Streamline Your ServiceNow Workflows with Saved & External Triggers + Flow Debugger

[laurenmcmanamon]

The ServiceNow Yokohama release introduces three major improvements for workflow automation: Saved Triggers, External Triggers, and the Flow Debugger. Whether you're a seasoned developer or a low-code user, these enhancements can save time, reduce complexity, and improve workflow consistency.

Saved Triggers: Centralized & Reusable

Traditionally, defining a trigger was one of the more tedious steps when creating a flow. Developers had to manually select tables, configure conditions, and ensure uniformity across multiple workflows.

With Saved Triggers, you can now:
✔️ Create reusable triggers once and apply them across multiple flows.
✔️ Control visibility for low-code users by restricting condition modifications.
✔️ Easily update triggers in a single place—changes are automatically applied to all linked flows.

💡 SAFE HARBOR BONUS: Saved Triggers will soon extend beyond flows to Playbooks, further expanding reusability! 

 

External Triggers: No-Code Webhook Integrations

Integrating with external services like Jira, GitHub, or DocuSign used to require custom scripts. Now, the External Triggers feature provides an out-of-the-box solution for webhook-based automation.

Key Features for External Triggers include:
✔️ Low-code webhook support for third-party integrations.
✔️ Pre-configured endpoints for Jira, GitHub, and DocuSign (more coming soon).
✔️ Future expansion to custom endpoints and additional spokes.

 

Flow Debugger: Faster Issue Resolution

Debugging flows used to involve tedious log reviews and trial-and-error testing. With the new Flow Debugger, troubleshooting is now interactive and visual.

✔️ Set breakpoints to pause execution at specific steps.
✔️ Step through flows to examine runtime values and pinpoint errors.
✔️ Debug subflows & loops more efficiently with step-in and step-out navigation.
✔️ Skip breakpoints to resume execution immediately.

 

Why These Features Matter

🔧 Efficiency: Reduce redundant work with reusable triggers.
🌐 Integration: Connect to external services without custom scripts.
🐞 Debugging: Identify issues faster with step-through debugging.