User Guide > Map Connectors > Source and Target Map Connectors > ServiceNow
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ServiceNow
ServiceNow provides a service model that defines, structures, and automates various workflows, removing email and spreadsheets from the process to streamline the delivery of services. It replaces manual transactions with a service experience designed for everyone in the enterprise. Built to manage everything as a service, ServiceNow places a service-oriented lens on the activities, tasks, and processes that is part of the day-to-day work life.
ServiceNow enables enterprise service domains to define services, provide an intuitive service experience, deliver service, assure service availability, and analyze critical service metrics. The ServiceNow platform includes the following features:
• Application Development: Build, test and publish applications that can span from a single department to an entire enterprise. Since less or no coding is required, almost anyone can build business applications for every line of business.
• Field Service Management: Makes field service management simple by replacing spreadsheets, email and other management tools with a single system.
• Finance Service Management: Fulfil submitted requests including financial reports, procurement and payroll issues; gain visibility into work requests and trends over time.
• HR Service Management: Create a system of engagement that works in tandem with existing applications for core HR, talent, and workforce management. (Learn how why effective is ServiceNow implementation for HR service Management.)
• IT Service Management: ITSM consolidates and automates service management processes, increase efficiency, lower costs-and devote more time to creating the consumer-like self-service experience that users expect.
• Security Operations: Systematically manage security incidents, prioritize vulnerabilities, visualize the effectiveness of security investments, and adapt to changing conditions.
Prerequisites
• User ID and password to access the ServiceNow application.
• You must have appropriate security permissions for the tables with which the connector will interact. This includes:
• Table that the user configures within the connector.
• Specific system tables that the connector uses to obtain table metadata:
– sys_db_object: Used to collect table-level metadata such as inheritance.
– sys_dictionary: Used to collect field-level metadata including name, alias, length, data type, and so on.
– sys_glide_object: Used to collect information about data types including names, base types, and so on.
• Name of the ServiceNow instance.
• Understand the ServiceNow tables with which you will interact.
• Internet access.
The connector utilizes the ServiceNow Platform's REST Table API in order.
Connector Properties
You can set the following source (S) and target (T) properties.
 
Property
S/T
Description
Batch Size
S
Number of records that the connector reads at one time from ServiceNow. The default value is 100.
Encoded Query String
S
ServiceNow URL-friendly query string which specifies the criteria to filter the returned records. For more information, see the following link:
http://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/utah-platform-user-interface/page/use/using-lists/concept/c_EncodedQueryStrings.html.
Use Display Values
ST
When this property is set to True, it returns string display values for all fields. If it is set to False, it returns the raw data types and values for all fields, including GUIDs of records in external tables.
Default value is True.
Note:  ServiceNow data will not be retrieved for Journal Input type fields (like comments and comments_and_work_notes in the incident table) when the Use Display Values property is set to False. The entries for these fields are stored in a separate table (sys_journal_field). Retrieving the data for these fields would require performing separate queries for each field of the type Journal Input which would have a significant performance impact on queries. The best way to include the contents of Journal Input fields is to set the source connector’s Use Display Values property to True. If that is not possible, then the map must be designed to perform the separate queries manually in events to set the values.
Flush Frequency
T
Number of records buffered in memory before being written to the ServiceMix target connector. Default is 0 (all records are written at once). If you are inserting many records, then changing the default to a higher value may improve performance.
Batch Response
T
The file to which CRUD operation results are written. The format is one entry per record, indicating success or failure. If operation fails, information about cause of failure is returned. Default is to not write a batch response file.
Multiple Records Max Size
T
Sets the number of insert records that the target connector will send in a single request to ServiceMix. Default is 100.
Note:  This option is ignored if the Insert Multiple Web Service Plugin has not been installed in the ServiceMix instance.
Target Output Modes
• Insert
• Delete
• Update
• Upsert
Data Types
ServiceNow fields can be any of the 150 defined types, but all of them are derived from a set of scalar types (with the exception of complex fields). The ServiceNow connector exposes all types as one of the following basic types:
• STRING
• FLOAT
• INTEGER
• LONG
• DECIMAL
• DATE
• DATETIME
• TIME
• BOOLEAN
• GUID - Globally Unique Identifier (handled as a 32-bit character string)
Performance Notes
Dynamic queries against multiple ServiceNow system tables are performed to build the source schema for the map during design (when you connect to a chosen table). Since this operation is very expensive and time-consuming, the connector is configured such that the engine provides the source schema to the connector during execution.
The connector primarily uses the ServiceNow REST Table API to perform various CRUD operations. This API is efficient for read operations, but it is not designed to handle multi-record update operations. This means that inserts, updates, or deletes must be sent one record at a time to ServiceNow instances. This results in very slow performance. The connector attempts to overcome this by using the SOAP table API when possible. The SOAP API is used:
• If the administrator of the ServiceNow instance has installed the Insert Multiple Web Service plug-in, the connector sends multiple records in a single request to ServiceNow. The number of records sent is defined by the Multiple Records Max Size property.
• To delete multiple records in the target table based data mapped to key fields in the target table.
All update operations are performed one record at a time if the "sys_id" field is mapped. If other key fields are mapped instead of sys_id, then an additional query must be performed in order to obtain the sys_id field of all records to be updated.
Limitations
Table-level operations (create, drop, clear, and create index) are not supported due to lack of client-side API support.
Operators
N/A
Last modified date: 08/02/2023