Join conference call workflow activity

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Join Conference Call Workflow Activity

    The Join Conference Call workflow activity in ServiceNow’s Notify product enables connecting incoming or outgoing calls, as well as inbound SMS messages, to a Notify-managed conference call. This activity is integral to workflows like Notify: (Re)join Conference Call and Notify: Join Conference Call Via SMS, which demonstrate practical uses of this feature.

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    Input Variables

    This activity accepts several input variables that control its behavior:

    • Record: Option to record the conference call.
    • Advanced: Enables advanced configuration options.
    • Script: Allows specifying advanced settings using JavaScript, such as muting participants on entry, with access to workflow scratchpad values for dynamic behavior.

    Scratchpad Usage

    The activity relies on the workflow.scratchpad.conferencecall variable, which must contain a GlideRecord referencing the conference call. This ensures the participant is correctly added to the designated call. For outgoing calls initiated via the Notify API, this variable is set automatically. However, for incoming calls or other initiation methods, the workflow must explicitly set this scratchpad value to avoid errors.

    Configurable Attributes

    System administrators can enable and configure several attributes that affect participant behavior within the conference call. These attributes can be set by enabling the Advanced option and modifying the activity’s script configuration:

    • hangupOnStar: When enabled, participants can press to leave the conference, returning control to the workflow for further actions.
    • muted: Participants join the conference muted.
    • beepOnEnter: Plays a beep when a participant joins.
    • beepOnExit: Plays a beep when a participant leaves.
    • enableImmediateInput: Allows immediate single-digit input after the conference ends, storing the input in workflow.scratchpad.confDigits. This requires hangupOnStar to be true.

    How to Enable and Configure Attributes

    To enable these attributes within the Join Conference Call activity:

    1. Navigate to Workflow > Administration > Workflow Versions and open the Notify: (Re)join Conference Call workflow.
    2. Access the workflow’s related links and select Checkout to allow editing.
    3. Open the Join Conference Call activity and check the Advanced box to reveal the Script field.
    4. Modify the Script to set desired attributes (e.g., set hangupOnStar to true).
    5. Click Update to save changes, then Publish the workflow to apply them.

    This process can be repeated to enable and configure any combination of the supported attributes.

    The Join Conference Call activity connects an incoming or outgoing call to a Notify conference call.

    Notify includes the workflows Notify: (Re)join Conference Call and Notify: Join Conference Call Via SMS to demonstrate how to use the join conference call activity to connect inbound and outbound calls, and inbound SMS messages to a conference call.

    Input variables

    Input variables determine the initial behavior of the activity.

    Table 1. Input variables
    Variable Description
    Record Select this check box to record the conference call.
    Advanced Select this check box to display advanced configuration options.
    Script Specify advanced configuration options using JavaScript, such as if the new participant should be muted upon joining the conference call. You can access values from the workflow scratchpad.

    Conditions

    The conditions determine which transition comes after this activity. The join conference call activity does not specify any conditions by default.

    You can add an error condition to this activity. The activity transitions through the error condition if the confernece_call scratchpad variable is not set.

    Scratchpad entries

    The activity uses the workflow scratchpad to read persistent values.

    Table 2. Values read from scratchpad
    Scratchpad variable Description
    workflow.scratchpad.conference_call A GlideRecord for a single conference call record. A call processed by this activity is added to this conference call. If this value is not specified, the join conference call activity will log an error.

    When initiating an outgoing call workflow using the Notify API call(String notifyPhoneNumber, String toPhoneNumber, GlideRecord conferenceCall) method, this scratchpad value is set automatically to the conference call GlideRecord. For incoming call workflows, or workflows initiated using a different mechanism, you must explicitly set this scratchpad value.

    Enable different attributes available with Join Conference Call activity

    System administrators can enable any or all of the below attributes and use them in the Join Conference Call workflow activity.

    Attribute Description
    hangupOnStar When hangupOnStar is enabled (set to true), participants in a conference call can press the * button to disconnect from the call. Control is returned to the workflow, which can be used to trigger customer-defined actions.
    muted When muted is enabled (set to true), the participant will join the conference in a muted state.
    beepOnEnter When beepOnEnter is enabled (set to true), a notification beep is played when a user joins the conference.
    beepOnExit When beepOnExit is enabled (set to true), a notification beep is played when a user leaves the conference.
    enableImmediateInput When enableImmediateInput is enabled (set to true), it allows input of a single digit immediately after the conference ends for this user and sets that in workflow.scratchpad.confDigits. This option will be ignored if hangupOnStar is false.
    To enable any of the above attributes, perform the following steps:
    1. Navigate to Workflow > Administration > Workflow Versions.
    2. Open the Notify: (Re)join Conference Call workflow.
    3. Click the Show Workflow related link.
    4. To modify the workflow, click the WorkFlow Actions icon and click Checkout.
    5. Open the Join Conference Call workflow activity.
    6. Enable the Advanced check box to display the Script field.
    7. Set the hangupOnStar attribute to true in the config variable in the script. The default setting is false.
    8. Click Update.
    9. Click the WorkFlow Actions icon and click Publish to save the changes.

    Similarly, you can enable the other attributes.