Schedule periods

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Schedule periods

    Schedule periods in ServiceNow define how frequently users can receive survey instances. The available options areOnly Once,No Limit,Daily,Weekly,Monthly, andYearly, withNo Limitas the default. Setting a schedule period (except for Only Once or No Limit) creates a scheduled job that controls survey distribution and frequency.

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    Key Features

    • Scheduled Jobs: Automatically generated for periodic schedule periods to enforce survey distribution rules.
    • Survey Instance Control: Ensures each user can only take one survey instance per schedule period.
    • Expiration Date Enforcement: Survey instances carry expiration dates aligned with the schedule period to prevent multiple instances before expiration.
    • Automatic Expiration Setting: For example, a Weekly schedule sets the expiration date one week after the instance is generated.
    • Dynamic Schedule Changes: Changing the schedule period updates the scheduled job automatically; however, users with active instances must wait for expiration or deletion before receiving new surveys.
    • Trigger Conditions: If using trigger conditions for surveys, the schedule period should be set to No Limit, as trigger conditions manage survey frequency differently.

    Practical Considerations for ServiceNow Customers

    • Use schedule periods to control survey frequency and ensure users do not receive duplicate surveys within a restricted timeframe.
    • Understand that changing schedule periods will not override active survey instances; these must expire or be deleted first.
    • Set schedule period to No Limit if employing trigger conditions to avoid conflicts in survey delivery.
    • Monitor the Expiration date field on survey instances to manage when users become eligible for new surveys.

    The available schedule periods are Only Once, No Limit, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly.

    The default schedule period is No Limit. When you set the schedule period to anything except Only Once or No Limit, the system creates a corresponding scheduled job. The scheduled job performs the following actions.
    • Ensures that a user can take one survey instance of the same survey per schedule period.
    • Generates a new survey instance for each survey user at the beginning of the new schedule period, as long as the survey user does not have an incomplete instance of that survey. A survey instance is incomplete if the state is not Complete.

    For example, if you set the schedule period to Monthly and someone attempts to send survey invitations twice in the same day, the system generates survey instances for the survey users the first time only. At the beginning of the next schedule period, the system generates another survey instance for each survey user who completed the previous one.

    Schedule periods are enforced by the Expiration date field on the survey instance. As long as the survey instance expiration date has not passed, the assigned user cannot receive a new survey instance. When the system generates a survey instance and the schedule period is anything except No Limit, the Expiration date field is automatically set to the appropriate date. For example, if the schedule period is Weekly, the expiration date is a week after the survey instance is generated.

    If you change the schedule period, the scheduled job updates automatically to the correct schedule. However, users who have survey instances for the survey cannot receive new survey instances until their existing survey instances expire, regardless of the new schedule period.

    Consider the following example: Sal Pindell receives a survey instance when the schedule period is Weekly. The next day, a survey administrator changes the schedule period to No Limit. Sal cannot receive another survey instance until one of the following actions occurs.
    • Seven days pass from the time Sal's survey instance was generated.
    • A survey administrator deletes Sal's survey instance.

    After one of these actions occurs, Sal can receive a new survey instance anytime, as long as he has no incomplete instances of the survey.

    Note:
    If you use a trigger condition for a survey, ensure the schedule period is set to No Limit. Trigger conditions use a different method to regulate how often users can receive survey instances.