Workflow activities reference

Workflow activity reference, organized by category.

Each activity performs a different task, such as running a script, sending notifications, or requesting approvals.

Workflow runs activities as the user session that starts or advances them. Workflows started from record operations will run activities as the user session that performed the record operation. Workflows started from schedules or restarted from timers run activities as the System user. Workflows started from script calls run activities as the user session that started the script.

Approval and rollback activities

Approval and rollback activities generate and manage approvals. Not all workflows can include approval activities. For more information, read Approval and rollback workflow activities.
Note: Approval activities run as the user whose actions match the approve or reject conditions the workflow was waiting for and advances the workflow.
Table 1. Approval and rollback activities
ActivityDescription
Approval Action workflow activity The Approval Action activity performs an approval action on the current task.
Approval Coordinator workflow activity The Approval Coordinator activity creates an approval whose outcome depends on the outcome of one or more child activities, including one or more Approval - User, Approval - Group, and/or Manual Approval activities.
Approval - Group workflow activity The Approval - Group activity creates approval records for each member of a specified group.
Approval - User workflow activity The Approval - User activity creates one or more individual user approvals.
Generate workflow activity The Generate activity immediately creates task or approval records from any task or approval activities placed after the Generate activity in the workflow path. These pre-generated tasks and approvals start when the task and approval activities are reached during flow execution. This allows a task to have a set of associated pre-generated sequential tasks or approvals, but still require them to be completed in order.
Manual Approvals workflow activity The Manual Approvals activity watches and manages any approvals that users add manually outside of the workflow process. This activity only selects approvals that are in the Not requested state.
../../../Chunk443675123.html The Rollback To activity transitions directly to the activity specified by the outgoing transition line arrow.

Condition activities

Condition activities provide conditional branching and logical operation functionality for workflows.
Note: Condition activities run as the user whose actions match the conditions the workflow was waiting for and advances the workflow.
Table 2. Condition activities
ActivityDescription
If workflow activity The If activity checks a condition or script to determine if a Yes or No transition should be taken.
Switch workflow activity The Switch activity checks if the value of a passed field or variable is equivalent to one of several case values.
Wait for condition workflow activity The Wait for condition activity causes the workflow to wait at this activity until the current record matches the specified condition.
Wait for WF Event workflow activity The Wait for WF Event activity causes the workflow to wait at this activity until the specified event is fired.

Notify activities

Notify workflow activities manage calls and SMS messages in Notify.

Table 3. Notify activities
ActivityDescription
Forward call workflow activity The Forward Call activity forwards a Notify call to an E.164-compliant phone number.
Input workflow activity The Input activity creates a phone menu by presenting a list of options on a Notify call.
Hangup workflow activity The Hangup activity disconnects an active Notify phone call.
Play workflow activity The Play activity plays a sound file on a Notify call.
Record workflow activity The Record workflow activity records audio from a user on a Notify call.
Reject workflow The Reject workflow activity rejects an incoming Notify call.
Say workflow activity The say workflow activity allows you to play a message, using text to speech, on a Notify call.
Forward to notify client workflow activity The forward to notify client workflow activity connects a phone call to a Notify WebRTC client.
Call workflow activity The Call activity makes outbound phone calls using a Notify workflow. This workflow activity can be added to any table.
Join conference call workflow activity The Join Conference Call activity connects an incoming or outgoing call to a Notify conference call.
Send SMS workflow activity The send SMS workflow activity to send short text messages using Notify to users' phones. This workflow activity can be added to any table.
Queue workflow activity The Queue activity places an active Notify call in a queue.

Notification activities

Notification workflow activities notify users of events that occur during the workflow.

Table 4. Notification activities
Activity Description
Create Event workflow activity The Create Event activity adds an event to the event queue, but does not immediately fire the event.
Notification workflow activity The Notification activity sends an email or SMS message to specified users or groups.

Subflow activities

Subflow activities run and manage workflows from a parent workflow.

Table 5. Subflow activities
Activity Description
Parallel Flow Launcher workflow activity The Parallel Flow Launcher activity launches multiple subflows in parallel.

Task activities

Task activities create and modify workflow tasks.
Note: Task activities run as the user whose actions complete the task the workflow was waiting for and advances the workflow.
Table 6. Task activities
ActivityDescription
Add Worknote workflow activity The Add Worknote activity adds text to the Worknotes field of the current incident record.
Attachment Note workflow activity The Attachment Note activity adds an attachment to the current record.
Catalog Task workflow activity The Catalog Task activity creates a service catalog task record.
Create Task workflow activity The Create Task activity generates a record on any of the tables that extend Task [task].

Timer activities

Timer activities pause workflows for set periods of time.
Note: Timer activities run as the System user because the system scheduler advances the workflow.
Table 7. Timer activities
Activity Description
SLA Percentage Timer workflow activity The SLA Percentage Timer activity pauses the workflow for a duration equal to a percentage of an SLA.
Timer workflow activity The Timer activity pauses the workflow for a specified period of time.

Utility activities

Utility activities provide controls over the path of the workflow, and other useful tools.

Table 8. Utility activities
ActivityDescription
Branch workflow activity The Branch activity splits the workflow into multiple transition paths from a single activity.
Join workflow activity The Join activity unites multiple execution paths into one transition.
Lock workflow activity The Lock activity prevents other instances of this workflow from continuing past this activity until the lock is released.
Log Message workflow activity The Log Message activity writes a message to the workflow log.
Log Trace Message workflow activity The Log Trace Message activity writes a trace message to the workflow log.
REST Message legacy workflow activity The legacy REST Message activity enables an administrator to override the REST endpoint or supply the variables configured in the REST Message module.
Return Value workflow activity The Return Value activity returns a value to a parent workflow, when run from a subflow.
Run Script workflow activity The Run Script activity runs the specified script in the scope of the workflow version.
Set Values workflow activity The Set Values activity sets values on the current record when the workflow quiesces or ends.
SOAP Message legacy workflow activity The legacy SOAP Message activity uses SOAP messages defined in the System Web Services plugin and can call the messages using a MID Server.
Turnstile workflow activity The Turnstile activity limits how many times a workflow can pass through the same point.
Unlock workflow activity The Unlock activity releases a lock that was previously placed by the Lock activity.

Activities provided with Orchestration

The following activities are included with Orchestration.
  • Active Directory activity pack
  • Orchestration activities
  • PowerShell activities
  • Puppet activities

Templates provided for creating custom activities

If Orchestration is active on your system, users with the proper roles can create custom activities using the ServiceNow Orchestration activity designer. For information about the templates Orchestration provides for creating custom activities that you can upload to the ServiceNow Store, see Orchestration custom activity templates