Description

ServiceNow Flow Designer Configurations

ServiceNow Flow Designer is a visual builder that allows you to automate business processes without writing code. Its “configurations” can be thought of as the structural building blocks and settings that define how an automated workflow behaves.

Here is a breakdown of the key configurations within Flow Designer:

1. Trigger Configurations

The trigger is the “When” of your flow. It defines the event that starts the execution.

1. Record-based: Runs when a record is Created, Updated, or Created/Updated (e.g., when an Incident priority changes to “1”).
2. Schedule-based: Runs at specific intervals—Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or even a Specific Date (e.g., a daily report cleanup).
3. Application-based: Specialized triggers for specific modules like Service Catalog (runs when a user submits a request) or Inbound Email.
4. Advanced Triggers: Includes triggers like SLA Task (runs when an SLA reaches a certain percentage) or MetricBase.

2. Actions & Subflows

Actions are the “What”—the individual steps the flow performs.

1. Core Actions: Pre-built steps provided by ServiceNow (e.g., Create Record, Ask for Approval, Send Email, Update Record).
2. Custom Actions: If a core action doesn’t exist, developers can configure custom actions using the Action Designer. These often contain Script Steps (JavaScript) or REST steps for integrations.
3. Subflows: These are reusable flows that do not have their own trigger. You configure them to be “called” by other flows to handle repetitive logic.

3. Flow Logic

Flow logic controls the path and decision-making process of the automation.

1. If / Else If / Else: Conditional branches that execute actions only if certain criteria are met.
2. For Each: Loops through a list of records (e.g., “For each task in this request, close it”).
3. Wait for Condition: Pauses the flow until a specific field value or event occurs.
4. Do the following in Parallel: Executes multiple action branches at the same time.
5. Error Handler: A specific configuration area at the bottom of the flow to catch and manage failures gracefully.

4. Data Configurations (Data Pills)

Data is passed between steps using Data Pills.

1. The Data Panel: Located on the right side of the builder, it stores variables from the trigger and previous actions.
2. Transform Functions: You can configure data on-the-fly (e.g., converting a string to uppercase or calculating a date) by clicking the fx icon on a data pill.

5. Execution & Runtime Settings

These configurations determine how the flow is managed by the system:

1. Run As: Configures whether the flow runs as the System User (ignoring ACLs/permissions) or the User who initiates the session.
2. Protection: Options to make the flow “Read Only” to prevent unauthorized edits in different environments.
3. Inbound Email Triggers: Specific configurations for how to parse and handle incoming emails as flow inputs.

Comparison of Configuration Types