Start with delay input properties

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Start with delay input properties

    The "Start with delay" input property in ServiceNow playbooks allows you to specify a duration to wait before initiating an activity or stage once its start conditions are met. This feature helps provide users with time to respond or wait for a specific date and time before proceeding with automated playbook actions.

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    Roles and Availability

    This input is available for all stages and common activities except the Placeholder activity. Users with roles such as admin, playbook.admin, pdauthor, or pdcontentauthor can configure these delay properties.

    Configuring Start with delay

    To enable and configure the delay, open the properties panel of an activity or stage, expand additional options, and activate the "Start with delay" setting. You can then configure the following input properties:

    Input Properties

    • Duration Type: Choose how the wait duration is defined:
      • Explicit Duration: Wait for a fixed period (e.g., 5 minutes).
      • Relative Duration: Wait for a time relative to a selected data pill or date/time value (e.g., 5 minutes after playbook start).
      • Percentage Duration: Wait for a percentage of the time between the start and a specified end time (values must be 0-100%).
    • Wait for Template Value: Set the duration manually or select a Duration data pill. For explicit and relative durations, specify hours, minutes, and seconds. Relative durations can be set before or after a specific date/time. Note that past dates do not affect wait time, and waits can be up to 999 hours.
    • Wait for Percentage: When using Percentage Duration, specify an end date (manually or via data pill). If the end date is in the past, the wait duration is zero.
    • During the following schedule: Optionally specify a schedule (from the Reference.Schedule [cmnschedule]) to calculate end dates within defined business hours. If left blank, scheduling is not applied.

    Important Notes

    • The actual wait time can vary slightly due to instance processing delays.
    • Past dates for relative durations or end dates result in immediate continuation (zero wait).
    • Schedules ensure wait durations respect business hours for timing calculations.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    This feature empowers you to manage timing in automated workflows more precisely, giving users controlled time to act or aligning activities with business hours and specific dates. It enhances playbook flexibility and ensures smoother coordination of automated and manual steps.

    Specify a duration of time to wait before running an activity or a stage whose start rule and conditions have been met. Give users time to act during automated playbooks. Give users time to wait for a specific date and time to complete actions.

    Roles and availability

    This input is available for all stages and common activities, except for the Placeholder activity. Users with the admin, playbook.admin, pd_author, or pd_content_author can configure the properties of this input.

    Input properties

    Open the activity or stage properties panel, show additional options, and enable the Start with delay option to configure the following input properties.
    Input Type Description
    Duration Type Choice Option to specify how long of duration to wait. Options include
    • Explicit Duration: Wait for a specific time period, such as 5 minutes.
    • Relative Duration: Wait for a specific time period from a selected Duration data pill or date/time value, such as 5 minutes after the playbook starts.
    • Percentage Duration: Wait for a specific percentage of a time period between the start of the activity or stage and a specified end time, such as 50%.
      Note:
      The percentage value must be from 0 through 100 only.
    Wait for Template Value Option to set a duration value manually or to select a Duration data pill from the data pill picker (Data pill picker).
    • Explicit Duration: Wait duration in hours, minutes, and seconds.
    • Relative Duration: Wait duration in hours, minutes, and seconds before or after a specific time. Select Relative Duration to specify a wait duration from a specific date.
      Note:
      Past dates don't affect the wait duration.
    You can enter a wait value of up to 999 hours.
    Note:
    The actual wait duration can vary due to the instance processing time. The playbook always waits for the time that you specify for this field, but other work in the queue may add to the wait time.
    Wait for Percentage Integer Percentage of time to wait from a specified end date before running an activity or stage. You can manually enter an end date or select a date/time data pill from the data pill picker (Data pill picker). If you select an end date in the past, the wait duration is set to 0. This field is only available when you set the Duration Type to Percentage Duration.
    During the following schedule Reference.Schedule [cmn_schedule] Schedule used to calculate an end date that occurs during your hours of operation. For example, the calculated end date for a 10-hour duration that occurs during a 8-5 weekdays schedule will always be one or more business days in the future. If you leave this field blank, the calculated end date does not follow a schedule. For information on creating schedules, see Define a schedule.