Help needed: step-by-step guide to make a public “External Lead” Record Producer

[RohitPapann]

Hi Community,

I’m trying to publish a public/external Lead form in Service Portal. I’ve tried multiple times but I still get this error on submit:

“Something went wrong and your request could not be submitted. Please contact your system administrator.”

I’d like to start over from scratch and would really appreciate a step-by-step checklist the community recommends. Could you please review/adjust the plan below so I can follow it exactly?

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Goal

Public (guest) users should open a link, fill a Record Producer form, and create a record in my custom table u_lead (no login).

Environment

• Service Portal

• Custom table: u_lead

• Using Incognito to test as Guest

Proposed step-by-step (please correct/complete)

1. Catalog structure (no restrictions)

• Create a Public Catalog and Category.

• Ensure Available For on Catalog & Category is empty (no user criteria).

1. Record Producer (not Catalog Item)

• Create a Record Producer targeting u_lead.

• Add variables; keep Available For = empty.

• (Optional) In the script, set field values on current and avoid cross-scope calls.

1. Portal visibility

• Service Portal → Sites: uncheck “Requires authentication”.

• Service Portal → Pages: use sc_cat_item page; set Public = true; Roles = empty.

• On that page, the widget must be SC Catalog Item; widget instance/definition Roles = empty.

1. ACLs on target table

• Create u_lead.None create/read (and write if needed) ACLs that allow Guest access:

  • Either leave Requires role empty (true public), or

  • Create a custom role (e.g., public) and assign it to the Guest user, then require that role in the ACLs.

• Confirm no field-level ACLs (e.g., u_lead.email) are stricter than the table ACLs.

1. Submission endpoint/auth

• Confirm submit uses POST to /api/sn_sc/servicecatalog/items/submit_producer (Network tab).

• If I still see 401 on submit, should I uncheck “Requires authentication” on the relevant Scripted REST API methods (as some KBs suggest)? If yes, which API / resource / method records exactly?

1. Client logic conflicts

• Temporarily disable Catalog Client Scripts/UI Policies for the item to rule out regex/mandatory logic blocking submit (e.g., phone/email validation).

• Re-enable one by one if submit succeeds.

1. Hidden platform pitfalls

• Check for custom function/calculated fields on sc_item_option and related tables (per KBs) that can cause 500s/overflows; remove or fix if found.

• Clear cache (/cache.do) after schema changes.

1. Diagnostics

• Test in Incognito; in DevTools ensure POST (not GET) on submit.

• Turn on Debug Security Rules to catch ACL denies.

• Check System Logs → Errors and Transactions for the Guest request.

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What I’ve already seen

• The form loads for Guest; submit fails with the generic error above.

• I’ve seen responses like 401 Unauthorized, and once a “GET method not supported for API” (so I suspect widget/page wiring).

Could you please:

• Confirm/correct this start-to-finish checklist,

• Specify the exact Scripted REST API method(s) that must not require auth (if that’s the right approach), and

• Call out any common gotchas I might be missing?

Thanks a ton for any guidance—I’ll follow your checklist exactly and report back with results.

Regards,
Rohit Papannagari