---
title: Designing a major incident playbook
description: Use Playbooks to design your own playbook by creating custom flows, and then configure trigger rules to activate the playbook for Major Incident Management.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-service-management/service-operations-workspace/design-playbooks-mim-sow.html
release: australia
product: Service Operations Workspace
classification: service-operations-workspace
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 1
breadcrumb: [Assign a playbook to Major Incident Management, Configuring Major Incident Management in Service Operations Workspace, Setting up Major Incident Management in Service Operations Workspace, Getting started with Service Operations Workspace for ITSM, Configuring Service Operations Workspace for ITSM, Service Operations Workspace for ITSM, IT Service Management]
---

# Designing a major incident playbook

Use Playbooks to design your own playbook by creating custom flows, and then configure trigger rules to activate the playbook for Major Incident Management.

Select the **Process Automation Designer** link in the Create new playbook section of the Assign Playbook page in Admin Center to open the Playbooks page. For more information on how to assign a playbook, see [Assign a playbook to Major Incident Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/service-operations-workspace/assign-playbook-mim-sow.md).

The Playbooks home page displays a list of available processes including the following playbooks that are available in the base system:

-   **MI Playbook** – This playbook is available in the **Published** state.
-   **Advanced MI playbook** – This playbook is available in the **Draft** state. You can select the playbook and then select **Activate** to change the status of the playbook.

You can select **New** to create a playbook or select an existing playbook, such as the Advanced MI playbook, to add and configure the flows, activity, and trigger rules. You can do the following actions using Playbooks:

-   Trigger rules - Select **Trigger** to set the trigger conditions in the condition builder under which a playbook gets attached to a major incident.
-   Flows and UI layout – Use the options on the side panel to set the properties, create automation tasks and activities, add details and flows, and configure the playbook UI layout.
-   Activity – Add activities to the playbook, such as unplanned communication or collaboration steps. Use the custom activity that is shipped as part of the base system to add and configure activities.
-   Activate – Activate the playbook on the instance.
-   Test – Test the playbook on the instance.