Activity definitions

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Activity Definitions

    Activity definitions in ServiceNow Playbooks specify how activities obtain the data they need during playbook execution. These definitions provide default configurations, including automation plans and activity experiences, enabling activities to run smoothly when a playbook is triggered. They reside in theActivity Definition [syspdactivitydefinition]table and can be managed via Process Automation Administration.

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    Key Features

    • Basic Configuration Fields: Include activity label, associated table (commonly Task or Global), application scope, accessible scopes, description, and required user roles.
    • Automation Plan: Defines the Workflow Studio flow or action powering the activity, its required inputs, and input visibility settings (standard modal, configuration panel, or admin-only visibility).
    • Activity Experience: Optional configuration that determines how the activity renders in the Playbook card during runtime. It specifies the experience type (e.g., Record experience), dynamic associated record mapping, and data fields to display using data pill pickers.
    • Playbook Actions: Actions can be assigned to render as buttons within the Playbook card footer, enabling server scripts, client actions, or UI components to execute directly from the card.

    Design Considerations

    • Avoid triggering Workflow Studio flows directly in automation plans to prevent unintended execution outside Playbooks; prefer subflows or actions instead.
    • Preconfigure default input values within activity definitions to simplify playbook creation and reduce configuration effort for playbook designers.

    Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers

    By creating and configuring activity definitions, you can control how individual playbook activities operate, what data they access, and how they present information and actions to end users. This ensures consistent, efficient automation within your playbooks and a tailored user experience aligned with your business processes.

    To implement, define the automation plan with necessary inputs and actions, set up the desired activity experience for runtime visualization, and assign playbook actions as needed. These configurations help streamline playbook development and enhance operational visibility and control.

    Activity definitions describe how the activities in your playbook get the data that they need when your playbook runs.

    Activity definitions provide default configurations and values for your activities so that they can run properly when your playbook is triggered. Each activity definition contains some basic configuration details, as well as an automation plan and activity experience.

    The Activity Definition [sys_pd_activity_definition] table lists the definitions for the activities that you can add to a playbook in Workflow Studio. To access these activity definitions, navigate to Process Automation > Process Automation Administration > Activity Definitions.

    Fields

    Each activity definition record has these basic fields:
    Field Description
    Label Name of the activity to display to users in Workflow Studio.
    Table Name of the table whose records the activity can access as inputs. Typically, this table is either the Task [task] or Global [global] table.
    Application Application scope that the activity can run in.
    Accessible From Options include:
    • All application scopes - Users can access this activity from any application scope.
    • This application scope only - Users can access this activity from the application scope that you specify in the Application field only.
    Description Optional description for the activity.
    Required Roles A list of user roles that are allowed to access activities that use this activity definition.

    Automation plan

    Each activity definition has an automation plan. The automation plan for an activity definition specifies:
    • The Workflow Studio flow or action, which drives the activity's automation
    • The activity's inputs, which are the data that the activity needs to run yourplaybook

    Activity designers can configure the visibility of each activity input.

    Include in standard modal
    Hides the input from the properties panel. Playbook designers can only see the input from the standard modal when they select the Show advanced properties option.
    Include in standard modal and configuration panel
    Displays the input in the properties panel. Playbook designers can also see the input from the standard modal when they select the Show advanced properties option.
    Admin visibility only
    Hides the input from users who do not have the admin or playbook.admin roles.

    Activity experience

    Each activity also has an optional activity experience. The activity experience specifies an experience type, associated record, and details for what data to render in the activity's associated playbook card. Activity experience configurations only apply to activities that you add to a playbook which has an associated Playbook user experience. For more information, see Set up Playbook Experiences.
    Experience type
    An experience type defines the data, or properties, that describe how the activity renders as a playbook card at runtime. For example, a Record experience type tells the system that the activity can display a title, tagline, description, footer, and service level agreement (SLA) information in the Playbook card when your activated playbook runs. For more information, see UI Layouts.
    Associated record
    The associated record defines the record whose data can render within a Playbook card at runtime. The associated record is dynamic, which means that it changes frequently as the playbook progresses. Because of this dynamic nature, you may want to use the data pill picker (Data pill picker) to map the associated record to output record data within the underlying subflow or action specified in the automation plan.
    Data to render in the Playbook card
    You can specify the data to render in the Playbook card in the sections under the Associated Record section. To add dynamic data to fields that render in this user-facing view, use the data pill picker (Data pill picker) next to a data field and navigate, or dot-walk, to the appropriate data pill. The data pill should point to data within the subflow or action specified in the activity definition's automation plan.
    Note:
    An activity experience contains many sections where you can specify the data to appear within the Playbook card. These sections vary depending on the experience type that you select. For example, a Record experience type has Details, Form, Attachments, and Features sections, while a Knowledge experience type has Knowledge, Details, and Features sections. For more information, see UI Layouts.
    Actions to render in the Playbook card

    You can specify the Playbook actions that you want to render in an activity's Playbook card using the Playbook Experience Action Assignment Map related list. A Playbook action displays as a button in the Playbook card's footer. Playbook actions can run server scripts, dispatch client actions, or render UI components. For more information, see Custom Playbook actions.

    To add a Playbook action to your activity definition, select New in the Playbook Experience Action Assignment Map related list. Then, choose a Playbook action from the Action Assignment list. Next, choose a Playbook user experience that you want the Playbook action to appear in from the Playbook Experience list, and then click Submit.

    Design considerations

    Refer to these design considerations when working with activity definitions:
    Avoid calling triggered Workflow Studio flows in an activity's automation plan
    To prevent unintentionally running a flow outside of Playbooks, you can use only subflows or actions in activity automation plans. Alternatively, you can set the flow's trigger to only run if not already running. For more information, see Workflow Studio flow trigger types.
    Specify default input values in your activity definitions
    Preconfiguring default input values for your activity definitions reduces the time and complexity needed for a playbook owner to create a playbook.