Configure the supporting components for a lifecycle event

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
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    Summary of Configure the supporting components for a lifecycle event

    This guide explains how to configure the essential components that support lifecycle event activities in the Enterprise Onboarding and Transitions application on ServiceNow. Lifecycle events consist of multiple activities, each requiring the setup of relevant underlying elements such as HR task templates, order guides, catalog items, HR services, owning groups, activity types, and audience records. Proper configuration ensures activities are assigned, triggered, and executed appropriately across departments like HR, IT, and Facilities.

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    Owning Groups

    Owning groups determine which user group is responsible for managing a lifecycle event activity. Since lifecycle events often span multiple departments, assigning ownership to the correct group is critical. Only members of the owning group with the snhrle.activitywriter role can create, update, or delete activities for that group, ensuring proper governance and control.

    Activity Types and Configuration Requirements

    Lifecycle event activities can take various forms such as approvals, employee tasks, fulfiller activities, notifications, and more. Each activity type requires specific supporting components to be configured. The application allows reuse of existing components like HR services and task templates to streamline setup. Below are common activity types and their configuration needs:

    • Approval: No additional configuration required.
    • Employee task: Configure an HR task template.
    • Fulfiller activity: Configure components based on the fulfiller type, such as order guides, catalog items, HR services, HR tasks, incident templates, or notifications.
    • Automated Order Guide: Create an order guide for process automation.
    • Catalog item: Create or modify service catalog items.
    • HR service and HR task: Configure HR service definitions and task templates.
    • Incident: Create incident templates for incident management activities.
    • Notification: Create email templates for notifications.
    • Flow: Use or configure subflows; by default, only the "Switch primary job" subflow is available and supports multiple jobs in a lifecycle event.
    • Content: Configure schedule content templates to deliver targeted content during lifecycle activities.

    Audiences

    Audience records define criteria that determine which employees trigger specific lifecycle event activities. This enables targeted workflows tailored to different employee groups, such as office-based versus remote workers. If no audience is associated, the activity triggers for all employees. Activities skipped due to unmet audience criteria are marked accordingly to maintain clarity in workflow execution.

    Additional Configuration Tasks

    • Configure an owning group: Define or update user groups responsible for lifecycle event activities.
    • Configure an activity configuration: Set fulfillment processes and closure conditions for activities.
    • Configure a schedule content template: Create templates to deliver content through mobile, portal, notifications, or to-do lists as part of lifecycle events.

    By thoroughly configuring these components, ServiceNow customers can ensure lifecycle events run smoothly with clear ownership, appropriate triggers, and reusable, standardized processes that enhance onboarding and transition workflows.

    Configure the supporting components for a lifecycle event. Lifecycle events are a collection of activities. For each activity, you must identify and configure the underlying components that support it, such as HR task templates, order guides, catalog items, and HR services. You must also identify and configure the relevant owning groups, activity types, and audience records.

    • Owning groups
    • Activity types
    • Audiences

    Owning groups

    Owning groups control who owns a lifecycle event activity. Because lifecycle events are generally cross-departmental, it's critical that ownership of each activity is assigned to the appropriate group, such as for HR, IT, or Facilities. Each owning group is responsible for overseeing the activities that fall under their purview. See Configure an owning group for a lifecycle event for more information.

    To create, update, or delete an activity, you must be both a member of the associated owning group and have the sn_hr_le.activity_writer role. For example, only members of the HR activity writers owning group with the sn_hr_le.activity_writer role can configure an HR activity.

    Activity types

    Lifecycle event activities can be approvals, employee activities, fulfiller activities, notifications, and more. Depending on the activity type, you must configure the appropriate components that underlie it.

    A key benefit of the Enterprise Onboarding and Transitions application is that you can reuse existing components and processes. These components and processes include existing HR services, HR task templates, or catalog items. For each activity, determine whether there’s an existing component that you can use or if you must configure a new one.

    Table 1. Activity types and corresponding configuration requirements
    Activity type Configuration requirements
    Approval

    N/A

    To learn more about approvals, see Approvals.
    Employee task Configure an HR task template

    To learn more about HR templates, see HR templates.
    Fulfiller activity Depending on the fulfiller activity type, configure the appropriate supporting components.
    Note:
    The following fulfiller activity types are preconfigured with the Enterprise Onboarding and Transitions application. To configure additional types, see Configure an activity configuration for a lifecycle event.
    Automated Order Guide Create an order guide

    To learn more about order guides, see Order guides.
    Catalog item Create or edit a catalog item

    To learn more about catalog items, see Service catalog items.
    HR service Configure an HR service

    To learn more about HR services, see HR services.
    HR task Configure an HR task template

    To learn more about HR templates, see HR templates.
    Incident Create an incident template

    To learn more about incident management, see Incident Management.
    Notification Create an email template

    To learn more about notifications, see Notifications.
    Flow Create a subflow
    Important:
    The only subflow available for use by default is the Switch primary job subflow. This subflow is used to support multiple jobs in a lifecycle event.

    To use a different subflow for an activity, additional configuration is required. See the Implementing multiple subflows in an LE activity [KB0817520] article in the HI knowledge base for more information.

    To learn more about subflows, see Subflows.
    Content Configure a schedule content template for a lifecycle event activity

    To learn more about Content Experiences and Content Publishing, see Content Publishing.
    Activity container N/A

    Audiences

    Not all lifecycle event activities are required for all employees. Some activities are intended for a target audience. You can use audience records to define the criteria that the subject person of a lifecycle event case must meet for the activity to trigger on their behalf. For more information, see Audiences.

    Clearly defined audience criteria enable you to create targeted workflows for different audience types. For example, you can create a tailored onboarding experience for newly hired employees depending on whether the employee is office-based or remote.

    Note:
    • If an activity isn't associated with an audience record, then the activity triggers for all employees.
    • If a subject person doesn't meet the audience criteria defined for an activity set during the evaluation process, the State field in the corresponding activity set is set to Skipped.