a trigger: Select and configure flow triggers; note some trigger types are unsupported in this view.
    • Flow nodes: Represent flow components visually, showing sequence, icon, name, options, and available paths. Only supported components appear as nodes.
    • Plus icons and Add a node: Insert and configure actions, flow logic, or subflows along or at the end of flow paths, limited to supported components.
    • Search nodes: Locate nodes matching search criteria within the flow diagram.
    • Diagram view controls: Manage view focus, zoom levels, download diagrams as PNG images (split into sections if large), and adjust node display options.
    • Node properties: Configure properties of selected nodes directly within the diagramming view.
    • Annotations: Add and edit annotations, which appear as italic text beneath nodes.

    Supported Components and Limitations

    • Only certain flow components are supported; flows containing unsupported components will disable the diagramming view.
    • Supported flow logic includes common elements such as "Call a Workflow," "Do the following in parallel," "If," "Try," "Wait for a duration," and more.
    • Supported triggers include Record triggers, Date triggers, Inbound email, Kafka Message, MetricBase, REST API (Asynchronous), Service Catalog, SLA, and Task triggers.
    • Supports configuring subflows and data stream actions within the diagramming view.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    This feature helps customers visually map out and manage complex flows, improving clarity on flow paths, logic branching, and component relationships. It streamlines editing by allowing direct interaction with components in context and supports exporting flow diagrams for documentation or review. By understanding supported components and triggers, customers can anticipate when this view is available and leverage it to optimize their process automations.

    Create and view flows as diagrams. See the paths a flow can follow and the connections between elements.

    Activation

    Install Flow Diagramming from the ServiceNow Store website.

    Benefits

    Enable the flow diagramming view of a flow to gain these benefits.
    • Add and edit Workflow Studio components within specific paths of a flow.
    • See the branches and paths a flow can follow.
    • See the relationships between Workflow Studio components.

    Flow Diagramming components

    Figure 1. Flow Diagramming user interface components
    Example flow displaying the eight user interface components of the flow diagramming view

    The Flow diagramming view consists of these components.

    1. View selector
    Switch between the flow diagramming view and the flow description view.
    2. Add a trigger
    Select and configure a flow trigger. Flow diagramming view does not support some trigger types.
    3. Flow nodes
    View and configure a flow component as a node. Each node displays these elements.
    • The sequence of the flow component in the flow
    • The icon representing the spoke or component type
    • The name of the flow component
    • The menu of available options for the flow component
    • The paths available from this node
    Note:
    The flow diagramming view only displays nodes for supported flow components.
    4. Plus icons
    Select and configure an action, flow logic, or subflow to insert along a specific path of the flow.
    Note:
    The flow diagramming view only displays options for supported flow components.
    5. Add a node
    Select and configure an action, flow logic, or subflow at the end of the flow.
    Note:
    The flow diagramming view only displays options for supported flow components.
    6. Search nodes
    Find all nodes that match your search criteria.
    7. Diagram view controls
    Select the current focus of the view, set the zoom level, download the diagram, and select view options.
    • Preview and zoom controls
    • Download diagram as an image
    • View options
    8. Node properties
    Configure the properties of the currently selected node.

    Preview and zoom controls

    Set the current focus of the view by selecting a region of the thumbnail image. Zoom in and out to see specific portions of the flow structure.

    Download diagram as an image

    Download the current flow as an image in the Portable Network Graphic (PNG) format. Opens a dialog window to choose the location to save the file. The image only shows the nodes, connection lines, and order numbering. If the image is too big to fit into one file, the system creates multiple images for each section of the flow.

    View options

    Set how nodes appear in the diagramming view.
    Details
    Show or hide configuration details in a box beneath each node. The configuration details include conditions and data pill paths.
    Annotations
    Show or hide the annotations available for each node. Annotations appear as italic text beneath each node.

    Supported flow components

    The flow diagramming view supports a limited selection of flow components. Workflow Studio disables the flow diagramming view when a flow contains unsupported flow components.

    Annotations
    The flow diagramming view supports adding and editing annotations to actions, flow logic, and subflows.
    Data Stream Actions
    The flow diagramming view supports adding and editing data stream actions.
    Flow logic
    The flow diagramming view only displays flows containing these flow logic types.
    • Call a Workflow
    • Do the following in parallel
    • Do the following until
    • Dynamic Flows
    • Else If
    • End Flow
    • Exit Loop
    • For Each
    • Get Flow Outputs
    • If
    • Make a decision
    • Placeholder
    • Set Flow Variables
    • Skip Iteration
    • Try
    • Wait for a duration of time
    Stages
    The flow diagramming view displays the stages available to a flow.
    Subflows
    The flow diagramming view supports adding and configuring subflows.
    Triggers
    The flow diagramming view only displays flows with these trigger types.
    • Record triggers
    • Date triggers
    • Inbound email
    • Kafka Message
    • MetricBase
    • REST API - Asynchronous
    • Service Catalog
    • SLA Task