Flows, subflows, and actions in Workflow Studio release notes
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Summary of Flows, subflows, and actions in Workflow Studio release notes
The ServiceNow® Workflow Studio application empowers process analysts to automate workflows without coding by building multi-step flows from reusable components. The Xanadu release introduces significant enhancements to Workflow Studio, including improved data protection, enhanced variable support, and new capabilities for integrating conversational AI.
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Key Features
- Data Protection: Execution details now have controlled access via roles. The existing
fdreadoperationsrole limits users to viewing only basic execution details, while the newfdreadoperationsallrole grants full visibility into execution data, ensuring sensitive information is protected. - Enhanced Flow Generation: Flow generation now creates appropriate data pill values for supported triggers and action inputs, improving automation accuracy.
- Conversational AI Integration: You can run Workflow Studio actions and subflows directly from Now Assist conversations. These conversational actions and subflows can be created and configured in Workflow Studio and managed within Virtual Agent Designer.
- Flow Generation Annotations: Annotations display the text directions used to generate each flow item, providing transparency and feedback on how instructions map to actions, flow logic, and subflows.
- Reference Specific Tables: Use hash tags in flow directions to reference specific tables by name with auto-complete support, streamlining flow creation.
- Flow and Action Signing: Flows, subflows, and actions can be signed and validated, enhancing security and trustworthiness.
- User Interface Updates: Flow preferences have been renamed User preferences for clarity.
- Removed Features: The system property controlling loop iteration execution detail reporting has been removed in favor of flow execution settings records. The preference to include draft actions in the action list is also removed; actions must be published to be visible during flow design.
Important Upgrade Considerations
After upgrading to Xanadu, users with the old fdreadoperations role will only see limited execution details. To maintain full access, assign the new fdreadoperationsall role. This change secures sensitive data by restricting visibility based on roles.
Activation and Related Features
Workflow Studio is available as a ServiceNow AI Platform feature activated by default and accessible via the ServiceNow Store. It integrates well with other ServiceNow offerings such as:
- App Engine Studio: For building custom applications.
- Integration Hub: To automate integrations using prebuilt spokes or custom automation (requires separate subscription).
- MID Server: Facilitates communication between ServiceNow and external systems.
- Now Assist for Creator: Provides generative AI skills to accelerate development on the AI Platform.
- Process Automation Designer and Playbooks: For authoring cross-enterprise workflows and providing simplified user experiences.
- Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Hub: Supports end-to-end automation by emulating user actions across applications.
Practical Impact for ServiceNow Customers
This release enhances your ability to securely automate complex processes with better role-based data access controls and tighter integration with conversational AI tools. The improved flow generation and annotation features make it easier to build accurate workflows from text directions, increasing development efficiency. Signing flows and actions improves security governance. Removing older properties and preferences encourages adoption of more robust configuration methods, ensuring better maintainability and clarity in your automation projects.
The ServiceNow® Workflow Studio application enables process analysts to automate work without having to code and to build multi-step flows from reusable components. Workflow Studio was enhanced and updated in the Xanadu release.
Workflow Studio highlights for the Xanadu release
- Protect sensitive data in execution details by using the operations read role.
- Provide improved support of the variables data type for subflow and action inputs.
- Show annotations of what text directions were used to generate actions, flow logic, and subflows during flow generation.
- Sign and validate any flow, subflow, or action.
See Workflow Studio for more information.
Important information for upgrading Workflow Studio to Xanadu
After upgrading, users who previously had the fd_read_operations role will now see only basic execution details such as the run state and duration. This restriction prevents users with this role from seeing sensitive information in execution details. To provide read access to all execution details such as input configuration and runtime values, grant the user the new role fd_read_operations_all.
New in the Xanadu release
- Xanadu Patch 3
- Generate data pill values during flow generation
- Generate appropriate data pill values for supported flow triggers and action inputs.
- Run an action from a conversation
- Run a Workflow Studio action from a Now Assist conversation. Create and configure the conversational action from Workflow Studio. View and edit conversational actions within Virtual Agent Designer.
- Run a subflow from a conversation
- Run a Workflow Studio subflow from a Now Assist conversation. Create and configure the conversational skill from Workflow Studio. View and edit conversational subflows within Virtual Agent Designer.
- Reference specific tables with hash tags during flow generation
- Enter a hash tag character in the flow directions to refer to a specific table by name. Use auto-complete to select a table name from the options that match your partial entry.
- Xanadu Patch 1
- Show annotations of the text directions used by flow generation
- Show annotations of the text directions used for each item added by flow generation. Receive feedback about how your directions map to specific actions, flow logic, and subflows.
- Xanadu family release
- Control what users with read access can see in execution details
- Grant a user role to control what users with read access can see in execution details. To limit read access to basic execution details only, grant a user the existing fd_read_operations role. To allow read access to all execution details, grant a user the new fd_read_operations_all role.
- Sign flows, subflows, and actions
- Sign and validate any flow, subflow, or action.
UI changes
- User preferences for flows
- Flow preferences have been renamed User preferences.
Changed in this release
- Flow generation configures action and flow logic inputs
- Use the Now Assist for Creator flow generation skill to create and configure a flow from text directions. Flow generation uses data pills to set input values for actions and flow logic.
Removed in this release
- Removed the system property com.snc.process_flow.reporting.iteration.lastn that was used to specify the number of loop iterations that a flow would generate execution details for. To report on all iterations of a loop, create a flow execution settings record for the flow instead. For more information about flow execution settings, see Flow execution settings.
- The user preference for flow authors to include draft actions in the list of available actions has been removed. To see a custom action during flow design, publish the action. For more information, see Create an action in Workflow Studio.
Activation information
Workflow Studio is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default.