Using Playbooks for Customer Service Management

---
title: Using Playbooks for Customer Service Management
description: Customer service agents can use playbooks to complete the tasks and activities that are needed to resolve specific types of cases.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/customer-service-management/csm-playbooks-using.html
release: australia
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 2
breadcrumb: [Automate and optimize, Use, Customer Service Management]
---

# Using Playbooks for Customer Service Management

Customer service agents can use playbooks to complete the tasks and activities that are needed to resolve specific types of cases.

A playbook provides step-by-step guidance through the lifecycle of a customer service case.

A playbook includes multiple stages and each stage includes one or more activities for an agent to complete. When using a playbook, agents can:

-   View the playbook stages and activities.
-   Select an activity and perform the work necessary to complete that activity.
-   Mark an activity as complete and move to the next activity or stage.
-   Complete the stages and activities necessary to resolve the case.

Several features are available to agents when using a playbook, depending on the playbook configuration.

| | |
|---|---|
|[Create a record using a playbook](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/customer-service-management/csm-playbook-create-record.md)|If a playbook is configured to use the record generator feature, customer service agents can create a record using a playbook activity.|
|[Filter playbook activities](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/customer-service-management/csm-playbook-filter-activities.md)|Filter the activities in playbook stages by the selected user or activity state.|
|[Using the activity stream in the contextual side panel](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/customer-service-management/csm-playbooks-using-activity-stream.md)|Customer service agents can access the activity stream in the contextual side panel to communicate with requesters and make internal notes about the work done on a record.|
|[Viewing dynamic related records in the contextual side panel](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/customer-service-management/csm-playbooks-viewing-rel-records.md)|Customer service agents can view dynamic related records that dynamically change based on the context of the current record or playbook activity.|
|[Viewing ribbon information in the contextual side panel](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/customer-service-management/csm-playbooks-viewing-ribbon-info.md)|Customer service agents can view ribbon information in the contextual side panel, including the case overview and timeline, Customer 360, and SLAs.|
|[Add an optional activity](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/customer-service-management/using-customized-playbook-experience-for-customer-service-management.md)|Add optional activities to different stages in a playbook as needed. For example, a customer may want to schedule an appointment to visit a location.|
|[Summarize a case](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/customer-service-management/case-summarization-in-process-page.md)|Use the ServiceNow Otto for CSM case summarization skill to summarize the case details and display this information on the case record.|

**Related topics**  


[Playbooks in Customer Service Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/customer-service-management/setting-up-csm-playbooks.md)

[Configure Playbooks for Customer Service Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/customer-service-management/csm-playbooks-configuring.md)