OOB Update Record activity: Choice/Reference fields not working in Playbook

[namratashar]

Using OOB Update Record activity in Playbook Designer on Security Incident (Zurich). String fields work, but Choice field (State) only accepts internal value not display value, and Reference field (Assignment Group) clears the sys_id right after pasting — can't set it at all. Is this a known issue or is there a workaround?

[Vikram Reddy]

Hello @namratashar,

Neither of these is actually broken, both are just the same underlying quirk of how Flow Designer-based activities write to fields (Playbook activities run on subflows under the hood, so they inherit Flow Designer's field-mapping behavior).

• Choice field (State): the Update Record activity always writes the internal choice value, never the display label. Open sys_choice.list and filter table = sn_si_incident, element = state to see the exact internal values for each state (Draft, Analysis, Contain, Eradicate, Recover, Review, Closed). Put that internal value in, not what shows on the form.
• Reference field (Assignment Group): the input is a live autocomplete widget, it resolves what you type against the display column (ref_ac_columns), it does not accept a raw sys_id pasted as text, so it clears the field when it can't match anything. Type the group name instead and pick it from the typeahead dropdown.
• Better option for the group: instead of typing/pasting anything, feed it a proper reference data pill, e.g. run a Look Up Record activity against sys_user_group earlier in the playbook and map its output record straight into the Assignment Group field.

Once you do that both fields update exactly like the string fields do.

Thank you,
Vikram Karety
Octigo Solutions INC