When building your first application on the ServiceNow platform, it is crucial to understand the different types of users who will benefit from or participate in the business process. ServiceNow generally categorizes these users into two distinct personas: Requestors and Fulfillers. Each persona plays an important role in the request-and-fulfill workflow, ensuring smooth service delivery and operational efficiency.
Requestors
A Requestor is an end user who submits service requests and interacts with the platform primarily to seek assistance or resources. Their role is focused on initiating requests rather than managing or fulfilling them. Key characteristics of requestors include:
- Initiating Requests. Requestors submit requests for services, support, or business needs through the ServiceNow service portal, mobile app, conversational interface, email, or other channels.
- Tracking Status. They can monitor the progress of their requests, receiving updates and notifications about approvals, fulfillment steps, or delays.
- Limited System Access. Requestors typically cannot modify or process requests beyond their submissions. Their access is restricted to their own requests and related updates.
- Realizing Value Through Fulfillment: The primary benefit for a requestor is that they receive the service or resolution they sought, improving their overall experience within the organization.
Fulfillers
A Fulfiller is responsible for processing, managing, and resolving service requests or incidents submitted by requestors. They ensure that business operations run smoothly by addressing user needs efficiently. Key responsibilities and attributes of fulfillers include:
- Handling and Resolving Requests. Fulfillers review, process, remediate, and close service requests and incidents based on their department’s workflows and service-level agreements (SLAs).
- Working with ServiceNow Workspaces. They use workspace views, dashboards, or specialized modules in ServiceNow to track and manage incoming requests.
- Collaborating Across Teams. Fulfillers often work in IT support, HR, Facilities, Finance, Security, or other departments and business units that handle incoming service requests.
- Access to Organization Data. Unlike requestors, fulfillers can view broader datasets, including work assigned to their team, to ensure smooth request resolution and avoid bottlenecks.
Starting with request-and-fulfill workflows
The request-and-fulfill workflow is the backbone of ServiceNow applications, as it provides a structured mechanism for managing service requests and incidents. These workflows offer several key benefits:
- Efficiency and Automation. Streamlines service request handling, reducing manual intervention.
- Improved Task Management. Helps fulfillers track, prioritize, and complete requests effectively.
- Enhanced User Experience. Enables requestors to submit and monitor requests with ease.
- Scalability. Supports growing business needs by adapting to new service demands and departments.
It is critical to identify the right opportunities in order to maximize value from custom applications, introduce efficiency, and optimize workflows. Busy user groups that are tracking work manually and are overloaded can immediately benefit from custom request-and-fulfill workflows that are mapped to their business processes.
An important aspect of a successful first custom application is to partner with the fulfillers of the application to understand their processes. A significant value proposition of a request-fulfill workflow is to structure the work in a manner that is useful to their business needs. This helps automate their work and also allows for improved visibility, reporting, and operational efficiency.
Another important element of success is to scope the initial build properly to realize value quickly. It is better to build an MVP that is immediately useful and then incrementally improve it rather than attempting to build the desired end state all at once.
Starting with a request-fulfiller workflow is an effective way to achieve positive outcomes by aligning platform capabilities with business needs and enabling rapid application development. This approach allows you to tailor an application to meet specific requirements. The recommended first phase includes:
- Creating a Tailored Data Model: Designing data structures that align with the department’s unique processes and requirements.
- Developing Record Producers: Setting up user-friendly request submission forms to streamline how users make service requests.
- Creating Fulfiller Workspace: Configuring dashboards and views to enhance productivity for fulfillers.
- Automating Processes Using Flow Designer: Implementing automation rules to reduce manual work, enforce business policies, and ensure timely resolution of requests.
By implementing this use case or department-specific applications, organizations can:
- Improve operational efficiency by reducing the time spent on manual processes.
- Enhance user satisfaction by providing a structured and predictable fulfillment process.
- Increase visibility and reporting capabilities to track performance and optimize workflows.
In the next article, we will discuss the second concept of custom app development, focusing on automating and enhancing business processes and user experience.
