How Do Work Plan Triggers Work in ServiceNow?
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3 weeks ago
I'm currently working with the Work Plan functionality in ServiceNow as part of the Maintenance Management capabilities, and I’ve encountered a question regarding the different trigger types available when configuring the execution of a Work Plan.
I noticed that ServiceNow includes several trigger options — Meter, Condition, Script, and Duration or Meter — but I’m not fully clear on how each one works, when they actually fire, or what specific conditions must be met for them to run.
I attempted to run some tests using Meter, Condition, and Script triggers, but none of them executed as expected. I'm not sure if I’m missing a configuration step or if these triggers rely on particular system events or workflows to activate.
Could someone help clarify how each Work Plan trigger type functions?
If possible, I would really appreciate a practical example for each trigger (how to configure it and what scenario causes it to execute).
Thanks in advance for your support!
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3 weeks ago
Hi Dyi,
I hope this information is helpful with regards to trigger types within PWM. Please do let us know.
There are several Trigger options including Duration, Meter, Condition, Script, Duration or Meter. Duration is the one most often used. Meter is used with devices like printers where you do preventive maintenance based on something like quantity of pages printed. That metric needs to be stored and updated over time.
Trigger Types used with Trigger = Duration are as follows:
- Interval
- Multiple days of the week
- Weekly
- Monthly
- Annually
- Week in month
- Day in week in month in year
Annually type – Only applies to Trigger Type = Annually. Choices are Fixed or Floating. Use Floating if you will pick a specific “Due Month”. If not, use Fixed and then the “Start planned schedule based on” field can be used along with “Effective start reference” field to pick a date/time field on an asset. That allows you to spread out work across different months and days in the month within a single schedule.
Monthly type – Only applies to Trigger Type = Monthly. Choices are Fixed or Floating. Use Floating if you want the month to be based on intervals using “Repeat Every” and the Effective Start date. If not, use Fixed and then the “Start planned schedule based on” field can be used along with “Effective start reference” field to pick a date/time field on an asset. That allows you to spread out work across different months and the day in the month within a single schedule.
Due Time – Sets the time on the calculated Requested Due By on a Work Order and Window End on a Work Order Task. Specified in Hours:Minutes:Seconds AM or PM like 05:00:00 PM. Used by all Trigger Types except Interval.
Preserve Calculated Interval - Option to restart the interval calculation from the time that the work order was completed. This field appears when Interval, Monthly, or Annually is selected or Trigger type and Fixed is selected for the Monthly type and Annually type field. If you want work to occur in the same month each year and avoid drift, we recommend keeping this set to true. This will ensure the schedule remains fixed and predictable.
Due week in month – Only applies to Trigger types = Week in month, and Day in week in month in year. Choices are First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth. In a file, use values like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6.
Repeat – Frequency that the work schedule should repeat. Specified in a file as Days Hours:Minutes:Seconds such as 1 12:00:00. Only used when Trigger Type = Interval.
Repeat every – Use with Multiple days of the week, Weekly, Monthly, and Annually trigger types. Set to a number. For Multiple days of the week, it would repeat the selected days that many weeks apart.
For Trigger Type = Monthly - it uses the month that is calculated using Effective Start, Repeats Every, Due day in month, and Due time fields.
For Trigger Type = Yearly - it uses the Due Month, Due day in month, and Due time fields.
You may find this example helpful, do let me know,
https://www.servicenow.com/docs/bundle/zurich-field-service-management/page/product/field-service-ma...
Configuring work plans:
Setting up a work schedule (this is where those triggers are defined):
https://www.servicenow.com/docs/bundle/zurich-field-service-management/page/product/field-service-ma...
Wishing you all the best,
Skylar.
