Replacing an outdated Workflow with a Newly Created Flow on a Service Catalog Item - Any Issues?

[WazzaJC]

Replacing an outdated Workflow with a Newly Created Flow on a Service Catalog Item - Any Issues?

Hi Community,

I'd greatly appreciate your input/help just clarifying this technicality of a process for me please, especially those of you who are familiar and use Workflows and Flows alot.

I have created a brand new 'Flow' (which has been fully tested successfully), to replace an outdated 'Workflow' and now I am about to add this to a number of Service Catalog items and remove the previous Workflow assigned (in Production).

My question is - how does this affect/impact any current already raised Service Requests, RITMs, SC Tasks that are open and in flight, that were triggered using the previous 'Workflow', that I am now replacing with a new 'Flow', for use on SC items going forward, in the client's PROD instance?

Does ServiceNow remember the old Workflow steps/process, and keeps those items aligned to the old/previous Workflow and only then uses any newly created SC Reqs, RITMs, SC tasks based on the new Flow ?

I assume is this is the case, as otherwise how does one move to a new Flow on several Catalog Items in Prod, without needing to affect existing in-flight SC Reqs, RITMs, SC Tasks etc.

Please let me know your advice/best practices/what approach you have used to help in this workflow/Flow migration process.

Many thanks, your advice and input is always greatly appreciated.

[Iraj Shaikh · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Certainly! When you replace an old Workflow with a new Flow in ServiceNow, existing Service Requests (SC Reqs), Request Items (RITMs), and Service Catalog Tasks (SC Tasks) that were triggered using the old Workflow will continue following the steps of the old Workflow.

ServiceNow maintains the association between existing records and the Workflow that initiated them. The new Flow will only be applied to new Service Requests, Request Items, and Service Catalog Tasks that are created after you make the switch.

This allows you to transition to the new Flow for future Catalog Items without affecting ongoing processes tied to the old Workflow. Your existing in-flight SC Reqs, RITMs, and SC Tasks will complete their lifecycle based on the original Workflow.

As a best practice, it's advisable to communicate these changes to your users and teams, so they are aware of the transition and understand the distinction between old and new processes. Additionally, it's good to document these changes and keep a record of the Workflow/Flow migration process for future reference.

[Iraj Shaikh · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Certainly! When you replace an old Workflow with a new Flow in ServiceNow, existing Service Requests (SC Reqs), Request Items (RITMs), and Service Catalog Tasks (SC Tasks) that were triggered using the old Workflow will continue following the steps of the old Workflow.

ServiceNow maintains the association between existing records and the Workflow that initiated them. The new Flow will only be applied to new Service Requests, Request Items, and Service Catalog Tasks that are created after you make the switch.

This allows you to transition to the new Flow for future Catalog Items without affecting ongoing processes tied to the old Workflow. Your existing in-flight SC Reqs, RITMs, and SC Tasks will complete their lifecycle based on the original Workflow.

As a best practice, it's advisable to communicate these changes to your users and teams, so they are aware of the transition and understand the distinction between old and new processes. Additionally, it's good to document these changes and keep a record of the Workflow/Flow migration process for future reference.

[WazzaJC]

@Iraj Shaikh  This is excellent, thank you very much for confirming and explaining it extremely clearly which has really helped my understanding of this process. Many thanks kind sir, I do greatly appreciate and value your feedback! 🙂

[WazzaJC]

Hi @Iraj Shaikh  thank you for this - really appreciate your feedback.

However is it possible to still show/display the Old/Previous Workflow 'Stages' - the graphical view of those stages that related to the previous Workflow, as opposed to show the new Flow 'Stages', when an Item was previously opened when on the Workflow, but is now on the new Flow.

So in the RITM view itself - i still want to be able to see the old Workflow stages displayed (for any Open RITMs that were raised on the Workflow), rather than display the new Flow stages on those previously Open RITMs.

Is this possible that previous Opened RITMs can still display the old Workflow stages, rather than show/display the new Flow stages.

We have applied the new Update Set with the new Flow, but on old RITMs that were raised using previous Workflow, it is now showing Flow stages that relate to the new Flow.

Is this possible to restore/show the Workflow stages on the RITM view?

Many thanks once again for your help.

[CJPeterson]

Hi I am also having this issue. 

Were you able to get an answer for this any where?