Flows, Subflows, and Actions release notes
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Summary of Flows, Subflows, and Actions Release Notes - Australia Release
The ServiceNow Workflow Studio application for flows, subflows, and actions enables process analysts to automate complex workflows without coding by building reusable components. The Australia release enhances this capability with improved usability, error analysis, AI integration, and scheduling triggers to better align automations with business needs.
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Key Features
- Business Calendar Trigger: Automate flows based on business schedules including shifts, holidays, and operating hours, ensuring workflows run in alignment with organizational calendars.
- Flow History Compare View: Compare two flow history versions side-by-side with highlighted changes and icons indicating added, removed, or updated components, aiding in version control and troubleshooting.
- Flow Execution Analysis: Analyze execution details to identify errors and receive suggestions for potential fixes, improving flow reliability and maintenance.
- Testing of Conversational Actions and Subflows: Validate conversational components interact correctly with user inputs and perform expected operations before deploying in production, enhancing conversational experience quality.
- AI Agent Integration: Use flow data to invoke an AI agent and configure expected outputs for downstream flow use, enabling AI-driven automation within workflows.
Important Upgrades and Security Enhancements
- The Australia release restores the “save as you go” feature for workflows if previously disabled during upgrade from the Washington DC release, improving user experience and minimizing data loss.
- Enhanced protections for read-only fields within the ServiceNow AI Platform are introduced via a new “readonlyoption” field with granular control levels such as “strictreadonly” and “clientscriptmodifiable.” This improves instance security while maintaining flexibility.
Activation and Availability
Workflow Studio is an AI Platform feature enabled by default. Customers should update the Workflow Studio application via the ServiceNow Store to access the latest features and improvements introduced in this release.
Additional Notes
- The now.assist.creator role is no longer required to access generative AI features with Now Assist, simplifying role management.
- Related ServiceNow features such as Playbook, Data Stream actions, Decision Tables, and Integration Hub complement Workflow Studio by providing extended workflow orchestration, API data handling, decision logic management, and integration automation.
The ServiceNow® Workflow Studio flows, subflows, and actions application enables process analysts to automate work without having to code and to build multiple-step flows from reusable components. Workflow Studio flows, subflows, and actions were enhanced and updated in the Australia release.
Workflow Studio flows, subflows, and actions highlights for the Australia release
- Compare two flow histories to see what content was added, removed, and updated.
- Summarize flow execution details to identify errors and suggest potential fixes.
- Test conversation-enabled actions and subflows from a conversation.
- Use an AI agent from a flow.
See Exploring flows, Exploring subflows, and Exploring actions for more information.
Important information for upgrading Workflow Studio flows, subflows, and actions to Australia
An earlier version of the save as you go feature was released and withdrawn from the Washington DC release. If you're upgrading from the Washington DC release, you might have manually turned off the save as you go features by setting a system property. To restore the save as you go features, see Restore save as you go functionality.
The Australia release introduces enhanced protections for read‑only fields across the ServiceNow AI Platform®. These changes include a new “read_only_option” field with granular control levels, including “strict_read_only” and “client_script_modifiable". The changes occur in the back end and maintain backward‑compatible behavior. This update helps strengthen your instance security while preserving the flexibility you need. Refer to KB2718122 for additional technical details on how to identify affected fields and adjust their settings. For more information about granular read-only security options, see Configuring read-only security options.
New in the Australia release
- Business calendar as a scheduled trigger
- Use the business calendar to trigger flows on existing business schedules. The business calendar trigger helps align automation with shifts, holidays, and operating hours.
- Flow history compare view
- Compare two flow history entries in a side-by-side view. Use the step highlighting and change type icons to determine what flow components have been added, removed, and changed.
- Flow execution analysis
- Analyze flow execution details to identify errors and suggest potential fixes.
- Test conversational action
- Test a conversational action to verify it responds correctly to user inputs and performs the expected operations before deploying it in production.
- Test conversational subflow
- Test a conversational subflow to verify it responds correctly to user inputs and performs the expected operations before deploying it in production.
- Use an AI agent action
- Use flow data to run an AI agent and configure the expected agent output for use later in the flow.
Removed in this release
The now.assist.creator role is no longer a required role to use generative AI features with Now Assist.
Activation information
Workflow Studio is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default.
Get the latest Workflow Studio features by updating the app from the ServiceNow Store. Visit the ServiceNow Store to view all the available apps, and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.