Tips and tricks regarding prototyping/building proof of concepts in ServiceNow

[ceskie]

Ahoy, I would like to ask other developers/architects how do you do exploring/prototyping/creating proof of concepts in your corporate environment.

Of course the implicit choice is PDI instance but as ServiceNow is more and more transitioning towards configuration (configuring OOB) rather than customizations (building scoped apps on top of OOB) it is getting harder and harder to replicate your environment in PDI so you can create valuable POCs (proof of concepts) as often I need certain set up and data to start. From my POV when I am starting to build a proof of concept solution I am facing a decision to:

(a) build in PDI

+ sandbox instance (safe to work with)

- recreate a lot of stuff (time consuming) to have 1:1 environments

- import/recreate my company data (violation)

- inability to deploy the POC once it proves to be a valid solution

(b) build in my company's sub prod instance

+ being able to keep the code/config if it proves to be worthy

+ having all configuration and data present (after clone down)

- data loss risk from "playing around" (we are allowed to do POCs only after the platform team approves our solution for development)

- performance risk (there are other teams developing on the instance)

What is your opinion please? Maybe there is another approach which could make developers lifes easier.

Thank you for your input

[Amit Verma]

Hi @ceskie 

My take on this :

I always prefer to do the POCs on of our Company's development instance only as it offers the following benefits :

• Can simulate real-time conditions and production alike environment
• No stress about data leak unlike PDI
• If the POC or the implementation is successful, the application could be easily moved around instances via Application Repository

However, with great power comes great responsibilities as well so we need to abide by ServiceNow best practices as well while developing these ideas/POCs. We should follow the below best practices while developing the POCs :

• Always build a scoped application to implement your POCs as it restricts unnecessary interaction with other scoped and global applications.
• Check the developed application with OOB Application Validator for any warnings or errors. This utility helps us to identify any security or performance related lapses.
• Moreover, we should check for expensive queries as well from the application i.e. doing database queries which involves processing a large amount of data.

You can find more benefits of scoped based application development in the link below :

https://www.servicenow.com/community/now-platform-blog/application-development-best-practice-1-work-...

https://www.servicenow.com/community/architect-forum/scoped-applications-best-practices/m-p/2443232

Thanks & Regards

Amit Verma