Workflows in ServiceNow are flowchart-driven automation tools with a drag-and-drop interface. Workflows can be used to automate multi-step processes using various tools, including approvals, child-task generation, notifications, logical loops and scripting, if/then control flow, timers, and they can even wait for and react to user activity.

Versions of each workflow are stored in the Workflow Versions [wf_workflow_version] table. When a task matches the criteria set up for a workflow, that workflow will execute against that task, and perform activities on it. This relationship between one workflow version and one task, is called a context. Contexts are stored in the Workflow Context [wf_context] table.

This setup is necessary because you might have workflow version 1 as the published workflow version one day, and any tasks created on that day will be executed with that workflow. However, if you make changes to the workflow and re-publish it (thus creating a new version of the same...