Workflow Activities for On-Call Scheduling

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
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    Summary of Workflow Activities for On-Call Scheduling

    This document outlines the workflow activities involved in On-Call Scheduling within IT Service Management. These activities enable users to effectively manage escalations, communication, and notifications during on-call events, ensuring timely responses to incidents and tasks.

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    Key Features

    • Log Escalation Start: Creates an escalation record and captures essential parameters such as the group, task, and escalation category.
    • Log Escalation Level: Records details about the current escalation level associated with a specific shift.
    • Log Escalation Attempt: Captures each contact attempt made during an escalation, tracking the number of attempts.
    • Log Escalation Communication: Records communication details with the escalatee, including the type and status of communication.
    • Log Escalation End: Completes the escalation process by marking the active flag as false.
    • Send Notification: Sends notifications to the escalatee through various channels, including SMS, voice, and Slack, with customizable message content.
    • Manage Escalation Response: Manages records of responses received from escalatees, enabling workflow continuation based on their acceptance or rejection of the escalation.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing these workflow activities, ServiceNow customers can:

    • Streamline escalation management, ensuring that incidents are addressed promptly and efficiently.
    • Maintain clear communication with on-call personnel, improving response times through automated notifications.
    • Track and document escalation history, providing visibility into the handling of incidents and facilitating better resource allocation.

    Workflow activities in On-Call Scheduling workflows.

    Escalation workflow activities

    On-Call: Log Escalation Start

    Creates an escalation record based on group, task, and workflow details.

    Note:

    The escalation that the workflow creates the workflow.scratchpad.escalationSysId sys_id. Use the sys_id in any of the other workflow activities.

    Setting Description
    Group sys_id of the group that the escalation belongs to.
    Table Table name of the task record of the incident.
    Source sys_id of the task record on which the escalation happened.
    WorkflowDefinition sys_id of the workflow definition that is used to escalate.
    WorkflowContext sys_id of the workflow context.
    ParentEscalationLevelId sys_id of the parent escalation in the case that the escalation was triggered from another escalation.
    Category Category of the escalation. One of: [assign_by_acknowledgement, auto_assignment, notify_manual_assignmen,conferencing].
    Channels Comma-separated list of the channels used to communicate during the escalation. Any or all of: [email, sms, voice, slack]. For example, sms,email,voice
    IgnoreDefReminders If true, the workflow sends notification reminders as specified by the workflow, rather than as specified in On-Call Escalation settings. For example, in Conference On-Call escalations, the workflow might to dial the on-call members at one-minute intervals instead of the standard 15-minute intervals.
    On-Call: Log Escalation Level

    Creates an escalation level record given escalation and level details.

    Setting Description
    EscalationId sys_id of the escalation to which the level belongs.
    RotaId sys_id of the shift for which the escalation is happening.
    Level Current escalation level. For example, 2.
    Escalatee Escalatee object at current escalation level. For example, getEscalationPlan()[1].
    CatchAll True if the escalation level belongs to a catch-all.
    On-Call: Log Escalation Attempt

    Creates a Contact attempt record given an escalation, level, and attempt details.

    Setting Description
    EscalationId sys_id of the escalation to which the contact attempt belongs.
    RotaId sys_id of the shift for which the escalation is happening.
    Level Current escalation level. For example, 2.
    ContactAttempt Contact attempt number within the escalation level. For example, 1.
    On-Call: Log Escalation Communication

    Creates a communication record given escalation, level, attempt, and communication details.

    Setting Description
    EscalationId sys_id of the escalation to which the communication belongs.
    RotaId sys_id of the shift for which escalation is happening.
    Level Current escalation level. For example, 2.
    ContactAttempt Contact attempt number within the escalation level. For example, 1.
    EscalateeType Type of escalatee to whom the communication is sent. One of: [user,device]
    EscalateeId sys_id of the user or device, depending on escalatee type.
    CommType Type of communication. One of: [sms, voice, email, slack]
    CommValue Phone number or email address, depending on communication type. For example, abel.tuter@servicenow.com
    Status Status of the communication. One of: [sent, failed].
    Escalatee Escalatee object at current escalation level. For example, getEscalationPlan()[1].
    CatchAll True if the escalation level belongs to a catch-all.
    On-Call: Log Escalation End

    Completes the escalation by setting active flag to false.

    Setting Description
    EscalationId sys_id of the escalation.
    On-Call: Send Notification

    Sends notification to the current escalatee via voice, SMS, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or mobile push.

    Setting Description
    Notification type Type of notification. One of: [sms, voice, slack].
    Message Text of message to send to current escalatee if notification type is sms.
    Notification detail List of parameters that are required for a notification:
    • SMS: notify_number, users, groups, numbers
    • Voice: numberToCallFrom, numberToCall, user
    • Slack: slack user, taskId, catchAllOption, wFContextId
    • Microsoft Teams: user, taskId, catchAllOption, wFContextId
    • Mobile push: userSysId, tablename, recordSysId
    On-Call: Manage Escalation Response

    Manage an escalation response record (insert escalation record, clean escalation records, update response to an escalation). An escalation response record keeps track of a response received for an escalation through the SMS, voice, email, or Slack notification channels. An escalation response record is used to resume the On-Call: Assign by Acknowledgement workflow upon rejection of an escalation.

    Setting Description
    Workflow Context Workflow context ID.
    Escalatee Id UserID of the current escalatee.
    Table Name Table name of the task record. For example, incident.
    Current Record Id sys_id of the task record.
    Action Type Type of action. One of: [add,clean,update]
    Response Response by escalatee to an escalation. One of: [accepted,rejected]
    Example uses:
    • Insert (add) - Workflow Context, Escalatee ID, Table Name, Current Record ID
    • Clean - Workflow Context
    • Update - Escalatee ID, Table Name, Current Record ID, Response