Playbooks in Service Portal

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Playbooks in Service Portal

    Playbooks in Service Portal enable ServiceNow customers to guide portal users through complex business processes with an intuitive, consumer-grade interface. By embedding playbooks as catalog items, organizations can deliver rich, step-by-step workflows that support long-running processes, allow users to save progress, and enable seamless transitions between users and agents. This solution also provides visibility into process status and individual tasks, all managed through a centralized admin experience.

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    Key Features

    • Portal Playbook Widget: Adds playbooks that users can run directly within the Service Portal, enhancing user engagement.
    • Guided Business Processes: Supports stepwise navigation with the ability to edit previous steps and resume saved playbooks.
    • Agent and Team Handoffs: Facilitates smooth transitions for agents to take over or assist in the process.
    • Visibility and Tracking: Provides clear insight into where users are within a process and tracks specific user tasks.
    • Mobile Support: Playbooks are accessible and functional on mobile devices for on-the-go users.
    • Theme Integration: Requires mapping between Service Portal themes and UXF themes to ensure consistent playbook appearance and functionality.

    Common Use Cases

    • Business Account Onboarding: Onboarding new or existing customers and their contacts, including service provisioning like wire transfers.
    • Loan or Mortgage Applications: Intake processes for credit cards, loans, or mortgages with the ability to save and resume applications later.
    • Insurance Claims: Submission of personal auto or home insurance claims through the portal.
    • Requesting Quotes: Small business insurance quotes that can be partially completed by customers and finalized by agents.
    • License Requests: Government licensing applications that vary by service and jurisdiction, guiding users through complex requirements.
    • Customer Cases: Assisting users in logging cases accurately by guiding them through necessary details to expedite resolution.

    Implementation Lifecycle

    • Build: Business process administrators create playbooks using Workflow Studio.
    • Embed: Administrators add playbooks to Service Portal pages and customize runtime experiences via the ServiceNow AI Platform®.
    • Customize: Service Portal admins and developers tailor the playbook portal page using Service Portal Designer.
    • Run: End users launch and progress through playbooks within the Service Portal as requesters.

    Practical Guidance for ServiceNow Customers

    To implement playbooks effectively, ensure proper theme mappings between Service Portal and UXF themes for seamless user experience. Use the Playbook Content Item to embed playbooks in your portal, then customize the runtime with Service Portal Designer to align with your brand and user needs. Educate end users on launching playbooks to maximize engagement and process adherence, improving service delivery and operational efficiency.

    Use playbooks to guide Service Portal users through your business processes.

    Using the widget

    The Portal Playbook widget adds playbooks that your Service Portal users can run.

    Provide a playbook experience to your Service Portal users for a consumer grade user experience. Requests on portals are surfaced as catalog items, including any playbooks you make available in Service Portal. Embedding a playbook in Service Portal enables:
    • A rich user interface for activities during a business process​
    • Guidance for long business processes
    • Going back and editing any previous steps of a business process
    • Saving long running playbooks for a business process and resuming at a later point
    • Seamless transition for agents and teams to enter a business process
    • Visibility into where you are in a business process
    • Visibility on a specific user's tasks
    • Single admin experience for a whole business process.
    Service Portal playbooks are also supported in a mobile interface.

    A running playbook in a Service Portal instance

    Use cases

    Business account onboarding

    Onboarding a new or existing business customer with one or more contacts along with onboarding the services requested such as wire transfers, treasury services. Promote compliance and deliver​ a faster time to value​.

    Loan or mortgage application
    Intake of a new credit card application or loan application for both consumers and corporate programs​. Customer needs the ability to save the application and come back at a loter time to resume application.
    Insurance claims
    Policy holder submitting a new personal auto or home claim for an auto accident or home damage via portal.
    Request quote for a new policy​
    Business customer requesting a quote for small business insurance policy that includes liability and commercial property insurance The customer can start filling in the request and the agent needs the abilith to fill in the remaining on behalf of the customer.
    License request
    Constituents requesting a new license such as a business license, or personal license (fishing, driving or hunting) from a government agency via a government portal. These applications typically vary by service and state and constituents need to be guided through request.
    Customer cases
    Cases logged by users who need guidance to select the correct issue and enter all the necessary details, such as instances, steps to reproduce, best time to contact, etc. Enable faster case resolution.

    Life cycle

    The general life cycle of a Service Portal playbook can be summarized as:
    • A business process administrator builds the playbook in Workflow Studio. To learn more about building a playbook in Workflow Studio, see Building playbooks.
    • An administrator adds the playbook to a Service Portal page and customizes the playbook runtime experience at the same time through the ServiceNow AI Platform®. To learn more about embedding a playbook in Service Portal and further customizations in the ServiceNow AI Platform®, see Embed the playbook in Service Portal.
    • Service Portal administrators and developers customize the playbook portal page. To learn more about using the Service Portal Designer to customize the playbook portal page, see Customize the playbook in Service Portal.
    • Service Portal end users, also called requesters, launch and run through the playbook. To learn more about launching and running a playbook in Service Portal, see Run a playbook in Service Portal.