Description

There are situations where a workflow may be stuck on a specific workflow activity. Whether there was an error on the activity, a canceled workflow, or for some reason the workflow will not move to the next activity, one of the ways to resolve the issue is to re-run the activity on the workflow. Below, you'll find an example of how to restart the 'Timer' activity after it's been stuck. 

Procedure

1. Navigate to "Workflow Context" (wf_context.list) and find the canceled workflow you want to restart:

 2. Navigate to the "Workflow Transition History" tab. You'll want to find the Activity you want to restart. In this case, we want to locate the "1-minute Timer" activity and copy its "sys_id". 

3. To quickly copy the "sys_id", click on "Activity" (1-minute Timer) activity. Right-click the header and "Copy sys_id". Save the "sys_id" on a notepad. Click the "Back" button of the browser to return to the workflow context.

4. Now, we'll need to copy the sys_id of the Workflow Version. To do so, Right-Click the header on the Workflow Context Record and select "Show XML". Now search for "workflow_version" and copy the sys_id in a notepad. 

5. Go to "Workflow Executing Activities" Tab. "Right-Click" on one of the column headers (Ex. "Started") and navigate to "Configure -> List Control". From the List Control window "uncheck" the "Omit New Button" and then click "Update". 

6. There should be a "New" button on the "Workflow Executing Activities" Tab.

7. Click on the "New" Button. This will open a new "Workflow Executing Activity" form record. However, all the fields are read-only. You'll need to disable a UI policy called "default read only" (/nav_to.do?uri=sys_ui_policy.do?sys_id=404aa228d77a31008d7dc23c5e610388). You can do this by right-clicking the header and navigate to "Configure" -> "UI Policies". Set the UI policy, "default read only" to "false". 

8. Add the "Workflow Version" field by right-clicking the header and navigating to "Configure" -> "Form Layout". Find "Workflow Version" and move it to the right slush bucket. Save.

9. In the "Activity" field, you'll need to look for the activity from Step 3. Search for the "1-minute Timer" activity by using the filter for sys_id and pasting the sys_id. (Screenshot Below)

10. You'll need to do the same thing for "Workflow Version" field by searching the sys_id copied from Step 6. 

11. Submit the form. You should now have a new Workflow Executing Activity.

*If the workflow context is in "Canceled" state, you'll need to set the following: state=executing, active=true . You can do so by exporting the XML of the workflow context and modify the "State" and "Active" fields in a text editor. Save the xml and import the xml. 

12. Return to the Record where the workflow is running against (in this case, the RITM record), and update the record. This will restart the workflow activity. 

Applicable Versions

All

Additional Information

Workflow Resources Page: https://hi.service-now.com/kb_view.do?sysparm_article=kb0541991