Advice on Building Catalog Creation & Automation Skills

[Beany81487]

Hi everyone,  

I’m currently focused on growing my ServiceNow skills around Service Catalog creation and automation. While I’ve gone through a good amount of documentation, I’ve realized that what I’m really missing is hands-on experience. Reading is one thing — actually building catalog items, flows, and playbooks is another.  

I’m working in a large enterprise environment (think thousands of tables and a wide range of business processes), and at times it can feel overwhelming but also very exciting. I know automation is a huge part of the catalog experience — whether it’s approvals, fulfillment flows, integrations, or beyond — but I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible.  

At this point, I’d love to hear from the community:  

• What resources (demos, video walkthroughs, tutorials, or even free classes) helped you when you were learning catalog + automation? 
• Are there best practices or “starter projects” that helped you connect the dots between catalog items and workflow/flow automation? 
• How did you build confidence in tackling large, complex environments without feeling buried under all the options?  

I’d really appreciate any recommendations, strategies, or even personal experiences. My goal is to get more comfortable *starting and finishing* catalog + automation projects so I can better connect the “why” behind a requirement to the “how” in ServiceNow.  

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can share!  

— Cristina

[Rafael Batistot]

Hi @Beany81487 

These links might help you 

Best practice to create a catalog:

https://www.reco.ai/hub/servicenow-service-catalog

Approval process:

https://www.servicenow.com/community/servicenow-ai-platform-forum/understanding-approval-workflows-i...

[kaushal_snow]

@Beany81487 ,

From my experience, the most effective way to build catalog and automation skills is to get hands on with real mini projects (e.g. build a catalog item, attach a Flow Designer flow with approval and fulfillment, and iterate), start small and modular so you don’t get overwhelmed, follow official ServiceNow best practices (like keeping flows short & reusable, using subflows, and clearly defining your catalog structure)....and supplement that by studying community posts, video walkthroughs (like the Create a Service Catalog Using Catalog Builder demo) and catalog automation labs/bootcamps so you gradually build confidence handling complexity in large environments.....

If you found my response helpful, please mark it as ‘Accept as Solution’ and ‘Helpful’. This helps other community members find the right answer more easily and supports the community.

[Beany81487]

Thank you for that advice. I actually have a PDI with fictional company and have used it to build the basic catalog with catalog items with standard flows. Nothing fancy. I will continue to do these for experience, but I would also like exposer on 'What's possible' since I don't know what I don't know.  I wish it was easier to find projects/demos/tutorials of more advanced ideas.