Playbooks provide step-by-step guidance for resolving specific types of customer service cases, including onboarding, complaint, and product support cases.

Playbooks enable agents to easily manage the lifecycle of cases by guiding them through sequences of tasks. The workflows that are associated with a specific type of case and the activities that need to be completed to resolve cases of this type are detailed in the playbook. Playbooks also help users to visualize the entire lifecycle of a workflow.

Figure 1. Case Playbook for Onboarding in CSM Configurable Workspace
Onboarding playbook displaying the focused activity view of the workflow Data capture stage, including associated task details in the playbook work area and case information in the contextual side panel.
Several applications are available that enable you to create and use playbooks with Customer Service Management. See Playbook plugins below for detailed plugin and dependency information.
Table 1. Customer Service Management playbook applications
ApplicationDescription
Playbooks for Customer Service Management Use this application to create playbooks based on your individual business needs. Create playbooks that support case types or the base customer service case.
Case Playbook for Onboarding Use this application to manage the process for taking on new customers or enrolling customers in new products.
Case Playbook for Complaints Use this application to manage the process for handling customer complaints.
Case Playbook for Product Support Use this application to guide agents through the steps that are needed to resolve product issues.

Playbook overview

A playbook visualizes a workflow in a simple, task-oriented view. The workflow for a playbook is typically created using Process Automation Designer.

A playbook takes a workflow and breaks it into multiple stages or lanes. Each stage in a playbook includes one or more activities, or steps, for an agent to complete. Stages can also include automated activities, such as sending an email to a customer when a stage or activity is complete. When using a playbook, agents can:
  • View the playbook stages and activities.
  • Select an activity and perform the work necessary to complete that activity.
  • Mark an activity as complete and move to the next activity or stage.
  • Complete the stages and activities necessary to resolve the case.
The capabilities provided by playbooks enable agents to quickly resolve customer issues. These capabilities work together to provide agents with a better overall experience when using playbooks to resolve customer issues.
Table 2. Playbook capabilities
CapabilityDescription
Use a playbook for an entire workflow starting with new record creation

Customer service agents can create a record using a playbook instead of a record form. Creating a record opens the playbook and initiates the first activity. The agent can complete this activity while creating the record.

For example, an agent can create a case and gather the necessary information about the customer and the issue as the first activity in the playbook.

For more information about configuring this feature, see Playbook record generator in the Workspace Playbook setup documentation.
See the entire lifecycle of a workflow, including the current stage and activity
The playbook lifecycle and the Focused activity view enable agents to see:
  • The end-to-end lifecycle of a workflow.
  • The current stage and activity within the lifecycle, including progress indicators and prioritized activities.
  • Details of the current activity displayed in the playbook work area.

For more information about configuring the playbook activity view, see Select a Playbook activity view.
Use the contextual side panel to view additional information
Playbooks can display the following information in the contextual side panel:
  • Activity stream
  • Ribbon information such as the case overview, customer details, timeline, and SLAs
  • Dynamic related records (see below for more information)
Note: The activity stream and ribbon information are available in CSM Configurable Workspace only.
For more information, see:
Use the contextual side panel to display dynamic related records

Use this feature to display records in the contextual side panel that dynamically change based on the context of the current record or playbook activity.

For more information, see Dynamic related records.
Note: The dynamic related records feature is available in CSM Configurable Workspace only.
Use a playbook in compact mode

Compact mode moves the playbook from a tab in the Workspace to the contextual side panel. Agents can complete playbook activities in the side panel while viewing other tabs in the record page.

For more information about configuring this feature, see Integrate Playbook with Workspace.

Note: Compact mode is available in CSM Configurable Workspace only.
View the SLA widget on playbook activity cards
Activity cards in the playbook work area can display an SLA widget in the upper right corner. The widget appears on the activity card when the playbook activity has an SLA. This includes activities in the following stages:
  • Triage
  • Research
  • Respond
The color of the widget indicates the time remaining for the SLA:
  • Green: 0–50%
  • Yellow: 50–75%
  • Orange: 75–99%
  • Red: 100% or breached

Playbook plugins

The Playbooks for Customer Service Management plugin (sn_csm_playbook) is available from the ServiceNow Store. Use this application to create new playbooks or customize existing playbooks.

The Playbooks for Customer Service Management plugin requires the following plugins:
  • Customer Service (com.sn_customerservice)
  • Dynamic Related Records (com.snc.uib.sn_dyn_rel_rec)
  • Playbook Experience (com.playbook_experience)
The following playbook applications are available for use with Customer Service Management from the ServiceNow store:
  • Case Playbook for Onboarding
  • Case Playbook for Complaints
  • Case Playbook for Product Support
These playbooks require the following plugins:
  • Playbooks for Customer Service Management (com.sn_csm_playbook)
  • Customer Service Case Types (com.snc.csm_case_types)

Install any ServiceNow Store applications by requesting them from the ServiceNow Store. Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.

Configuring playbooks

Playbook experiences are used to customize the look and feel of a playbook. Settings in a playbook experience control how UI Builder renders a playbook in the CSM workspaces. System administrators can configure settings in the playbook experience record that determine the playbook stage and activity visibility.

Within UI Builder, system administrators can configure playbook component settings such as:
  • Selecting a playbook experience
  • Selecting an activity view
  • Enabling compact mode

For more information, see Configuring playbooks for Customer Service Management.

Using playbooks

Use the following playbooks, available for Customer Service Management from the ServiceNow Store, to work on and resolve different types of cases.
Case Playbook for Onboarding
Use the Case Playbook for Onboarding to manage the process for taking on new customers or enrolling customers for new products. An onboarding case captures the details of the new customer, including their selection of products and services. The onboarding playbook provides an end-to-end lifecycle for the tasks performed during the onboarding process and serves as the channel of communication with the customer.
Case Playbook for Complaints
Use the Case Playbook for Complaints to manage the process for handling customer complaints. A complaint case captures the details of the problem reported by the customer and the expected resolution. The complaint playbook provides an end-to-end lifecycle for the tasks performed during the complaint handling process, from the time a complaint is logged to the final resolution, and serves as the channel of communication with the customer.
Case Playbook for Product Support
Use the Case Playbook for Product Support to guide customer service agents through the steps that are needed to resolve product issues. A product support case captures information about the customer, the product, and the reported issue. The product support playbook provides an end-to-end lifecycle for the tasks needed to research and resolve the product issue and also serves as a channel of communication with the customer.

For more information, see Install a ServiceNow Store application.