What is “Out of Box”?

[Community Alums]

Traditionally the terms “Out of Box” (OoB) or “Off the Shelf” when used by the Software Development team means a feature or functionality of a product that works as is, without any special installation or custom modifications required.

I hear that a popular answer to OoB questions at service is “We don’t sell a box…”
Fair enough as they do not.

Of course, in the real world executives & managers alike are commonly being tasked with the requirement of either using ServiceNow OoB or bringing back modules or entire instances to OoB.

So, for an Application Platform-as-a-Service (aPaaS) like ServiceNow; What does OoB mean?

My best guesses are below; 

OoB includes Creating/Modifying:

• Users / Groups / Roles
• Knowledge bases / Articles
• Branding & Theming
• Catalog items including Record Producers
  • Catalog Client Scripts & Business Rules if copies are OoB with modifications to scripts or values.
• Client Scripts & Business Rules if copies are OoB with modifications to values or scripts.
• OoB Risk level for change calculator (Change Management)
• Mobile Apps - ServiceNow has some inbuilt applications (Example Field Service Management), and additional applications can be built according to company requirements.
• Email should be carefully configured ensuring consistent message aligning with your branding.
• Reports – PDF Header / Footers
• Service Portal Designer – Pages, OoB Cloned Widgets with customizations
• UI Actions
• Ui Builder:
  • Build pages for CSM Configurable Workspace
  • App Engine Studio-generated workspaces and portals
• Ui Policies - if new policies are copies of OoB Ui Policies with modifications to values or scripts.

And does not include App engine builder, Studio,  or creating custom tables or fields not included by ServiceNow...

What are your thoughts?

[PaulSylo]

Thanks, Lon. Usually, we say - Take the product out of the box and make some quick connections and ready to use as a table from Ikea. Few things like zero to minimal customization and tailoring as per the need of Org! one thing to Add, Notification with preconfiguration and reports comes with preconfigured tables.

[Allen Andreas]

Hi,

Not sure if this is really an article or a question, which should be posted as such.

Out of box, in consulting terms and how it's always been used (at least from what I've seen in all my years) is....is this feature already in existence within the instance and is used in the same way it was originally activated.

Meaning, yes, client scripts are in the instance, but using them to do DOM manipulation is not "out of box".

Out of box is more so used in the context of the configuration side of things and the possible implications to other down stream pieces, like: I want to add an Incident state selection. Yes, the incident state field is there, but that doesn't mean what they're asking for is "out of box", as adding an Incident state can drastically change the way the application behaves, etc. Out of box refers to what that field would do...and...the configuration/functionality that goes with it. Adding a new Incident state is not out of box.

Other things you've mentioned: UI Builder, yes, the feature is there, but doing stuff with it, takes it from "out of box".

I think you're sort of blending the term with something else or maybe my perspective is solely in the consulting world, but when I work with a customer and we say we will implement ITSM out of box, then it means, the functionality, overall, remains the same. State process, etc. all stays the same, but adding a field to a form? that's fine. Needing a client script because a field should be mandatory if 'x', that's fine.

Wanting to redesign things to where non-itil users can be assigned to incidents? That's not out of box.

So many scenarios can arise when using this term and what it means to others, but I just wanted to provide that perspective.

Thanks

-Allen

[Community Alums]

Exactly they type of perspective I am seeking; Something different from my own...

I have posted this as a question in the past, but the answer while correct (and related to UI Builder); was not the answer sought since the "new ask" was a detailed explanation per module what is OoB.

In some cases (on various projects) I have observed "Out of Box" meaning to customer is only "low or no code" options are available. (No advanced coding required) 

So, not only thinking of ServiceNow definitions of OoB, but common asks by customers as well.

Thanks for your time and reply!