Call a workflow flow logic
Summarize
Summary of Call a workflow flow logic
TheCall a workflowflow logic allows you to run a published and active workflow directly from within a flow. This integration enables you to pass flow data as inputs to the workflow, such as specifying the current record to be processed. It is designed for ServiceNow customers to coordinate workflows and flows seamlessly, enhancing automation capabilities.
Show less
Inputs
- Select a Workflow: Choose a published and active workflow to run. The selected workflow determines the associated records, and if it has inputs, these appear as additional flow inputs. To avoid the workflow running outside Workflow Studio, remove its start conditions. Workflows triggered on the Requested Item table cannot be selected; instead, create a new flow with a Service Catalog trigger.
- Wait?: Set to true for the flow to pause until the workflow completes, enabling the flow to receive certain output values. Set to false to let the flow continue independently. If the workflow is canceled or its context record deleted before finishing, the flow stops waiting and proceeds.
- Current: Select the current record that the workflow will process by choosing a data pill from the associated workflow table.
Outputs
The flow execution details display workflow output values generated during the flow runtime. When the flow waits for the workflow to finish, all workflow output values are shown. If not, only outputs generated before the flow logic completes are visible. If the workflow finishes after the flow logic completes, output values stop updating and show the last known state.
- State: Reflects the workflow state from the context record—can be Complete (successful), Canceled, or Invalid (if the context record is deleted before finishing).
- Context: Reference to the workflow context record.
- Result: String value containing the workflow result.
- Return value: String value containing the workflow’s returnvalue.
Practical Application
For example, calling the Routine Change workflow with the Wait? option checked causes the flow to pause until the workflow completes. The current record is passed via a data pill representing the triggering record. Execution details include a link to track workflow progress in the Workflow Editor, configuration settings, runtime values, and workflow outputs.
Important Considerations
- Do not select workflows that run on the Requested Item table; use a flow with a Service Catalog trigger instead.
- Removing start conditions from workflows prevents unintended execution outside Workflow Studio.
- If the workflow is canceled or context record deleted, the flow ceases waiting and continues.
Related Flow Logic
This flow logic complements other flow logics such as Assign Subflow Outputs, Do the Following Until, For Each, Make a Decision, Set Flow Variables, Try, Wait for a Duration, and others that help build complex automation scenarios.
Run a published and active workflow from your flow. You can use the flow data as a workflow input. For example, you can specify the current record as a workflow input.
Inputs
| Input | Description |
|---|---|
| Select a Workflow | Published and active workflow that you can select to run. The workflow that you select
determines the records that are associated with it. If the workflow has inputs, Workflow Studio displays them as additional flow inputs. Note:
|
| Wait? | Workflow that you set to true so that the flow waits for workflow completion before
continuing. Only workflows that wait for completion can return certain output values to the
flow. Set to false to continue running the flow separately from the workflow. Note: If the
workflow is canceled or its context record is deleted prior to the workflow finishing, the
flow stops waiting and instead continues running. |
| Current | Current record that the workflow processes. Select a data pill that contains a record from the associated workflow table. |
Outputs
The flow execution details only display workflow output values that are generated while the flow is running. If you configure the flow to wait for the workflow to finish, the flow execution details can display all workflow output values. If the flow does not wait, the flow execution details only display the workflow output values that were generated before the Call a Workflow flow logic completes. If Call a Workflow completes before the workflow finishes, the workflow output values stop updating and only display the last known value.
| Output | Description |
|---|---|
| State | State of the workflow. This value comes from the workflow context record. The state will be Complete if the workflow executes successfully. If the workflow is canceled, the workflow state is set to Canceled. If the context record is deleted prior to the workflow finishing, the workflow state is set to Invalid. |
| Context | Reference to the workflow context record. |
| Result | String that contains the result from the workflow. This value comes from the workflow context record. |
| Return value | String that contains the return_value from the workflow. This value comes from the workflow context record. |
Calling the Routine Change workflow
In this example, the flow calls the Routine Change workflow. The Wait? option is checked, so the flow pauses until this workflow completes. The Current field is filled using a data pill representing the record that triggered this flow.
Execution details
- The header displays a link so that you can view the workflow progress in the Workflow Editor, the flow logic state, the start time, and the runtime duration.
- The Workflow Configuration section displays how the flow logic was configured for this flow and the runtime values that were generated.
- The Workflow Output section displays the output that is generated by the workflow while the flow is running.