Look Up Records activity

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Look Up Records activity

    The Look Up Records activity in ServiceNow allows you to find system records that match specified conditions within a playbook. It is a common activity available to users with admin, playbook.admin, or pdauthor roles. This activity facilitates dynamic data retrieval based on criteria you define, enabling automation and informed decision-making throughout your playbooks.

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    Key Features

    • Configurable Inputs: Define the activity’s label, description, and run conditions using data from prior activities to control when the activity executes within a playbook stage.
    • Scheduling Options: Choose when the activity or its containing stage begins, either at playbook start, stage start, or after specific stages or activities complete. You can also set a delay before execution.
    • Record Lookup Parameters: Specify the target table and build conditions to filter records. Advanced options let you sort results by a chosen field in alphabetical or reverse order and limit the maximum number of records returned.
    • Outputs for Integration: Provides references to the matching records and the count of records found, which can be used as inputs for subsequent activities within your playbook.

    Practical Use for ServiceNow Customers

    By using the Look Up Records activity, you can automate the retrieval of relevant records based on dynamic conditions that evolve during playbook execution. This empowers your workflows to respond intelligently to current data without manual intervention, improving efficiency and accuracy in processes such as incident management, service requests, or approvals.

    With flexible scheduling and filtering options, you can tailor when and what data is fetched, ensuring the activity runs precisely when needed and returns relevant results. The outputs integrate seamlessly with other playbook activities, enabling complex multi-step automation scenarios.

    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