Stages and activities
Summarize
Summary of Stages and activities
In ServiceNow Playbooks,activitiesrepresent individual steps within a business process, whilestagesgroup multiple sequenced activities into logical segments of a cross-enterprise workflow. This structure enables you to design and automate complex processes that guide users through defined sequences of tasks.
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You can add and sequence stages and activities in the Playbooks design environment using either the Board or Diagram views. Activities can be selected from common sets or custom definitions, and you can also include automation assets directly without defining new activities.
Key Features
- Stages: Organize activities into logical groups that run sequentially or based on start rules. Stages can be added by clicking + Add stage in Board view or the + icon in Diagram view.
- Activities: Represent a single actionable step. They can be interactive (requiring user input), non-interactive (automated behind-the-scenes), or optional (inserted by agents during playbook runs). Activities are added via an activity picker accessible in both Board and Diagram views.
- Activity Definitions: Define how an activity interacts with data and automation. If no suitable activity exists, you can create a custom definition to extend functionality.
- Start Rules and Run Conditions: Configure when stages or activities start (e.g., when the process starts, after specific stages or activities) and conditions that must be met to run them, enabling precise control of workflow execution.
- Inputs and Outputs: Activities accept inputs, which can be static or dynamically sourced via dot-walking through related records and outputs of prior activities, allowing flexible data-driven execution.
- Design Considerations: Leverage existing ServiceNow AI Platform state models as templates, use delay properties to manage timing, and incorporate decision activities, parallel branches, questionnaires, and optional activities to create rich, adaptable playbooks.
Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers
By structuring your playbooks with clearly defined stages and activities, you can automate complex workflows that guide agents and fulfillers efficiently through processes. Interactive activities enable user inputs at key points, while non-interactive activities automate backend tasks to streamline operations.
Custom activity definitions and automation assets allow tailoring to unique business needs, and start rules with run conditions provide flexibility in orchestrating task sequences based on real-time data and prior outcomes.
Using these capabilities, you can improve process consistency, reduce manual errors, and enhance user experience by designing workflows that are both dynamic and easy to follow.
In Playbooks, an activity represents one step in your overall business process. You can sequence many activities together in the stages of your process.
Stages
Group activities by the stages of your business process, and sequence activities in an order that makes sense for your cross-enterprise workflow. A stage is made up of many sequenced activities that are grouped in a logical way. In the Playbooks Board view of the design environment, you can add a stage to your playbook by clicking + Add stage. In the Diagram view, select the + icon on connectors (lines) to add a stage.
Activities
In Playbooks, an activity represents one step in your overall business process. In the system, an activity is one instance of an activity definition. For more information on activity instances and activity definitions, see the Playbooks User Experience and activity definitions.
Adding an activity to your playbook
In the Playbooks Board view of the design environment, select + Add activity to open the activity picker. In the Diagram view, select the + icon on connectors (lines) to open the activity picker. In the activity picker, you can search for an activity to add or select one from the list of Common Activities. To choose an activity for a custom application, first select the application and then select the activity from the resulting list within the picker.
Additionally, you can add an activity just using an automation asset.
If there isn't an activity that fits your use case, you can create your own activity definition to add to the activity picker. For more information, see create an activity definition.
Interactive and Non-Interactive activities
Activity categories include:
- Interactive Activities
- When an interactive activity runs, it prompts a user for input in your playbook as it runs. For more information, see Interactive activities.
- Non-Interactive Activities
- When a non-interactive activity runs, it runs entirely behind-the-scenes and requires no user input. For more information, see Non-Interactive activities.
- Optional Activities
- An optional activity can be inserted by agents and fulfillers during a playbook run. For more information, see Optional activities.
Stage and activity details
When you select an activity, the side panel should open. Under the Details tab of the side panel, you can add names, descriptions, and start rules to the stages and activities in your playbook. Click the show or hide additional options button to show or hide additional properties for your currently selected stage or activity. The basic details for each stage and activity include:
- Label
- You can enter a display name for your stage or activity. This name appears during playbook runtime.Note:Keep your stage and activity names brief, as the system truncates long names.
- Description
- Optionally, enter a description for your activity or stage. This description only appears within Playbooks and isn't visible during playbook runtime.
- Start Rule
- Under , select a start rule for when your stage should start running:
- When process starts: Your stage starts running as soon as the playbook starts.
- After specific stages: Your stage starts running after specified stage(s) have finished running.
- Run condition
- Conditions that must be met to run an activity or stage. You can use data from prior activities to build conditions.
Activity inputs
To change default inputs and outputs for the activity, open and edit the source flow in Workflow Studio by selecting the Open link icon (
) next to the Automation field.For more information on how to work with the default inputs and outputs for activities in Playbooks, see Create an action as an activity automation plan.Note:You must have the appropriate user roles to access Workflow Studio and Workflow Studio. For more information, see User access to Workflow Studio flows.- Inputs are data that you provide so that the activity runs and performs its function appropriately. For example, a Record activity that notifies a customer of an application rejection will have message inputs for the email address, subject, body, and more.
- Expected Outputs are displayed at the bottom of the Automation tab.
Creating static and dynamic values for activity inputs
You can add dynamic data to an activity input. Click the data pill picker icon (
) and navigate, or dot-walk, to the data pill whose dynamic value you want to use when your activity runs. You can select dynamic data from fields in the input record. If your activity has a start rule of
After specific activities, you can also select dynamic data from the outputs of other activities in your playbook. For more information on dot-walking to related fields and records on the ServiceNow AI Platform, see selecting fields on related tables using dot-walking.
The inputs for interactive activities typically provide data that renders in a playbook for an agent to interact with. The inputs for non-interactive activities can render in a playbook but don't require any user input in order to run. For more information, see Interactive activities and Non-Interactive activities.
Design considerations
- Keep ServiceNow AI Platform state models in mind when designing your playbook
- Some record types already have state models that describe their life cycle. Use any existing state model as a template for the design of your playbook. For more information, see State Management.