Creator Studio quick start

This quick start guides you through the process of building your first app in Creator Studio and requesting its deployment.

Before you begin

Building your first app is a good way to understand how Creator Studio enables easy app creation.

Your system administrator must add you to the Creator Studio Users group.

About this task

At a minimum, you need to create the foundation of an app and customize its form, which is where users submit their fulfillment requests.

Procedure

1. Head over to the Creator Studio home page by going to All > App Engine > Creator Studio.

   Figure 1. Start Creator Studio

   

   The Creator Studio home page appears. To learn more about working in the home page, check out Find existing apps in Creator Studio.
2. Create the app.
   1. Select the Create app button to start the process of creating an app.

      Figure 2. Create app button

      

      • If you're a system administrator, you can read more about this topic in Application collaboration.
      • If you want to know how to request an admin to create the app for you, check out Ask an admin to create an app for you in Creator Studio.
   2. On the modal that pops up, enter a Name and brief Description of the app's purpose.

      Figure 3. Create an app

      

   3. Select Create app to finish building the foundation of the app.
   Okay, you've created the beginning of your very own application! You've named and described it. A list of catalog templates appears.
3. Select a catalog template from the list, which your admin can customize, and then select Apply this template.

   You may not see a catalog template that is exactly what you want. So, choose one that's the closest. If none look close, select the Creator Studio Default Template option, if your admin hasn't removed it. It's your best bet.

   Tip:

   Feel free to click through the list of catalog templates. Previews will help you pick the one you want.

   Don't worry if you don't see other catalog templates to choose from! Your admins may not have created any custom catalog templates for you yet.

4. Add a form to a catalog to specify its business area.
   Note:

   You can skip this step for now and revisit it later when you have a better idea of where it fits.

   The available catalogs are configured by your admin, contact them if you don't see the one you want.
   1. Select the catalog that represents the business area the app will use.
      For example, choose a service catalog that contains software and laptop cables. Expand the carat for each catalog to see its sub-catalogs.

      Figure 4. Select the catalog

      

   2. Select as many items in the catalogs as you need.
   3. Select the Save and continue button.

   You can edit any of the app's basic settings any time after you finish creating the app. For more information, see Creator Studio form settings.

5. Select to Preview how different forms appear in various experiences, or select the View or Edit button to view or edit the application.
   Select different previewing options if you want to make sure that you've selected the correct application and see how it will appear in the following formats:

   • Portal (see a preview of how it'll appear on a desktop website)
   • Now Mobile (see a preview of how it'll appear on a mobile phone or device)
   • Virtual agent (see a representation of how it'll appear on a chatbot interface)
     Note:

     Your organization should have the correct plugins installed to see how the form will appear in Virtual Agent. If you're interested, ask your admin and see Catalog builder preview topic conversation for more information on previewing forms and their catalog items in Virtual Agent.

   The View button displays forms that have been published and doesn't explicitly create a new draft form for development. The Edit button takes you to a development form, for example, a new draft version of a form that's already been published.

   Figure 5. Preview the app's experience

   

   You can also check out a representation of how the form submissions workspace will appear by selecting the Submissions preview, as well as the records your app generates for it (by selecting the Record preview).

6. First, you can customize the form's look and feel on the Request forms tab by completing one of the following optional steps.
   1. Add or modify the image that appears on your form by selecting the add image icon () and then selecting an image.
   2. Change the form’s title, short description, and other text by selecting those parts of the form and typing in your changes.
      You can enhance how the longer Description appears using rich text, such as font changes and sizing.
7. Next, add questions to the form your fulfiller needs to evaluate the request. To add and customize a question, complete the following steps.
   1. In the Form elements panel, drag the type of question you want onto the form and drop it on the canvas where you’d like it. You can also add questions by selecting the add icon (+) that appears when you click on an existing question on the form.

      For a description of question types and how they're used, see Question types available in Creator Studio.

   2. In the Question details panel, specify information about the question you added, such as whether a question must be answered for the requestor to submit the form.
      The details vary by question type. For example, if you add a Dropdown question, you must supply the options to choose from.

      Figure 6. Form question details

      

   3. Select Save when you finish modifying the question.
   4. Revise or add more questions to the form using this procedure. To change a question type, select the question and then select the new question type in the Content type field of the Question details panel. Selecting a new type may introduce new values you must supply.
      Note:

      If you put two checkbox questions side-by-side on a form, they make a section. You can't add other types of questions to that section.
8. Now, let's arrange the questions and images that you’ve added to the form.
   1. From the Form elements panel, drag the layout option you like onto the form and drop it where you want it to appear, for example, a Divider line.
      Don’t worry if you don’t like the layout, just try another one by dragging it onto the form's canvas.
   2. Revise the form layout you chose using the Section details or Question details panel (depending on the layout you're working on). You can do things like make text bold, add links, and so forth.
      For more information, see Layout options for forms in Creator Studio.
   3. Select Save in the Section details/Question details panel when you’re done revising the form’s layout.
9. Finally, publish the form when its ready by selecting the Mark as ready button.
   Publishing forms makes them available as catalog items in the production instance for published apps.

   

10. Next, add a playbook to create automation for your app, for example, to automatically assign a record to a manager for approval.
    1. Select the Automations tab in the application header.
       
    2. Select the Create a playbook button.
    3. Specify the playbook's General attributes in the Create playbook modal.

       Table 1. General playbook definition fields

       Field	Description
       Playbook name	Descriptive name for the playbook you're creating.
       Description	Brief explanation of what the playbook does, for example, the end goal for the record type.

       Figure 7. Create a playbook

       

11. Specify the Schedule for the playbook.
    1. Select the Form whose catalog item generates the record type that you want the playbook to run on.
       The table for the form you choose is always the app’s task table, which is specified when the app is created.
    2. Select the type of Trigger that initiates the playbook.

       Table 2. Playbook trigger options

       Trigger	Description
       Form submitted	Start running the playbook when a user submits the form you chose.
       Form updated	Start running the playbook when a user updates the form you chose.
       Form submitted or updated	Start running the playbook when a user submits or updates the form you chose.

       Note:

       You can't change an playbook's trigger type after you finish creating the playbook. Instead, create a new playbook with a different trigger.
    3. If you chose a trigger that includes a form being updated, specify how often that app should Run your playbook.
       The options are:

       • Once
       • For each unique change
       • Only if not currently running
       • For every update
    4. Specify the conditions that must be met for the playbook to begin running by selecting Add conditions.
12. Select Save before moving on to add an activity.
    If you want to include an if/then statement to define circumstances for the activity, add a decision. See Add a decision to an app's playbook in Creator Studio for details.
13. Add an activity to the playbook.
    1. Select the add icon on the connector where you want to add an activity and choose the square Add an activity icon () in the menu that pops up.
    2. Choose the type of activity that you want from the Activity library pop-up.

       Table 3. Types of activities

       Activity type	Description
       Request approval	Ask someone for permission to accomplish a task.
       Assign to	Choose a person who should fulfill the task.
       Create task	Specify a process that must be done as part of the playbook.
       Placeholder	Set an undefined activity to be specified later, or a more advanced activity such as an email notification, when an activity is completed. Placeholder activities don't have any logic assigned to them yet, and must be edited in Workflow Studio.

       Figure 8. Activity library for a playbook

       

    3. Enter the basic details for the activity.

       Table 4. General activity details

       Field	Description
       Name	Unique, user-facing name for your activity, which appears to agents and fulfillers while the playbook is running.
       Description	Optional details about what the activity accomplishes.

       Figure 9. Activity details panel

       

    4. Complete the details for the activity, using Add activities to an app's playbook in Creator Studio for information on how to finish creating the activity.
    5. Select the Save and close button to finish setting up your activity.
14. Once the automation is done, activate it by selecting the Activate button.
    Activating a playbook makes it available to run when its related form is created or updated on your non-production, development instance.

    Figure 10. Activate the playbook

    

15. Now that you've made an app, it's time to submit it for review so admins can approve and deploy it.
    1. In the application header, select Submit for review.

       Figure 11. Submit for review

       

    2. Select Continue on the Submit app for review modal.
    3. Now you need to choose which published forms are visible to users in the catalog. In the Ready for review section of the Review request forms modal, select which of the app's published forms that you want to be available after the app is deployed selecting the Visible to others option.

       Figure 12. Review request forms for deployment

       

    4. Select Continue when you're happy with the forms being deployed to production.
    5. Next, you must decide which of the app's activated playbooks will run on production after the app is deployed. In the Review playbooks modal, select the Run on production option for each playbook that you want to run on records that the app generates.
       Note:

       If you can't select a playbook, you need to go back to the Automations tab of Creator Studio and activate it. If you need a refresher on that, check out Activate a playbook in Creator Studio.
    6. Select Continue when you're happy with the playbooks being deployed to run on production.
    7. Finally, make sure that all the release details for the published app are correct.

       Table 5. Versioning options for deployment

       Field	Description
       New version	Version number of the app you're requesting for deployment. Creator Studio automatically generates an updated version number, but you can change it. Follow your organization's versioning guidelines, or use the x.y.z format, where x = major update, y = minor update, and z = patch.
       Release notes	Details on what's changed in this new version of the app, or a general description of what the app does if this is its first version.

       Read more about this step of requesting deployment in App versioning and release notes for Creator Studio apps.

       Figure 13. App versioning info

       

    8. Select Submit for review when everything is correct and ready for your admin to review and deploy.

Result

Congrats:

Hooray! You've created your app, customized the form, added automation, and submitted it for review. After your admin reviews and deploys it, people will use your brand-new app to make requests.