Enabling playbook restart
Summarize
Summary of Enabling playbook restart
Playbook restart in ServiceNow's Playbook Experience allows agents and fulfillers to restart a playbook either from the beginning or from a specific stage or activity. This feature is controlled through restart rules defined by playbook administrators in Workflow Studio. Restart is enabled automatically for new playbooks, but must be manually enabled for existing ones and once enabled, it cannot be disabled.
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Restart Rules
Restart rules determine the behavior of stages and activities during a restarted playbook run:
- Skip on restart: Runs only during the initial execution and is skipped on restart to avoid duplicating tasks or records.
- Run always: Runs during both the initial run and every restarted run.
- Skip on first run: Runs only during a restarted run and not during the initial run.
Restart States
The ability to restart depends on the state of the playbook, stage, or activity:
- Playbooks can only be restarted when in the In Progress (active) state.
- Playbooks in terminal states (Complete, Error, Cancelled) cannot be restarted.
- Stages and activities can be restarted only when in a complete or error state.
Design Considerations
- Avoid configuring the last stage or activity as Skip on first run unless there are parallel stages or activities; otherwise, it may never run if the playbook restarts early.
- Do not group all activities set to Skip on first run within a single stage, as this hides the stage on the first run and requires a restart to become visible.
Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers
By enabling and configuring playbook restart, administrators empower agents and fulfillers to efficiently manage playbook executions, handle exceptions, or repeat processes without unintended duplication of tasks or records. Careful use of restart rules and understanding state conditions ensure smooth restarts and consistent playbook behavior. Proper design and configuration prevent stages or activities from being inadvertently skipped or hidden, maintaining clarity and workflow integrity.
Learn how playbook restart during runtime works and how restart rules control the behavior of stages and activities during a restarted run.
Playbook restart lets agents and fulfillers in Playbook Experience restart a playbook from the beginning, or from a specific stage or activity. Playbooks administrators enable restart in Workflow Studio and define restart rules for each stage and activity.
Restart is automatically enabled for new playbooks. For existing playbooks, an administrator must enable restart manually. Once enabled, restart cannot be disabled.
Restart rules
When you configure restart for a stage or activity, you define what it does when a playbook is restarted. The following rules are available:
| Rule | Description |
|---|---|
| Skip on restart | The stage or activity runs only during the initial run. It does not run when the playbook is restarted. Use this rule when you don't want new tasks or records to be created during a restarted run, because the original execution and its resulting record are still relevant. |
| Run always | The stage or activity runs during both the initial run and any restarted run. |
| Skip on first run | The stage or activity runs only during a restarted run. It never runs during the initial run. |
Restart states
The state of a playbook, stage, or activity determines whether it can be restarted.
A playbook can only be restarted when it is in an active state. The only active state is In Progress. Playbooks in a terminal state — Complete, Error, or Cancelled — cannot be restarted.
The opposite is true for stages and activities. A stage or activity can only be restarted when it is in a complete or error state.
Design considerations
- Last stages and activities
- Avoid setting the last stage or activity of a playbook to Skip on first run if there are no parallel stages or activities. If the playbook is restarted before the last stage or activity can run, the last stage or activity never runs.
- Stages
- Avoid grouping all activities that are configured to Skip on first run in one (1) stage. If you do so, the stage is completely hidden the first time that it runs. The stage must run twice to become visible.