Workflow Automation CoE > Flows > Getting Started with Flows

What are Flows?

Flows are the heart and core of our Workflow Automation toolkit, which allows you to automate business logic to run synchronously and asynchronously. Create subflows, custom flow actions, and flow templates as contained logic entities that can be re-used repeatedly.

Find out more high-level information on building flows in Workflow Studio on the servicenow.com product page and this Flow Designer Data Sheet.

What happened to Flow Designer?

With the introduction of Workflow Studio in the Washington DC Release, all workflow automation types can be developed in a unified builder experience. Going forward, we will refer to building flows, subflows, and flow actions in Workflow Studio.

How do I get started with Flows?

Step 1: Documentation	Step 2: Training	Step 3: Guidance & Best Practices	Step 4: Further Resources

Step 1: Documentation

To familiarize yourself with the complete spectrum of features and the newest enhancements in a given release, ServiceNow Docs is the place to go.

Flows in Workflow Studio Docs

Release Highlights

Xanadu

Flows, subflows, and actions in Workflow Studio release notes

• Protect sensitive data in execution details by using the operations read role.
• Provide improved support of the variables data type for subflow and action inputs.
• Show annotations of what text directions were used to generate actions, flow logic, and subflows during flow generation.
• Sign and validate any flow, subflow, or action.

Washington DC

Flows in Workflow Studio Washington DC Release Notes

• Create multi-step flows with generative AI.
• Open Flow Designer from within Workflow Studio.
• Save flows automatically as you work on them.
• Start a flow when Performance Analytics conditions are met.
• Undo changes that you've made while editing a flow.
• Use the flow diagramming view to add annotations and Try flow logic.

Vancouver

Flow Designer Vancouver Release Notes

• Create a flow by selecting components from a set of Generative AI recommendations.
• Add and configure subflows from the diagramming view.
• Use the new Dynamic Inputs data type to create arbitrary action inputs.
• Use the improved Flow Designer landing page to work with flows.
• Add and configure Do the following until flow logic in the diagramming view.

Step 2: Training

Now Learning Training

Start by completing the training on Now Learning, we have 2 courses to learn building flows, subflows, and flow actions.

Flow Designer Essentials

Get certified:

Flow Designer Fundamentals Micro-Certification Assessment

Knowledge

CreatorCon is a special program of sessions and training that runs every year during our Knowledge conference. Every year, we get access to new great presentations and courses about our Workflow Automation Products.

Developer Program

Next, request a Personal Developer Instance (PDI) to practice what you learned. Check out the additional Flow Designer courses available on the Developer Portal. These courses are designed to be completed on a PDI.

Flow Designer Course

Step 3: Guidance and Best Practices

Whether you’re a first-time implementer or an experienced developer, if you’re only just starting to use the Workflow Automation products, or are looking to migrate off your legacy tech stack, the following resources will help you understand how to best approach using Flow Designer.

Center of Excellence

We've put together a series of articles covering best practices for Flow Designer, Action Designer, and Integration Hub.

CoE/Flow Designer Best Practices

Learn how to do simple, complex, and scripted approvals with Flow Designer

CoE/Flow Designer Approvals

Learn how to do hierarchical lookups in do-until logic with Flow Designer

CoE/Do Until Look Up

New! Learn how to do hierarchical lookups with the go-back-to flow logic in flows!

CoE/Go back to Look Up

Learn how to run subflows dynamically with a Decision Table

CoE/Running subflows dynamically with Decisions

Learn how to determine access to Flow Designer, its features, and access at runtime

CoE/Securing Workflow Automation Products

New! Learn about Flow and Action Error Handling, and how to use the new Go back to Flow Logic

CoE/Flow and Action Error Handling

FAQ

CoE/Flows FAQ

Platform Academy

We have also been covering Flow Designer topics in our Platform Academy. These include sessions on Best practices, guidance, performance, debugging, error handling, and migration use cases.

February 17, 2022 - Flow Designer Good Practices

June 9th, 2022 - Flow Designer Migration Use Cases

June 23rd, 2022 - Flow Designer performance and debugging tips

April 27, 2023 - Flow Designer Approvals

July 6, 2023 - Better together: Virtual Agent and Flow Designer

August 3, 2023 - Better together: Building Flows for Subscription Management

November 8th, 2023 - Securing Workflow Automation Products

Workflow Academy

New in 2024: Check out the Workflow Academy video series!

Migration Considerations

CoE Article: Migration Considerations (Author: Lisa Holenstein, Release: Washington)

Blog: Is your work flowing? What makes Flow Designer and IntegrationHub better and why you should migrate ... (Author: Lisa Holenstein, Release: Rome)

Use Cases

Blog: Scripted Approvals in Flow Designer with Flow Variables (Author: Lisa Holenstein, Release: Rome)

Blog: Handling errors and planned process time-out in Flow Designer (Author: Lisa Holenstein, Release: Rome)

YouTube: Configure a sequence to fulfill items in order guides

YouTube

Generate a Flow with Now Assist

Step 4: Further Resources

Developer Program

In addition to PDIs and courses, the developer program publishes blogs, podcasts, and videos about Flow Designer regularly.

CT | What's new for Flow Designer in Washington DC

Blog | Remote Tables Flow Trigger

LCHH | Workflow Studio & Flow Designer

BP | Workflow Studio & Flow Designer w/Jingfei Chen

CT | What’s New in Flow Designer for Vancouver

Blog | What’s New in Flow Designer for Vancouver

CT | Dynamic Inputs in Action Designer

Blog | What's new in Flow Designer for Utah

Creator Toolbox | Utah Flow Designer Updates

Flow Designer Developer Blogs

Break Point Podcast

Community Content

Our greatest asset is YOU. Our ServiceNow community has a wide array of amazing ServiceNow developers, practitioners, admins, and content creators. Thank you!

Blog: Integration Hub Spokes and How to Build Them (Author: Joe Wilmoth, Release: Vancouver)

Blog: How to migrate from scripted integration to Integration Hub - Part 1 (Author: Daniel Draes, Release: Vancouver, 5 parts total!)

Article: How to Use Multirow Variable Sets (MRVS) in Flow Designer (Author: Jon Lind, Release: Utah)

YouTube Series: Go with the Flow - A collection of ServiceNow Flow Designer Tutorials (Author: Robert Fedoruk, Release: Rome/San Diego/Tokyo) – YouTube Playlist

Link collection: Platform: Flow Designer || Knowledge & Troubleshooting Resources (Author: Maik Skoddow, San Diego)

Article: Set Value of a Catalog Variable at Flow Designer (Author: Maik Skoddow, Release: Rome)

Blog: 6 mistakes to avoid when using Flow Designer (Author: Paul Morris, The ServiceNow Nerd, Release: Tokyo)

Article: Using list collector in Flow Designer 'For Each loop' by converting string into array of string (Author: Ankur Bawiskar, Release: Paris)

Center of Excellence Navigation