> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.serval.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Journeys overview

> Run multi-step, cross-team processes like onboarding and offboarding, with views tailored to everyone involved.

<Info>
  **Journeys is in open beta** and the product is actively evolving.
</Info>

A *journey* is a multi-step, structured process built around the person at its center (e.g., a new hire being onboarded, an employee changing roles, someone leaving the company). Instead of a single ticket, a journey coordinates many tasks across many people, in the right order, over days or weeks. Everyone involved gets a view tailored to their role, so they see exactly the tasks that are theirs to do.

## When to use a journey

Use a journey to manage a process when that process has one or more of these characteristics:

* **Multiple tasks in a specific order**: steps that must happen in sequence, not all at once.
* **Different inputs at different times**: information that's collected in stages rather than up front.
* **Multiple stakeholders/teams**: work that's split across an employee, their manager, IT, and other teams.
* **Time-based steps**: a task that shouldn't start until a certain date (for example, "send first-day instructions the morning they start").
* **Dependent tasks**: a task that can't begin until another one finishes, whether that earlier task has the same assignee or a different one.

> If the process is a single thread of actions, a [workflow](/sections/documentation/workflows/overview) is usually the better fit.

### Example use cases

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Onboarding" icon="user-plus">
    Provision accounts, assign equipment, schedule training, and walk a new hire through first-week tasks.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Offboarding" icon="user-minus">
    Revoke access, collect devices, and hand off responsibilities when someone leaves.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Job changes" icon="user-pen">
    Manage access, tooling, and the overall process for promotions or internal transfers.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

The example use cases are common in IT and HR operations, but a journey works for any structured, multi-step process your team owns.

## Key concepts

A journey consists of [**tasks**](/sections/documentation/ticketing/ticket-configuration/tasks) split among multiple parties, including the **requester** (e.g. the new hire), **stakeholders** (e.g. their hiring manager), and Serval **teams** (e.g. IT and HR teams). More complex employee onboarding journeys may include additional stakeholders, such as a skip-level manager.

A task could be a form submission (e.g. filling in contact info), an automated workflow (e.g. creating an Okta account for a new hire), or a manual step (e.g. verifying I-9 documentation). Tasks can be gated by time (e.g. I-9 verification is gated by the employee's start date) or dependent tasks (e.g. Okta account creation is gated on contact info).

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/serval/dwMJ6Xosit1knzKD/images/serval-docs/journeys/journey-overview.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=dwMJ6Xosit1knzKD&q=85&s=9e688b01ea94e77513d825a4babe6a5a" alt="Journey Overview showing the requester, manager, and team columns with their tasks" width="2048" height="1090" data-path="images/serval-docs/journeys/journey-overview.png" />
</Frame>

## How to get started

> Enable Journeys per team under **Settings → Capabilities**. When it's off, that team's sidebar hides the section.

### Install a pre-built journey

Serval offers Installable journeys out of the box.

1. Navigate to **Journeys** from the team sidebar
2. Click **New Journey**
3. Click **Installable Journeys** and add them to your environment

### Build a new journey

We recommend using Catalyst to build new journeys that can be triggered by your team or an HRIS event. Open a chat directly from the **Catalyst** tab, describe the journey, and Catalyst drafts it for you.

For more information, see [Building journeys with Catalyst](/sections/documentation/catalyst/journeys).

### Running journeys

**From a trigger:** A journey can be triggered automatically by an event from an external system, such as a new-hire record appearing in Workday. For how to set up an automated trigger, see [Building journeys with Catalyst](/sections/documentation/catalyst/journeys).

**From the UI:** Whether you installed a pre-built journey or built your own, they will appear in the **New Journey** dialog. Select any available journey, fill in any required inputs, and submit.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/serval/dwMJ6Xosit1knzKD/images/serval-docs/journeys/new-journey-dialog.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=dwMJ6Xosit1knzKD&q=85&s=29940ace8a4dbfcc6682a68de27d7ba1" alt="New Journey dialog listing available journey workflows, with Installable Journeys and Create new journey with Catalyst buttons" width="1176" height="1262" data-path="images/serval-docs/journeys/new-journey-dialog.png" />
</Frame>

### Archive a journey

To take a finished or abandoned journey off the active list, use **Archive journey** from the journey's actions or from its row actions in the list. An archived journey shows a banner and stays available to **Unarchive** later.

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Journey tasks" icon="diagram-project" href="/sections/documentation/journeys/tasks">
    Overview of journey tasks
  </Card>

  <Card title="Journey admin and end user views" icon="diagram-project" href="/sections/documentation/journeys/views">
    How admin and end users view journeys
  </Card>

  <Card title="Cross-team journeys" icon="diagram-project" href="/sections/documentation/journeys/cross-team">
    Use a journey to manage tasks for a team
  </Card>

  <Card title="Serval for People teams" icon="users" href="/sections/documentation/team-solutions/People/people-team-starter">
    Onboarding and offboarding patterns for HR and People teams
  </Card>

  <Card title="Building journeys" icon="wand-magic-sparkles" href="/sections/documentation/catalyst/journeys">
    Design and build journeys in Catalyst
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
