Look Up Records activity

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Look Up Records activity

    The Look Up Records activity enables ServiceNow customers to find system records matching specified conditions within a playbook. It is available as a common activity and can be added by users with admin, playbook.admin, or pdauthor roles. This activity helps automate data retrieval based on criteria, facilitating dynamic workflows and decision-making within playbooks.

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    Inputs

    • Label: A string to title the activity and its playbook card for easy identification.
    • Description: Provides informational context about the activity’s usage or expected outcome.
    • Run Condition: Defines conditions that must be met for the activity or stage to run, using prior activity data if needed.
    • Start Rule: Configures when the activity or stage begins, either immediately or after specific stages or activities complete. Options include starting when the process or stage starts, or after specified activities finish.
    • Start with delay: Boolean option to delay execution by a set duration before running the activity or stage.
    • Table: Specifies the ServiceNow table where records will be looked up.
    • Conditions: Criteria built using a condition builder that records must meet to be included in the lookup results.

    Advanced Inputs

    • Order by: Field name used to sort the resulting records.
    • Sort Type: Choice to sort records alphabetically or in reverse alphabetical order.
    • Max Results: Integer limiting the number of records returned to end users.

    Outputs

    The activity outputs provide data for subsequent activities in the playbook, including:

    • Records: References to the records that meet the specified lookup conditions, usable as inputs in other activities.
    • Count: The total number of records found matching the criteria.

    Practical Use for ServiceNow Customers

    By configuring the Look Up Records activity, customers can automate the retrieval of relevant records dynamically during playbook execution. This enables more intelligent, condition-based workflows that respond to real-time data, improving operational efficiency and decision accuracy. The flexibility in scheduling, filtering, sorting, and limiting results ensures tailored data access aligned with specific business needs.

    Find system records that match a set of conditions.

    Roles and availability

    • This activity is available as a common activity. Users with the admin, playbook.admin, or pd_author can add this activity to a playbook.

    Inputs

    Open the activity properties panel and configure your activity to add values for the following inputs. If the input value varies, use the pill-picker to show where to get the value. To learn more about the pill-picker, see Dot-walking examples.
    Input Type Description
    Label String Title to display as activity and playbook card.
    Description String Information to display about activity usage or outcome.
    Run condition Condition Builder Conditions that must be met to run an activity or stage. You can use data from prior activities to build conditions.
    Note:
    Show additional options to see this field.
    Start Rule Choice Under Schedule > Start Rule, select a start rule for when your stage should start running:
    • When process starts: Your stage starts running as soon as the playbook starts.
    • After specific stages: Your stage starts running after specified stage(s) have finished running.
    Under Schedule > Start Rule, select a start rule for when your activity should start running:
    • When stage starts: Your activity starts running as soon as its stage starts running. Your stage starts running when your playbook is triggered.
    • After specific activities: Your activity starts running after specified activities have finished running.
    Start with delay True/False Option to wait for a duration of time before running an activity or stage. When enabled, this input displays the Start with delay input properties.
    Note:
    Show additional options to see this field.
    Table Table Name Table whose records you want to look up.
    Conditions Condition Builder Criteria that you want your list of records to meet.

    Advanced inputs

    After configuring the required inputs for your activity, you can also choose to configure additional inputs. In the side panel, select Show additional options to display these advanced inputs. For more information, see Activity experience.
    Input Type Description
    Order by String Field you want to use to sort a list of records.
    Sort Type Choice Option to sort records alphabetically or reverse alphabetically.
    Max Results Integer Maximum number of results to display to end users.

    Outputs

    These outputs can provide data to other activities in your playbook. You can access this data as activity inputs when you configure your activity:
    Output Type Description
    Records Records References to the records that meet your specified conditions
    Count Integer Number of records found