Create Flow Data action
- UpdatedJul 31, 2025
- 2 minutes to read
- Zurich
- Create Workflows
Collect data from agents interacting with a Workspace playbook. Use this data to create reusable activities for process owners using Playbooks.
Roles and availability
Available as a Workflow Studio ServiceNow core action. Users with the flow_designer or admin role can add an action to a flow and define configuration details.
Inputs
| Input | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Reference.Data Definition[sys_flow_data_definition] | Reference to the Data Definition record used to collect data for the flow. Each Data Definition record has a set of Flow Data Variables to store data. For example, the Create Task Data Definition record collects values for Task records. |
| Assigned To | Reference.User[sys_user] | User responsible for completing the task associated with the Playbooks activity. |
| Assignment Group | Reference.Group[sys_user_group] | User group responsible for completing the task associated with the Playbooks activity. |
| Wait for user input | Choice | Option to prompts Playbooks users to determine if
the activity pauses for input in a playbook during runtime. Options
include:
|
Outputs
| Output | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Record | Reference.Flow Data[sys_flow_data] | Reference to the Flow Data record created from end user input in a playbook activity during runtime. |
Example: Send Email with user input Activity

Send Email with user input Activity is a subflow that gathers the information needed to create and send an email. This subflow provides data for the corresponding Playbooks activity. The subflow uses the Create Flow Data action to gather information from the person running the activity. This example configures the Create Flow Data action to use the Email Data Definition record, which includes variables for an email subject and body. The action is also configured to use the subflow inputs for Assigned To and Assignment Group to determine who can enter flow data.

The subflow waits until the Create Flow Data record is in the Complete state before sending an email. The Send Email action is configured to use the body variable from the Create Flow Data action as the body of the email.