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    Home Paris Now Platform Capabilities Now Platform capabilities Flow Designer

    Flow Designer

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    Flow Designer

    Flow Designer is a Now Platform® feature for automating processes in a single design environment. Flow Designer lets process owners use natural language to automate approvals, tasks, notifications, and record operations without coding.

    You can expand Flow Designer to communicate with external instances and third-party systems by requesting a separate subscription to IntegrationHub.

    Flow Designer in action

    Watch this seven-minute video to learn how to create and test a flow in Flow Designer.

    For developer training, see Using Flow Designer on the ServiceNow® Developer Site.

    Flow Designer benefits

    Flow Designer provides process owners and developers these benefits:
    • Consolidates multiple Now Platform automation capabilities into a single environment so process owners and developers can build and visualize business processes from a single interface. Includes flows and actions triggered by ServiceNow® Service Catalog events. See Create a flow with a Service Catalog trigger.
    • Consolidates configuration and runtime information into a single environment so process owners and developers can create, operate, and troubleshoot flows from a single interface.
    • Provides natural-language-descriptions of flow logic to help non-technical users understand triggers, actions, inputs, and outputs.
    • Promotes process automation by enabling subject matter experts to develop and share reusable actions with flow designers.
    • Reduces upgrade costs, with upgrade-safe Now Platform logic replacing complex custom script.
    • Reduces development costs by providing a library of reusable actions.
    • Enables extending Flow Designer content by subscribing to ServiceNow IntegrationHub or installing spokes.

    Design considerations

    While learning Flow Designer, make sure that you understand how existing Now Platform automation processes such as business rules and workflows change records to avoid creating conflicting logic. See the Architecture Overview to understand how Flow Designer works within the Now Platform. Avoid duplicating existing business logic from business rules and workflows. If you're replacing an existing automation process, you may need to deactivate it before replacing it with Flow Designer flows and actions.

    Flow Designer content

    Flow Designer consists of the following content types.

    Flows
    A flow is an automated process consisting of a sequence of actions and a trigger. Flows automate business logic for a particular application or process. For example, the VTB Sample Flow creates and assigns a VTB card whenever a priority 1 incident is created. Flows require some familiarity with the Now Platform tables and fields that the application or process uses. Process analysts can create flows using available actions or copy an existing flow to use it as a template. You can add application-specific flows by activating the associated spoke.
    Subflows
    A subflow is an automated process consisting of a sequence of reusable actions and specific data inputs that allow the process to be started from a flow, subflow, or script. Subflows automate generic business logic that can be applied to multiple applications or processes. For example, you could create a subflow to notify users of record changes. Subflows require some familiarity with the Now Platform tables and fields that the application or process uses. Process analysts can create subflows using available actions or use an existing flow as a template.
    Actions
    An action is a reusable operation that enables process analysts to automate Now Platform features without having to write code. For example, the Create Record action allows process analysts to generate records in a particular table with particular values when certain conditions occur. ServiceNow core actions like Create Record require some familiarity with Now Platform tables and fields. Action designers can create application-specific actions to pre-set configuration details. For example, creating a Create Incident Task action ensures that the process analyst uses the correct table and field configuration each time the action is used. You can add application-specific actions by activating the associated spoke.
    Core actions
    A ServiceNow core action is a ServiceNow-provided action available to any flow that cannot be viewed or edited from the Action Designer design environment. For example, the Ask for Approval action is a ServiceNow core action that allows process analysts to use Now Platform approvals. Flow Designer provides a set of ServiceNow core actions to automate Now Platform processes. You can add application-specific ServiceNow core actions by activating the associated spoke.
    Action steps
    An action step or step is a single reusable operation within an action. For example, the Create Record step allows action designers to specify the table and field values to use during record creation. Action steps require subject matter expertise with application tables, fields, and business logic. Application developers or IT generalists add action steps to actions from the Action Designer design environment. Flow Designer provides a set of ServiceNow core action steps to automate Now Platform processes. You can add application-specific action steps by activating the associated spoke.
    Spokes
    A spoke is a scoped application containing Flow Designer content dedicated to a particular application or record type. For example, the ITSM Spoke contains actions for managing Task records such as the Create Task action. Spokes are activated when their parent application is activated. For example, the ITSM Spoke is activated when the Incident, Problem, and Change applications are activated. Creating a spoke requires familiarity with application development because developers must add Flow Designer content to a scoped application. See Spokes for a list of available spokes.

    Flow Designer environment

    The Flow Designer environment consists of these components.

    Landing page
    Access or create actions, flows, subflows, or their execution details.
    Flow Designer user interface
    Create and edit flows by defining a trigger and adding actions. Test flows to see if they complete successfully and to review the runtime values they generate. Activate flows to make them available for execution on your instance and to preserve their current actions, inputs, and sequence as a snapshot separate from further configuration changes.
    Action Designer user interface
    Create and edit actions by defining inputs and adding action steps. Test actions to verify if they complete successfully and review the runtime values they generate. Copy actions to use existing actions as templates. Publish actions to activate them, which makes them available to activated flows and to preserve their current action steps, variables, and sequence as a snapshot separate from further configuration changes.
    Flow and action execution details
    View runtime information about an action or flow directly from the design environment such as the current state, actions or steps run, and values produced. Open related records from embedded Now Platform editors or in a new tab.
    Operations dashboard
    Identify and troubleshoot potential issues by reviewing action and flow executions, their result state, and their runtime duration.
    • Getting started with flows

      Create a sample flow with a trigger and base system actions that requires an approval.

    • Getting started with actions

      Transform the Ask for Approval action into a reusable action that always requires manager approval.

    • Architecture Overview

      Understand how Flow Designer works within the Now Platform to activate, trigger, and process flows and actions.

    • Flows

      Automate processes with a sequence of reusable actions such as manage records, ask for approvals, create tasks, and send notifications. Define trigger conditions to start a flow and variables to pass information between actions.

    • Action Designer

      Automate a task with a sequence of related steps such as lookup a record, create a record, and log details about the record creation. Actions separate complexity from the Flow Designer environment, enabling flow designers to add actions to multiple flows with minimal configuration.

    • Transform functions

      Transform data pill values without the need to write a script. Use transform functions to reformat text, perform mathematical calculations, sanitize potentially unsafe SQL statements, and serialize complex objects to raw XML.

    • Domain separation and Flow Designer

      Flow Designer supports domain separation of business logic, which lets each tenant domain have its own flows, actions, and subflows. Domain separation enables you to separate data, processes, and administrative tasks into logical groupings called domains. You can then control several aspects of this separation, including which users can see and access data.

    • Content filtering for Flow Designer

      Specify what content a user can access based on the user's role.

    • User access to Flow Designer

      Administrators can grant users access to Flow Designer by assigning delegated development permissions or directly assigning a user role.

    • API access to Flow Designer

      Application developers can access Flow Designer functionality through APIs for flows, subflows, and actions. Flow designers can enable individual flows, subflows, and actions to be client callable during design.

    • Spokes

      Add application-specific content to Flow Designer by installing spokes.

    • Create a natural language title

      Create a flow, subflow, or action title in the Flow Designer environment with styled and dynamic text. A dynamic title lets your title be flexible as flow, subflow, and action variable values change.

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    Release version
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      Flow Designer

      • Save as PDF Selected topic Topic & subtopics All topics in contents
      • Unsubscribe Log in to subscribe to topics and get notified when content changes.
      • Share this page

      Flow Designer

      Flow Designer is a Now Platform® feature for automating processes in a single design environment. Flow Designer lets process owners use natural language to automate approvals, tasks, notifications, and record operations without coding.

      You can expand Flow Designer to communicate with external instances and third-party systems by requesting a separate subscription to IntegrationHub.

      Flow Designer in action

      Watch this seven-minute video to learn how to create and test a flow in Flow Designer.

      For developer training, see Using Flow Designer on the ServiceNow® Developer Site.

      Flow Designer benefits

      Flow Designer provides process owners and developers these benefits:
      • Consolidates multiple Now Platform automation capabilities into a single environment so process owners and developers can build and visualize business processes from a single interface. Includes flows and actions triggered by ServiceNow® Service Catalog events. See Create a flow with a Service Catalog trigger.
      • Consolidates configuration and runtime information into a single environment so process owners and developers can create, operate, and troubleshoot flows from a single interface.
      • Provides natural-language-descriptions of flow logic to help non-technical users understand triggers, actions, inputs, and outputs.
      • Promotes process automation by enabling subject matter experts to develop and share reusable actions with flow designers.
      • Reduces upgrade costs, with upgrade-safe Now Platform logic replacing complex custom script.
      • Reduces development costs by providing a library of reusable actions.
      • Enables extending Flow Designer content by subscribing to ServiceNow IntegrationHub or installing spokes.

      Design considerations

      While learning Flow Designer, make sure that you understand how existing Now Platform automation processes such as business rules and workflows change records to avoid creating conflicting logic. See the Architecture Overview to understand how Flow Designer works within the Now Platform. Avoid duplicating existing business logic from business rules and workflows. If you're replacing an existing automation process, you may need to deactivate it before replacing it with Flow Designer flows and actions.

      Flow Designer content

      Flow Designer consists of the following content types.

      Flows
      A flow is an automated process consisting of a sequence of actions and a trigger. Flows automate business logic for a particular application or process. For example, the VTB Sample Flow creates and assigns a VTB card whenever a priority 1 incident is created. Flows require some familiarity with the Now Platform tables and fields that the application or process uses. Process analysts can create flows using available actions or copy an existing flow to use it as a template. You can add application-specific flows by activating the associated spoke.
      Subflows
      A subflow is an automated process consisting of a sequence of reusable actions and specific data inputs that allow the process to be started from a flow, subflow, or script. Subflows automate generic business logic that can be applied to multiple applications or processes. For example, you could create a subflow to notify users of record changes. Subflows require some familiarity with the Now Platform tables and fields that the application or process uses. Process analysts can create subflows using available actions or use an existing flow as a template.
      Actions
      An action is a reusable operation that enables process analysts to automate Now Platform features without having to write code. For example, the Create Record action allows process analysts to generate records in a particular table with particular values when certain conditions occur. ServiceNow core actions like Create Record require some familiarity with Now Platform tables and fields. Action designers can create application-specific actions to pre-set configuration details. For example, creating a Create Incident Task action ensures that the process analyst uses the correct table and field configuration each time the action is used. You can add application-specific actions by activating the associated spoke.
      Core actions
      A ServiceNow core action is a ServiceNow-provided action available to any flow that cannot be viewed or edited from the Action Designer design environment. For example, the Ask for Approval action is a ServiceNow core action that allows process analysts to use Now Platform approvals. Flow Designer provides a set of ServiceNow core actions to automate Now Platform processes. You can add application-specific ServiceNow core actions by activating the associated spoke.
      Action steps
      An action step or step is a single reusable operation within an action. For example, the Create Record step allows action designers to specify the table and field values to use during record creation. Action steps require subject matter expertise with application tables, fields, and business logic. Application developers or IT generalists add action steps to actions from the Action Designer design environment. Flow Designer provides a set of ServiceNow core action steps to automate Now Platform processes. You can add application-specific action steps by activating the associated spoke.
      Spokes
      A spoke is a scoped application containing Flow Designer content dedicated to a particular application or record type. For example, the ITSM Spoke contains actions for managing Task records such as the Create Task action. Spokes are activated when their parent application is activated. For example, the ITSM Spoke is activated when the Incident, Problem, and Change applications are activated. Creating a spoke requires familiarity with application development because developers must add Flow Designer content to a scoped application. See Spokes for a list of available spokes.

      Flow Designer environment

      The Flow Designer environment consists of these components.

      Landing page
      Access or create actions, flows, subflows, or their execution details.
      Flow Designer user interface
      Create and edit flows by defining a trigger and adding actions. Test flows to see if they complete successfully and to review the runtime values they generate. Activate flows to make them available for execution on your instance and to preserve their current actions, inputs, and sequence as a snapshot separate from further configuration changes.
      Action Designer user interface
      Create and edit actions by defining inputs and adding action steps. Test actions to verify if they complete successfully and review the runtime values they generate. Copy actions to use existing actions as templates. Publish actions to activate them, which makes them available to activated flows and to preserve their current action steps, variables, and sequence as a snapshot separate from further configuration changes.
      Flow and action execution details
      View runtime information about an action or flow directly from the design environment such as the current state, actions or steps run, and values produced. Open related records from embedded Now Platform editors or in a new tab.
      Operations dashboard
      Identify and troubleshoot potential issues by reviewing action and flow executions, their result state, and their runtime duration.
      • Getting started with flows

        Create a sample flow with a trigger and base system actions that requires an approval.

      • Getting started with actions

        Transform the Ask for Approval action into a reusable action that always requires manager approval.

      • Architecture Overview

        Understand how Flow Designer works within the Now Platform to activate, trigger, and process flows and actions.

      • Flows

        Automate processes with a sequence of reusable actions such as manage records, ask for approvals, create tasks, and send notifications. Define trigger conditions to start a flow and variables to pass information between actions.

      • Action Designer

        Automate a task with a sequence of related steps such as lookup a record, create a record, and log details about the record creation. Actions separate complexity from the Flow Designer environment, enabling flow designers to add actions to multiple flows with minimal configuration.

      • Transform functions

        Transform data pill values without the need to write a script. Use transform functions to reformat text, perform mathematical calculations, sanitize potentially unsafe SQL statements, and serialize complex objects to raw XML.

      • Domain separation and Flow Designer

        Flow Designer supports domain separation of business logic, which lets each tenant domain have its own flows, actions, and subflows. Domain separation enables you to separate data, processes, and administrative tasks into logical groupings called domains. You can then control several aspects of this separation, including which users can see and access data.

      • Content filtering for Flow Designer

        Specify what content a user can access based on the user's role.

      • User access to Flow Designer

        Administrators can grant users access to Flow Designer by assigning delegated development permissions or directly assigning a user role.

      • API access to Flow Designer

        Application developers can access Flow Designer functionality through APIs for flows, subflows, and actions. Flow designers can enable individual flows, subflows, and actions to be client callable during design.

      • Spokes

        Add application-specific content to Flow Designer by installing spokes.

      • Create a natural language title

        Create a flow, subflow, or action title in the Flow Designer environment with styled and dynamic text. A dynamic title lets your title be flexible as flow, subflow, and action variable values change.

      Tags:

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