[Article] How to Create Flow Designer for Catalog Item in Servicenow

BillMartin · yesterday

Step-by-Step Tutorial: How to Create a Flow Designer Workflow for Catalog Items in ServiceNow

Are you tired of repetitive manual steps when processing service requests in ServiceNow? If you want to save time, eliminate manual hand-offs, and deliver a smoother experience for your users, streamlining your Service Catalog items with Flow Designer is a powerful solution. In this detailed guide, you'll learn everything you need to know to build an automated workflow for a catalog item—no guesswork, just clear steps you can follow.

You'll discover how to use your own Personal Developer Instance (PDI), work with out-of-the-box templates, create and copy workflows, and thoroughly test everything before rolling it out. Whether you're new to ServiceNow or looking to sharpen your skills as an admin or developer, this guide has you covered.

Why Use Flow Designer for Service Catalog Items?

Manual processes slow down service delivery and add room for error. With ServiceNow's Flow Designer, you can automate catalog item workflows, letting the platform handle routine steps while your team focuses on more important work. Not only do you speed up fulfillment, you also improve the experience for everyone involved.

Using Flow Designer lets you:

Automate tasks and approvals for catalog items
Track progress through every stage of the request
Easily modify workflows without coding knowledge
Reduce mistakes by standardizing processes

This approach isn’t just efficient—it’s essential in modern IT and business operations.

Setting Up Your ServiceNow Personal Developer Instance

To get hands-on with Flow Designer, you need your own sandbox for experimentation. ServiceNow gives you a Personal Developer Instance (PDI), which is a safe environment for building and testing.

How to Obtain and Prepare Your PDI:

Create a ServiceNow Developer Account: Register for a free developer account through the ServiceNow Developer Site.
Request a Personal Developer Instance: Select and spin up an instance that matches your needs.
Access Demo Data: Your development environment comes preloaded with sample records and workflows, perfect for practice.
Follow Setup Guides: If you need detailed setup instructions, refer to the guides at the end of the YouTube video or in the ServiceNow documentation.

By starting in a development instance, you can experiment without risking live data. You can break things, try different approaches, and learn by doing.

Exploring Service Catalog Items and Out-of-the-Box Templates

Once your PDI is ready, it’s helpful to understand the structure of catalog items and the libraries available to you.

Locate Catalog Items:

Go to the Application Menu in the left navigation pane
Type “Maintain Items” in the search box
Click to open the list of catalog items

ServiceNow includes prebuilt catalog items with standard workflows. These act as both working examples and templates for your own custom implementations.

Example: The Standard Laptop Template

Search for "Standard Laptop" among catalog items. This is a common example.
Review its configuration and attached workflow, typically labeled “Service Catalog Item Request.”

Why Start with a Template?

Templates demonstrate best practices found in real environments
You can experiment freely by copying and reworking templates
This approach preserves the original for reference if needed

Safely Copying and Modifying Catalog Items

Don’t reinvent what's already been well-designed. Copying an existing catalog item allows you to test, break, and rebuild without losing a working baseline.

Copying a Catalog Item: Step-by-Step

Open the catalog item (like “Standard Laptop”)
Click the 'Copy' button, commonly at the top right
Give your duplicate a new, descriptive name (for example, “Standard Laptop - Demo Copy”)
Save your new catalog item

Now, you have a “sandbox” version ready to connect to your own workflow.

Why copy?

Copying preserves the original while letting you experiment with Flow Designer features and settings on your own version, ensuring you can restore or reference best practices at any time.

Working With Out-of-the-Box Workflows and Flow Designer

Before building your own automation, it’s helpful to see how standard workflows operate.

Reviewing an Existing Workflow

Search for “Service Catalog Item Request” in your workflow/flow lists
Open the workflow detail page
Note the trigger type (typically “Service Catalog”) and overall flow

Pro Tip: Copy this workflow flow before making changes, just like with catalog items. This protects you from overwriting a template that you'll want to reference later.

Activating and Publishing Your Copied Workflow

After copying, activate the flow so you can link it to your new catalog item
Publish the workflow to ensure changes take effect
Always refresh your catalog item window to see the new flow attached and available

Linking Your Flow to a Catalog Item

With your custom copy of both the catalog item and workflow, it’s time to connect them.

How to Attach a Flow to a Catalog Item:

Open your copied catalog item record
Locate the workflow/flow field in the item’s configuration form
Select your new (copied and published) flow from the dropdown menu
Save changes
Refresh the page to ensure your new settings are loaded

This step fully links your automated flow to the item, ready for testing.

Testing and Verifying Your Automated Workflow

Testing ensures your Flow Designer automation performs as expected from request to fulfillment.

How to Test Your Catalog Item Flow:

Click the “Order” button for the catalog item
Submit a request
Verify that the new flow triggers automatically upon submission
Track progress by drilling down from the request to the request item level
Check workflow stages and task assignments along the way

Key Stages to Track in the Workflow:

Stage Purpose

Manager Approval	Approves the initial request
Department Head	Ensures department-level authorization
Procurement	Schedules purchase and procurement tasks
Fulfillment	Governs actual item delivery
Deployment	Finalizes assignment and deployment
Completed	Marks request finished, closes tasks

Pro tip: You can manually approve or close tasks as an admin to quickly move the workflow forward during testing.

Monitoring Approvals and Workflow Progress

ServiceNow provides robust visibility throughout the workflow. As a ServiceNow admin, you can see:

Which approvals are pending or complete
Status of current workflow stages per request item
Automatic notifications (email or in-platform) triggered at each stage

Every change you test updates the visual representation of the request—so it's easy to spot any process issues before going live.

If you want to see the workflow "in action," always look at the right-hand progress tracker for request items. Refresh as you go, since changes happen quickly behind the scenes.

Best Practices for Testing and Learning

Building confidence with Flow Designer means practicing without fear of mistakes.

Use your PDI as a safe lab: push boundaries, break processes, and learn by fixing what went wrong
Rely on copied templates to stay grounded in proven patterns
Track Service Level Agreements (SLAs) tied to your catalog item so you know your automation keeps the process on time

Remember, the more you experiment, the better you get. Experienced ServiceNow professionals encourage this hands-on approach.

Going Further With Flow Designer

Automating a single catalog item is just the beginning. Once you’re comfortable with this flow, you can:

Build advanced, multi-step fulfillments using parallel tasks or custom scripts
Add integrations with other platforms or applications as your needs evolve
Maintain a library of reusable flows and templates for your team

Helpful resources for deepening your skills:

Check out the full Flow Designer tutorial playlist at the end of the video
Revisit the developer instance setup guide
Become part of the ServiceNow learning community for ongoing support

Conclusion

Creating automated workflows for catalog items in ServiceNow using Flow Designer is a foundational skill for every admin or developer. You save time, reduce manual errors, and deliver a seamless experience your users will appreciate. By working with templates and testing in your own PDI, you gain the confidence to roll out robust, production-ready automations.

Don't limit yourself to the basics—challenge yourself to try more complex flows and see how much you can simplify your ServiceNow processes. For more detailed walkthroughs and practical exercises, watch the complete video at the top of this post and browse the additional resources linked in the TechTalk with Bill YouTube channel.

If this guide helped you, consider subscribing to the channel, joining as a member, or exploring even more hands-on ServiceNow courses.

Happy automating!