New Workflow

Workflows are the process of designing and automating a sequence of connected tasks or steps that must be carried out in a precise order to reach a given objective or result.

Workflow Design configuration window provides the step-by-step actions that are taken on the machine/configuration item by the workflow. These are the technical actions that are taken as per the requirement provided.

A workflow design should have a starting point which can be referred to as an initiation. The initiation may happen in different ways – such as Incident, Service Request, Work Order.

Workflow Design platform consists of the following segments:

Serial Execution
If and Else condition
Pass script output between Executions
Script deviation based on current script Output/status (success or failure)

To configure a New Workflow, perform the following steps:

Navigate to SA > Workflows > New Workflow.
Enter the details on the Workflow Configuration pop-up page.
Figure: Workflow Configuration
On the New Workflow page, provide all the required details as shown in the below screenshot. For more information, refer Field Description.
Figure: Workflow Configuration pop-up
Close the popup window to configure the Workflow.

The following figure displays Workflow page.

Figure: Workflow Designer page

Workflow Configuration Field Description

Workflow Configuration

You can configure Workflows for Incidents, Service Requests (SRs), and Work Orders. In the Service Automation Workflows, a condition is defined. If this condition is met, the defined Service Automation workflow is linked, and scripts are executed. This does not require any manual intervention from the Analysts and the actions are performed by the Service Automation Scripts if the precondition is met. Using drag and drop, you can add a Script or Condition to the Workflow.

Figure: Workflow Configuration

Workflow Name - Enter a desired name for the workflow.
Workflow Category - Search and select the desired category.
Trigger Event - A ticket is updated if any of the fixed fields of Incident/Request/Work Order values are changed and saved.
- ITSM on Create
- ITSM on Update (Only Once)
- ITSM on Create/Update (Always)
- API/Scheduler
Module - Select the desired Module from the following options:
- Change Management
- Incident Management
- Service Request
- Task
- Workorder
Description - Describe the function of the workflow.

Content Parser

Lists the configured parser types:

Line: If Incident/Service Request/ Work Order description is in line format then select Parser Type as Line. Line parser type can only be applied for Description content type.

Figure: Parser Type - Line

Free-form: If Symptom/Description is in paragraph format then select Parser Type as Free Form. It is used to extract the words between two words. Free-form can be applied to either Description or Symptom content type.

Figure: Parser Type - Free-Form

Following are the line variables:

List	Description
Line Delimiter	The line delimiter is a character that indicates the end of the line or splits the description value into multiple lines. Based on Line Delimiter, content is divided into lines. Select the line delimiter from the list. By default, the New Line option is selected. If you select Others, type in the character that is considered as a line delimiter in the text box.
Key Delimiter	The Key Delimiter is a character that separates the User-defined key and the other text in the output. Based on Key Delimiter options, the key, and the value are identified from a line. Select the key delimiter from the list. By default, the Colon option is selected. If you select Others, type in the character that is considered a key delimiter in the text box.
Line No.	Specify the location or position of the content that needs to be parsed from the Description. If 1 is specified as Line No then the first line from the description is considered as the key value. For example, If the Line No. is represented as one (1) then the first line from the Description is considered as the key value.
Key Name	Specify a user-defined key name. This key name will be displayed in the Conditions and Parameter sections.
Map to CI	If Map to CI is enabled for a specified key and Target Type is set to CI, Target Host Type is set to Incident CI or Service Request CI, the key value will be considered as Target CI if that CI Name / IP Address exists in CMDB.
Action	Click “+” icon to add the Keys. Click “-” icon to delete the Keys.

For Example: Below is the description of an Incident for Service Status notification.

Service Status Notification

The following service is down.

Server Type: Print Spooler
Service Status: Down

Configuration

Line Delimiter	New Line
Key Delimiter	:
Line No.	1
Key Name	Test_Line1

For the above configuration, it will extract the line "Server Type: Print Spooler" from the above description as the key value.

Configured key Test_Line1 will be available in the Conditions section under Field Name as Line Parser: Test_Line1 in the list of conditions apart from other default conditions for Description. You can apply the conditions on the Line parser key (Line Parser: Test_Line1).

Following are the Free-Form Delimiter variables:

Free Form

Description

Content Type

Select the content type from the drop-down list. Available options are as following:

Symptom or Subject
Description

Key Name

Specify a user-defined key name. This key name will be displayed in Conditions and Parameter sections.

Preceding Text

Specify the preceding text for the selected Content Type.

Succeeding Text

Specify the succeeding text for the selected Content Type.

Occurrence

Specify a number. In an Incident/Service Request/Work Order, the occurrence of the specified preceding and succeeding text or the preceding text alone in the selected Content Type is represented as a number.

For example, If the Occurrence is represented as one (1) for the Content Type: Symptom, then the first occurrence of the specified text is considered as the key value.

Key Value: In the Incident/Service Request/Work Order, the available text between the preceding text and the succeeding text is considered as the key value. For example, the Incident/Service Request/Work Order containing the following content:

Status: The job (Job: "DBSUtil01 Backup 00007) completed successfully. Status The job (Job: "DBSUtil02 Backup 00008) completed successfully.

Preceding Text	Succeeding Text	Occurrence	Key Value
Status	successfully	1	The Key Value is considered as The job (Job: "DBSUtil01 Backup 00007) completed.
Status	successfully	2	The Key Value is considered as The job (Job: "DBSUtil02 Backup 00008) completed.

Map to CI

If Map to CI is enabled for a specified key and Target Type is set to CI, Target Host Type is set to Incident CI or Service Request CI, the key value will be considered as Target CI if that CI Name / IP Address exists in CMDB.

Action

Click “+” icon to add the Keys.

Click “-” icon to delete the Keys.

Following are the conditions variables:

Conditions Variables	Description
Condition Name	Name the condition.
Operator	Logical expressions which may be evaluated by a workflow engine to decide the sequence of activity execution within a process.
Value	Enter a condition value.
Action	Add or delete conditions applicable to the use case.

Workflow Designer

Drag and drop the required Condition, REST Web Service and Skill from the Activities tab on the left.

After creating the desired workflow, the designer page will be displayed as shown below:

Figure: Workflow Designer page

Best Practices for Designing Exceptional Workflows

Start by creating simple workflows for generic processes as they are easier to understand and requires minimal steps to be completed.
Move onto newer tasks that need to be verified and approved by different people.
Create a node that will act as the decision point.
The task should then further move down the connection line to reach multiple nodes before it reaches the final stage.
Tasks completed can be marked done in the workflow process.

Action Icons

Let’s understand all the action icons at the top bar.

Icon	Description
	This icon can be used to zoom in on the designer space items.
	This icon can be used to zoom out from the designer space.
	This icon can be used to revert any recent action (undo), to restore the previous state.
	This icon can be used to reapply any action that was previously undone (redo).
	Preview displays a view of the overall flow of the workflow created.
	This icon can be used to change property panel position.
	This icon can be used to enable or disable the display of Outline window.
	This icon can be used to view the Execution History details. Figure: Execution History

Import and Export options

Following are the Import and Export actions on the Workflow page.

Actions

Following are list of Actions on New Workflow page:

Action Name	Description
Show List	Navigates back to the workflow list view, allowing administrators to view and manage existing workflows without saving the current one.
Import From Existing	Creates a new workflow by copying an existing workflow definition, enabling faster setup through reuse of proven logic.
Import From JSON	Allows administrators to upload a workflow definition from a JSON file, supporting bulk creation, migration, or environment synchronization.
Export To Image	Exports the current workflow as an image, making it easy to share workflow designs for documentation, reviews, or approvals.
Export To JSON	Exports the workflow definition in JSON format, enabling backup, reuse, and transfer of workflows across environments or tenants.

License Validation Use Case

The License Validation Use Case describes how Service Automation manages workflow creation based on the number of licenses purchased and consumed. The system continuously tracks available workflow licenses and provides real‑time validation messages to guide users when creating or importing workflows.

Consider the user had purchased 15 licenses and 14 are in-use the available license count is displayed as 1. This means that one more workflow can be configured.
Create one more workflow by navigating to SA > Workflow > New workflow.
Workflow confirmation message is displayed with the available license count.
This confirmation message is displayed if the license count is less than or equal to 5.

Figure: Confirmation Message
Warning
If all the workflows are utilized and you create a workflow, then a confirmation message is displayed as below:
“Your license is fully utilized. You can only create workflows in an inactive state.”

Figure: Inactive State
Click Yes Proceed to create the Workflow.
Workflows created in an Inactive state do not contribute to license consumption.
From the above use case you will still have 1 license until you create an Active workflow.

For all the utilized licenses, upon activating in the workflow the below error message is displayed on the Workflow page.
Warning
Your license is fully utilized. You can only create workflows in an inactive state.

Figure: Workflow Configuration
The confirmation message is displayed for the below actions while importing or adding the workflow:
- Import from Existing
- Import from JSON
- Export to JSON
- Export to New
Figure: Import Workflow
Note
To free up workflows, you can deactivate existing workflows and then activate new workflows.