Workflow stages

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Workflow stages

    Workflow stages in ServiceNow provide a way to visually indicate the progress of a workflow by updating a designated stage field. This field can be any field defined as a stage field, often a choice list, on the table the workflow operates on. For example, the Incident table uses the Incident state field, while the Service Catalog uses the Stage field. The workflow engine updates this field to reflect the current activity's stage as the workflow runs.

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    How Workflow Stages Work

    Stages are assigned to individual workflow activities. When an activity with an assigned stage is active, the workflow sets the record’s stage field accordingly. The stage field shows different states such as In progress, Pending, Completed, or Request Cancelled depending on the activity’s status.

    For workflows on the Requested Item [screqitem] table, the stage field is fixed to the Stage column of that table and cannot be changed. The stage values shown correspond to the activity states and include labels like Waiting for Approval, Fulfillment, Delivery, Request Cancelled, and Completed.

    Sources of Stage Values

    • Choices for Stage column: Defined choice list values for the selected stage column in the workflow.
    • Default stages for table: Stages defined in the Stage Default [wfstagedefault] table linked to the workflow’s table.
    • Workflow-specific stages: Stages defined specifically for a workflow in the Workflow Stage [wfstage] table.
    • Existing record stages: Values inherited from the designated stage column in existing records of the workflow’s table.

    Using Workflow Stages

    ServiceNow customers can add, modify, and translate workflow stages to suit their processes. Stages appear in list views along with icons indicating their state, enabling clear visibility of workflow progress.

    Stage sets enable grouping multiple stages commonly used together. These sets can be assigned as defaults to tables, imported from choice lists, or exported for reuse, improving consistency and manageability across workflows.

    Practical Considerations

    • When creating workflows on tables other than Requested Item, you must select a stage field in the workflow properties for stages to be available.
    • The reserved word "Cancelled" in the wfstage table does not display in the Stage field; instead, the label "Request Cancelled" is shown when an activity is cancelled.
    • Workflow stage fields display icons to summarize progress and indicate if required workflow records are deleted.

    Key Outcomes

    • Enhanced visibility into workflow progress through stage field updates and icons.
    • Ability to track and manage workflow activities with clear stage states reflecting real-time status.
    • Reuse and consistency of stages through stage sets across multiple workflows and tables.
    • Automatic handling of stage values for standard tables like Requested Item, ensuring alignment with out-of-the-box processes.

    Workflows can indicate workflow progress by updating any field designated as a stage field.

    For example, the Incident [incident] table has an Incident state field that indicates progress, but the service catalog uses the Stage field.

    To indicate the workflow's progress through the possible stage values, the interface updates the Stage field selected in the workflow properties. Available fields depend on the table used by the workflow. If the field provides a choice list, then the choices are available as stage values for the workflow. If the field is a workflow field, it displays an icon to indicate the workflow's progress, as with the Service Catalog's Stage field.

    Figure 1. Service Catalog Stage field with icons

    After stages are added to the workflow, they can be assigned to each workflow activity. If an activity with an assigned stage is encountered when the workflow runs, the workflow engine assigns the stage to the record associated with the workflow context.

    For workflows that use the Requested Item [sc_req_item] table, the stage field is automatically set to the Stage field of the table and cannot be changed. The stage state displayed for a workflow running on the Requested Item table is based on the state of the workflow activities.
    • If an activity is active, then the stage is shown with the state of In progress.
    • If an activity is in the Pending or Completed state, the stage reflects this state.
    • If an activity is canceled, Request Cancelled appears in the Stage field. The "Cancelled" label set in the wf_stage table is a reserved word, and does not display in the Stage field.

    How stage values are derived

    Stage values are derived from various sources in the interface.

    Note:
    An updated method for managing workflow stages as a set is also available. For information about grouping and reusing stages, see Workflow stage sets.
    Stage values are derived from the following sources:
    • Choices for Stage column: Choices defined for the column selected as the Stage column for the workflow.
    • Default stages for table: Stages defined in the Stage Default [wf_stage_default] table for the table selected.
    • Workflow-specific stages: Applied only to the workflow for which they were defined in the Workflow Stage [wf_stage] table.
    • Stage values in existing records: Values from the designated Stage column in the table assigned to the workflow are inherited from existing records.

    If the stage field for a workflow is the table column named Stage, then the progress of the workflow appears in any list view containing the Stage column.

    Figure 2. Stages in a list

    Stage values shown in the list views are accompanied by the state, based on the workflow activities being executed. If an activity has a stage specified for it, and the activity is currently active in the workflow, then the stage is shown with a state of In progress. Similarly, if the activity is in the Pending or Completed state, the stage reflects this state.

    Example

    If the workflow table is Request Item [sc_req_item], then the stage field is automatically set to the Stage column of that table and cannot be changed. The following stage values for the request item are displayed in a choice list from the Dictionary Entry [sys_dictionary] table:
    • Waiting for Approval
    • Fulfillment
    • Delivery
    In addition, the Request Item table has the following default stages:
    • Request Cancelled
    • Completed
    Note:
    If an activity is cancelled, Request Cancelled appears in the Stage field. The "Cancelled" label set in the wf_stage table is a reserved word, and does not display in the Stage field.
    When you edit available activity stages in the Workflow Editor, the list displays the following stage values:
    • Waiting for Approval
    • Fulfillment
    • Delivery
    • Request Cancelled
    • Completed
    The following diagram depicts the process used to gather stage values from the Request Item table to populate the Stages list in workflow activities.
    Gathering stage values for workflow activities
    Note:
    If you are creating a workflow with a table other than Request Item [sc_req_item], you must select a Stage field in the workflow properties for the workflow to have stages.