2. Instance Configuration
Configuring and customizing the ServiceNow instance
User Administration
- • Users (sys_user): employee records with roles and groups
- • Groups (sys_user_group): organize users for assignment and access
- • Roles: admin, itil, catalog_admin, knowledge_admin
- • Role inheritance: groups inherit roles from parent groups
- • Impersonation: admins can test as other users
Application and Module Configuration
- • Applications: groupings of modules in the navigator
- • Modules: individual menu items (list, form, URL, separator)
- • Application menus: control visibility by role
- • Update Sets: track configuration changes for migration
- • Update Set workflow: Local → Retrieved → Preview → Commit
UI Configuration
- • UI Policies: dynamically change form behavior (show/hide, mandatory, read-only)
- • UI Actions: buttons, links, and context menu items on forms
- • Client Scripts: JavaScript running in the browser (onChange, onLoad, onSubmit, onCellEdit)
- • Data Policies: enforce data consistency (server-side, also run on client)
- • UI Policy vs Data Policy: UI = form behavior, Data = data enforcement
Notifications
- • Email notifications: triggered by record changes or events
- • Notification types: email, SMS, meeting invitation
- • Who will receive: users, groups, event fields
- • Email layouts and templates
- • Inbound email actions: create/update records from emails
3. Self-Service and Automation
Service Catalog, Knowledge Management, and workflow automation
Service Catalog
- • Catalog Categories: organize catalog items into logical groups
- • Catalog Items: individual requestable services or products
- • Record Producers: create records from the catalog (e.g., create incident)
- • Order Guides: bundle multiple catalog items together
- • Variables and Variable Sets: form fields on catalog items
- • Execution Plans and Flow Designer for fulfillment
Knowledge Management
- • Knowledge Bases: containers for knowledge articles
- • Article lifecycle: Draft → Review → Published → Retired
- • Knowledge article versioning and feedback
- • User criteria: control who can read/write knowledge
- • Knowledge blocks: reusable content across articles
Flow Designer
- • Triggers: record-based, schedule-based, application-based
- • Actions: create record, update record, send email, approvals
- • Flow logic: if/else, for each, wait for condition
- • Subflows: reusable flow components
- • Flow Designer vs Workflow Editor (legacy)
Service Portal
- • Self-service portal for end users
- • Portal pages, widgets, and themes
- • Service Portal vs Platform UI
- • Catalog and Knowledge integration in portal
4. Database Administration
Tables, schema design, and data dictionary management
Tables and Schema
- • Base table: Task [task] — parent for Incident, Problem, Change, etc.
- • Table inheritance: child tables inherit parent fields
- • Table types: Base, Core, Custom (u_ prefix)
- • Extension tables vs flat tables
- • sys_id: unique 32-character identifier for every record
Data Dictionary
- • Field types: string, integer, reference, date/time, journal, choice
- • Dictionary overrides: customize inherited fields in child tables
- • Choice lists: dropdown values, can be dependent
- • Field attributes: mandatory, read-only, unique, max_length
- • Reference qualifiers: filter reference field lookups
Access Control Lists (ACLs)
- • ACL evaluation order: table.field → table.* → *.field → *.*
- • Operations: read, write, create, delete
- • Conditions: role-based, script-based, conditional
- • Row-level ACLs vs field-level ACLs
- • ACL debugging: use Security Diagnostics
Business Rules
- • When: before, after, async, display
- • Before: modify data before database write
- • After: trigger actions after database write
- • Async: run in background (long-running tasks)
- • current and previous objects: access record data
- • GlideRecord API: query and manipulate records in scripts
5. Data Management and Reporting
Importing data, reporting, dashboards, and CMDB
Import Sets and Transform Maps
- • Import Set: staging table for incoming data
- • Transform Map: maps import set columns to target table fields
- • Coalesce: match incoming data with existing records (update vs insert)
- • Data sources: file, JDBC, LDAP, REST
- • Scheduled imports: automate recurring data loads
CMDB (Configuration Management Database)
- • Configuration Items (CIs): hardware, software, services
- • CI Classes: server, network gear, application, database
- • CI Relationships: runs on, used by, depends on
- • Discovery: auto-detect and populate CIs
- • CMDB Health: data quality and completeness metrics
Reporting
- • Report types: bar, pie, line, list, pivot, funnel
- • Report sources: tables, database views
- • Sharing: publish to homepage, schedule email delivery
- • Performance Analytics: KPIs, indicators, dashboards
- • Interactive filters: allow users to drill down in reports
Dashboards
- • Dashboard: collection of widgets displaying reports and data
- • Homepages vs Dashboards: homepage = legacy, dashboard = current
- • Widgets: report, performance analytics, custom HTML
- • Dashboard sharing and publishing
