Visual Task Board (VTB) Spoke

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Visual Task Board (VTB) Spoke

    The Visual Task Board (VTB) Spoke, available in the Yokohama release, provides a set of flow designer actions that enable ServiceNow customers to efficiently create and manage Visual Task Boards, lanes, cards, board members, and assignees. These actions facilitate task visualization and collaboration directly within workflows, improving task tracking and team coordination.

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    Board Management Actions

    Customers can create and customize three types of Visual Task Boards:

    • Freeform VTB: A flexible board with default lanes (Todo, Doing, Done) that can be modified with lane management actions.
    • Flexible VTB: Bound to a specific Task table with the same default lanes, modifiable through lane actions.
    • Guided VTB: Data-driven and bound to a Task table where lanes are derived from configured fields, resulting in fixed lanes.

    Additionally, customers can manage board membership by adding or removing users, ensuring controlled access and collaboration.

    Lane Management Actions

    For Freeform and Flexible boards, the VTB Spoke offers actions to:

    • Add new lanes to organize tasks.
    • Rename existing lanes to fit evolving workflows.
    • Reorder lanes to prioritize or reflect process changes.
    • Delete lanes that are no longer needed.

    Note that Guided VTBs have fixed lanes based on configured fields and do not support lane modifications.

    Card Management Actions

    Users can manipulate task cards on the boards with actions to:

    • Create cards representing tasks on Freeform boards.
    • Assign or remove users as assignees on cards to indicate responsibility.
    • Move cards between lanes to reflect task progress; on Flexible and Guided boards, moving cards updates the underlying task state or field accordingly.

    Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    Implementing VTB Spoke actions in flow designers allows customers to automate task board management within their processes, enhancing visibility, collaboration, and task lifecycle tracking without manual board updates. This integration supports agile workflows and dynamic team assignments, helping teams stay organized and productive.

    Provides VTB actions for flow designers to manage the boards, lanes, cards, board members, and assignees.

    Table 1. Board Management Actions
    Action Description Action Inputs Action Outputs
    Create Freeform VTB Action Creates a Freeform VTB for any task type. The default lanes are: Todo, Doing, and Done. These lanes can be modified with actions: Add Lane, Rename Lane, Reorder Lane, and Delete Lane
    • Name
    • Board Owner
    • Default view
    • Label visibility
    • Picker visibility
    • Background color
    		 Board record
    Create Flexible VTB Action Creates a Flexible VTB bound to a single Task table. The default lanes are: Todo, Doing, and Done. These lanes can be modified with actions: Add Lane, Rename Lane, Reorder Lane, and Delete Lane
    • Name
    • Task table
    • Filter
    • Board Owner
    • Default view
    • Label visibility
    • Picker visibility
    • Background color
    		 Board record
    Create Guided VTB Action Creates a data-driven VTB bound to a single Task table along with the fields the lanes are derived.
    • Name
    • Task table
    • Land field
    • Filter
    • Board Owner
    • Default view
    • Label visibility
    • Picker visibility
    • Background color
    		 Board record
    Add VTB Member Action Add a user to a VTB. Only members of the VTB can access the board, Any VTB member can add other members.
    • Board record
    • User record
    		 N/A
    Remove VTB Member Action Remove a user from a VTB. Only members of a VTB can access the board. Any VTB member can remove other members.
    • Board record
    • User record
    		 N/A
    Table 2. Lane Management Actions
    Action Description Action Steps State
    Add VTB lane Add a lane to a Freeform or Flexible VTB. This action does not apply to Guided boards, which are constrained to fixed lanes based on fields configured.
    • Board record
    • Lane name
    		 VTB lane record
    Rename VTB Lane Rename an existing lane on a Freeform or Flexible VTB.
    • Lane record
    • New lane name
    		 N/A
    Reorder VTB Lane Reorder lanes on any VTB.
    • Lane record
    • New lane name
    		 N/A
    Delete VTB Lane Delete an existing lane from a Freeform or Flexible VTB. Lane record N/A
    Table 3. Card Management Actions
    Flow/Action Description Action Steps State
    Create VTB Card Create a VTB card on a Freeform board for a task.
    • Lane record
    • Task record
    		 Card record
    Assign VTB Card Assign a user to a VTB card.
    • Card record
    • User record
    		 N/A
    Move VTB Card Move a VTB card from one lane to another lane.
    Note:
    For Flexible boards, use the Update Record action to change the state of the underlying task. For Guided boards, this action changes the field on the task associated with that card.
    • Card record
    • Lane record
    		 N/A
    Remove Assignee from VTB Card Remove an assignee from a card. Card record N/A