---
title: Playbook activities
description: Playbooks in Accounts Payable Operations display the stages and activities for processing invoice cases and tracking progress through each stage.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/source-to-pay-operations/accounts-payable-operations/how-playbook-works.html
release: australia
product: Accounts Payable Operations
classification: accounts-payable-operations
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-03-12"
reading_time_minutes: 1
keywords: [APO, Accounts Payable Operations, invoice case processing, playbook, guided resolution, Process Automation Designer, PAD, workflow tracking, case progress tracking, playbook lifecycle]
breadcrumb: [Playbook for updating the invoice primary data, Use, Accounts Payable Operations, Finance and Supply Chain]
---

# Playbook activities

Playbooks in Accounts Payable Operations display the stages and activities for processing invoice cases and tracking progress through each stage.

The playbook life cycle provides the context as to where an Accounts Payable specialist is within the playbook, including information for each stage and activity and any dependencies between stages. For stages with multiple activities, the playbook life cycle provides step-by-step guidance for completing the stage.

The playbook workflow is shown below.\[Omitted image "playboook.png"\] Alt text: The playbook displaying the various activity cards and options to process an invoice.

The stages and activities in a playbook life cycle are configured using [Process Automation Designer](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/build-workflows/process-automation-designer.md) \(PAD\). Refer to the table below for the Playbook activity.

|Indicator|Field|Description|
|---------|-----|-----------|
|1|Playbook header|Displays the title of the playbook|
|2|Progress indicators|Displays the state of the playbook|
|3|Playbook action menu|Allows you to expand or collapse stages in the playbook resulting in focused view. You can use the filter option to refine activities by the assigned user or by the activity status|
|4|Expand and collapse|Allows you to expand or collapse stages in the playbook|
|5|Show/hide playbook pane|Allows you to view or hide playbook pane|

The playbook work area appears in the center part of the playbook section. It displays the action taken for the current activity, depending on the configured activity view.

**Parent Topic:**[Playbook for updating the invoice primary data](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/source-to-pay-operations/accounts-payable-operations/playbooks.md)