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Flow trigger types

The trigger specifies the conditions that start running the flow. When the trigger conditions are met, the system starts running the flow.

Record triggers

Use record triggers to start a flow when a record is created or updated.

Follow these design considerations when creating record triggers.

Add conditions to only start record flows when needed: Use conditions to specify what record values start your flow. Starting a flow only when needed consumes fewer system resources than starting a flow, pausing it, and waiting to resume the flow until a specific record condition applies. Instead of creating a flow that starts with a Wait for condition action, redesign the flow to include the wait condition as part of the record trigger.
Create unique filter conditions for record triggers on the same table: To prevent flows from overwriting each other, create unique filter conditions for each flow running on the same table. If multiple flows on the same table have the same filter, there is no way to know the order in which the flows will run.
Ignore records added or updated by import and update sets: Record triggers ignore records added or updated by applying an update set or importing an XML file. These operations apply to the entire application or table rather than an individual record.
Replace record triggers on Service Catalog tables with Service Catalog application triggers: Flow Designer no longer displays Service Catalog tables as options for record triggers. Instead, create flows that use the Service Catalog application trigger type.


Trigger	Description
Created	Starts a flow when a record is created in a specific table.
Updated	Starts a flow when a record is updated in a specific table. Requires selecting when to run the flow. For each unique change: Triggers the flow for every unique update to a non-system field even if the flow is currently running. Note: The system stores a history of every change to a record and determines whether the change is unique. For example, if an incident record's State field changes from In Progress to On Hold, the flow will run. However, if the State field then changes back to In Progress, the flow will not run. Note: Flows that have a record trigger that runs For each unique change can produce recursions when run in a non-interactive session. When such flows make a change to the trigger record, the change meets the flow trigger conditions and causes a recursion. Once: Triggers the flow once for the life of the record. Only if not currently running: Triggers the flow for every unique change if the flow is not currently running. This behavior is the same as the Always option in previous releases. For every update: Triggers the flow every time the record is updated, regardless of whether there has already been or there currently are any running contexts for the flow.
Created or Updated	Starts a flow when a record is either created or updated in a specific table. Requires selecting when to run the flow. For each unique change: Triggers the flow for every unique update to a non-system field even if the flow is currently running. Note: The system stores a history of every change to a record and determines whether the change is unique. For example, if an incident record's State field changes from In Progress to On Hold, the flow will run. However, if the State field then changes back to In Progress, the flow will not run. Note: Flows that have a record trigger that runs For each unique change can produce recursions when run in a non-interactive session. When such flows make a change to the trigger record, the change meets the flow trigger conditions and causes a recursion. Once: Triggers the flow once for the life of the record. Only if not currently running: Triggers the flow for every unique change if the flow is not currently running. This behavior is the same as the Always option in previous releases. For every update: Triggers the flow every time the record is updated, regardless of whether there has already been or there currently are any running contexts for the flow.

Note: Flows including approval actions should only run the trigger once.

Date triggers

Use date triggers to start a flow after a specific date and time or repeatedly at scheduled intervals.

Note: Because flows are processed asynchronously, a flow with a date trigger may not run at the exact scheduled time its trigger conditions were met. For example, if a scheduled flow is triggered during core business hours, the system may have to process other events in the queue before it can run the scheduled flow.


Trigger	Description
Daily	Starts a flow at a specific time every day.
Weekly	Starts a flow at a specific time every week.
Monthly	Starts a flow at a specific time every month.
Run Once	Starts a flow once at a specific time but does not repeat. If you select a past date or time, the system schedules the flow to run as soon as possible.
Repeat	Starts a flow at regular intervals you define.

Application triggers

Use application triggers to start a flow when application-specific conditions are met.


Trigger	Description
MetricBase	Starts a flow when a MetricBase trigger is met. Requires the MetricBase application. For more information, see Create a flow with a MetricBase trigger.
Service Catalog	Starts a flow from a Service Catalog item request. For more information, see Create a flow with a Service Catalog trigger.
SLA Task	Starts a flow from an SLA Definition record. For more information, see Create a flow with an SLA Task trigger.

Inbound email triggers

Start a flow when your instance receives an email.

Inbound email flows take priority over inbound email actions. If you create flows with inbound email triggers, emails are first processed by the inbound email triggers before they are processed by inbound email actions.

With inbound email actions, you don't have full control over email attachment handling or assigning the target record of an email. When you create a flow with an inbound email trigger, you can perform these actions with the Move Email Attachments to Record action and the Associate Record to Email action. For greater control over email attachments, you can also use the Look up email attachments action to access a specific attachment as a data pill.

Although you can process an inbound email with multiple inbound email actions, you can't process an inbound email with multiple flows by default. Additional configuration is required. For information on how to stop processing in inbound email actions, see Specifying the inbound email processing order.

For more information on running multiple flows on an inbound email, see Allow multiple triggers to process an inbound email.

The following diagram shows how inbound emails are processed by inbound email triggers. After the email has been classified as a reply, forward, or new email, the system tries to match the email to an active inbound email trigger. If the email meets the conditions of an inbound email trigger, the flow runs. If the flow issues stop processing, the email is finished being processed. If the flow does not issue stop processing, the system tries again to match the email to an active inbound email trigger. If at any point the email does not match an active inbound email trigger, the system tries to match the email with an active inbound email action instead.

Processing emails in the Inbound Email trigger — Figure 1. Processing emails with inbound email triggers

Note: With other types of flows, you can choose to run as a system user or the user who initiates the session. However, inbound email flows always run as the sender of the inbound email. If the system does not recognize the sender, inbound email flows will run as the Guest user. The actions of inbound email flows are limited by user ACL restrictions. To test access controls for an inbound email flow, impersonate a typical inbound email user and manually trigger the flow.

Advanced options

Specify the user session requirements needed to start a flow with Advanced Options.

When to run the flow

Determine the type of session that can trigger the flow, whether to run the flow when triggered by certain users, and which tables can trigger the flow.

Table 1. Interactive session options
Option	Description
Only Run for Non-Interactive Session	Flow that is only triggered in non-interactive sessions. See Non-interactive sessions.
Only Run for User Interactive Session	Flow that is only triggered in interactive sessions.
Run for Both Interactive and Non-Interactive Sessions	Flow that is triggered in all sessions.

Table 2. User options
Option	Description
Do not run if triggered by the following users	Flow that does not trigger for a selected list of users. Click the Add User icon () to add users to the list.
Only run if triggered by the following users	Flow that triggers only for a selected list of users. Click the Add User icon () to add users to the list.
Run for any user	Flow that runs for any user.

Table 3. Table options
Option	Description
Run only on current table	Flow that is only triggered for the selected table.
Run on current and extended tables	Flow that is triggered for the selected table and any extended tables.

Where to run the flow

Determine whether to run the flow in the background or in the current session.


Option	Description
Run flow in background (default)	Flow that runs asynchronously in the background. Use this option for flows that do not require immediate updates and to allow other system processes to run at the same time.
Run flow in foreground	Flow that runs synchronously in the current session. Use this option to provide immediate updates to an end user. For example, if a flow opens a task after the previous task closes, use this option to open the next task immediately after a user closes one. Note: Running a flow in foreground may block the current session thread and prevent user input until the flow finishes. Avoid running flows in the foreground when they contain actions that cannot be interrupted, such as actions that run script. Actions or flow logic that pause a flow will not block a session.

Data pills available by trigger type

Flow designers have access to data pills from the trigger.


Trigger	Data pills available
Record	[Table Label] Record An object containing the triggering record. Changed Fields An array of objects containing the field values that changed. This data pill is only available for the Updated or Created or Updated trigger types. Note: To process the Changed Fields array data pill, you will need to use For Each flow logic. For more information on working with array data pills, see Complex data. [Table Label] Table The Sys ID of the table containing the trigger record. Run Start Time: The Date/Time value of when the flow started.
Date	Run Start Time: The Date/Time value of when the flow started
SLA Task	Task SLA Record An object containing the triggering Task SLA record. sla_flow_inputs An Object containing Task SLA Definition values.
Inbound Email	Email Record An object containing the triggering Email record. [Table Label] Table The Sys ID of the table associated with the target email. Body Text A String containing the body of the email message. Subject A String containing the subject of the email message. User Record An object containing the user who sent the triggering email. If the sender does not have an associated User record, the data pill lists the object for the Guest user. From address A String containing the sender email address.
Metric Base	MetricBase Trigger Definition Record An object containing the triggering MetricBase Trigger Definition Record. Level The Integer value of the MetricBase trigger level. Time of Metric Event The Date/Time value of when the metric event occurred. Record An object containing the record for which metric events have been collected.
Service Catalog	Requested Item Record An object containing the triggering Requested Item record. Run Start Time: The Date/Time value of when the flow started Table Name The table name containing the requested catalog item.

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Flow trigger types

The trigger specifies the conditions that start running the flow. When the trigger conditions are met, the system starts running the flow.

Record triggers

Use record triggers to start a flow when a record is created or updated.

Follow these design considerations when creating record triggers.

Add conditions to only start record flows when needed: Use conditions to specify what record values start your flow. Starting a flow only when needed consumes fewer system resources than starting a flow, pausing it, and waiting to resume the flow until a specific record condition applies. Instead of creating a flow that starts with a Wait for condition action, redesign the flow to include the wait condition as part of the record trigger.
Create unique filter conditions for record triggers on the same table: To prevent flows from overwriting each other, create unique filter conditions for each flow running on the same table. If multiple flows on the same table have the same filter, there is no way to know the order in which the flows will run.
Ignore records added or updated by import and update sets: Record triggers ignore records added or updated by applying an update set or importing an XML file. These operations apply to the entire application or table rather than an individual record.
Replace record triggers on Service Catalog tables with Service Catalog application triggers: Flow Designer no longer displays Service Catalog tables as options for record triggers. Instead, create flows that use the Service Catalog application trigger type.


Trigger	Description
Created	Starts a flow when a record is created in a specific table.
Updated	Starts a flow when a record is updated in a specific table. Requires selecting when to run the flow. For each unique change: Triggers the flow for every unique update to a non-system field even if the flow is currently running. Note: The system stores a history of every change to a record and determines whether the change is unique. For example, if an incident record's State field changes from In Progress to On Hold, the flow will run. However, if the State field then changes back to In Progress, the flow will not run. Note: Flows that have a record trigger that runs For each unique change can produce recursions when run in a non-interactive session. When such flows make a change to the trigger record, the change meets the flow trigger conditions and causes a recursion. Once: Triggers the flow once for the life of the record. Only if not currently running: Triggers the flow for every unique change if the flow is not currently running. This behavior is the same as the Always option in previous releases. For every update: Triggers the flow every time the record is updated, regardless of whether there has already been or there currently are any running contexts for the flow.
Created or Updated	Starts a flow when a record is either created or updated in a specific table. Requires selecting when to run the flow. For each unique change: Triggers the flow for every unique update to a non-system field even if the flow is currently running. Note: The system stores a history of every change to a record and determines whether the change is unique. For example, if an incident record's State field changes from In Progress to On Hold, the flow will run. However, if the State field then changes back to In Progress, the flow will not run. Note: Flows that have a record trigger that runs For each unique change can produce recursions when run in a non-interactive session. When such flows make a change to the trigger record, the change meets the flow trigger conditions and causes a recursion. Once: Triggers the flow once for the life of the record. Only if not currently running: Triggers the flow for every unique change if the flow is not currently running. This behavior is the same as the Always option in previous releases. For every update: Triggers the flow every time the record is updated, regardless of whether there has already been or there currently are any running contexts for the flow.

Note: Flows including approval actions should only run the trigger once.

Date triggers

Use date triggers to start a flow after a specific date and time or repeatedly at scheduled intervals.


Trigger	Description
Daily	Starts a flow at a specific time every day.
Weekly	Starts a flow at a specific time every week.
Monthly	Starts a flow at a specific time every month.
Run Once	Starts a flow once at a specific time but does not repeat. If you select a past date or time, the system schedules the flow to run as soon as possible.
Repeat	Starts a flow at regular intervals you define.

Application triggers

Use application triggers to start a flow when application-specific conditions are met.


Trigger	Description
MetricBase	Starts a flow when a MetricBase trigger is met. Requires the MetricBase application. For more information, see Create a flow with a MetricBase trigger.
Service Catalog	Starts a flow from a Service Catalog item request. For more information, see Create a flow with a Service Catalog trigger.
SLA Task	Starts a flow from an SLA Definition record. For more information, see Create a flow with an SLA Task trigger.

Inbound email triggers

Start a flow when your instance receives an email.

For more information on running multiple flows on an inbound email, see Allow multiple triggers to process an inbound email.

Advanced options

Specify the user session requirements needed to start a flow with Advanced Options.

When to run the flow

Determine the type of session that can trigger the flow, whether to run the flow when triggered by certain users, and which tables can trigger the flow.

Table 1. Interactive session options
Option	Description
Only Run for Non-Interactive Session	Flow that is only triggered in non-interactive sessions. See Non-interactive sessions.
Only Run for User Interactive Session	Flow that is only triggered in interactive sessions.
Run for Both Interactive and Non-Interactive Sessions	Flow that is triggered in all sessions.

Table 2. User options
Option	Description
Do not run if triggered by the following users	Flow that does not trigger for a selected list of users. Click the Add User icon () to add users to the list.
Only run if triggered by the following users	Flow that triggers only for a selected list of users. Click the Add User icon () to add users to the list.
Run for any user	Flow that runs for any user.

Table 3. Table options
Option	Description
Run only on current table	Flow that is only triggered for the selected table.
Run on current and extended tables	Flow that is triggered for the selected table and any extended tables.

Where to run the flow

Determine whether to run the flow in the background or in the current session.


Option	Description
Run flow in background (default)	Flow that runs asynchronously in the background. Use this option for flows that do not require immediate updates and to allow other system processes to run at the same time.
Run flow in foreground	Flow that runs synchronously in the current session. Use this option to provide immediate updates to an end user. For example, if a flow opens a task after the previous task closes, use this option to open the next task immediately after a user closes one. Note: Running a flow in foreground may block the current session thread and prevent user input until the flow finishes. Avoid running flows in the foreground when they contain actions that cannot be interrupted, such as actions that run script. Actions or flow logic that pause a flow will not block a session.

Data pills available by trigger type

Flow designers have access to data pills from the trigger.


Trigger	Data pills available
Record	[Table Label] Record An object containing the triggering record. Changed Fields An array of objects containing the field values that changed. This data pill is only available for the Updated or Created or Updated trigger types. Note: To process the Changed Fields array data pill, you will need to use For Each flow logic. For more information on working with array data pills, see Complex data. [Table Label] Table The Sys ID of the table containing the trigger record. Run Start Time: The Date/Time value of when the flow started.
Date	Run Start Time: The Date/Time value of when the flow started
SLA Task	Task SLA Record An object containing the triggering Task SLA record. sla_flow_inputs An Object containing Task SLA Definition values.
Inbound Email	Email Record An object containing the triggering Email record. [Table Label] Table The Sys ID of the table associated with the target email. Body Text A String containing the body of the email message. Subject A String containing the subject of the email message. User Record An object containing the user who sent the triggering email. If the sender does not have an associated User record, the data pill lists the object for the Guest user. From address A String containing the sender email address.
Metric Base	MetricBase Trigger Definition Record An object containing the triggering MetricBase Trigger Definition Record. Level The Integer value of the MetricBase trigger level. Time of Metric Event The Date/Time value of when the metric event occurred. Record An object containing the record for which metric events have been collected.
Service Catalog	Requested Item Record An object containing the triggering Requested Item record. Run Start Time: The Date/Time value of when the flow started Table Name The table name containing the requested catalog item.

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Flow trigger types

Flow trigger types

Record triggers

Date triggers

Application triggers

Inbound email triggers

Advanced options

Data pills available by trigger type

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Flow trigger types

Flow trigger types

Record triggers

Date triggers

Application triggers

Inbound email triggers

Advanced options

Data pills available by trigger type

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