How to enable communication with inactive users?

[joshuamayes]

So I know that OOB ServiceNow does not send emails to inactive users, nor does it allow inbound actions on inactive users.  Is there a way to remove this limitation?

Currently I have it set up so that when a user is disabled in Active Directory, Servicenow sets [Active=false] on the user record.  However, our correspondence with that user doesn't end.  For example:  When the user gets deactivated we start the asset recovery process, which should send an email to the user saying "Hey, here's a list of stuff you have to give back to the company.  Please be sure to give it back soon :)"

Unfortunately this is proving problematic to set up because ServiceNow refuses to send notifications to inactive users.  I'd really like to avoid having to go back to the drawing board with how we handle user accounts and I'm hoping someone knows how to set up ServiceNow to go ahead and send these emails and receive their replies.

[Brad Tilton · Accepted solution]

I think the easiest thing would be to do something like adding an additional field to the user table for AD Active where you can set them inactive based on AD, but then still consider them an active user and communicate with them in ServiceNow. Then at some point you would set them inactive after you've recovered everything and you're not having to edit query business rules, etc.

[Michael Ritchie]

The problem with this approach is ServiceNow licensing is based on the active flag of the user.  I'd would suggest working with your account team if you plan to go down this route to ensure the right user counts are done.

[Laurie Marlowe1]

We have a similar issue.  Have not tried Brad's suggestion, but depending on your licensing model, if it is unrestricted users, any user marked active in SN is using a license.  If you have the same licensing model, and you are not running out of licenses, Brad's suggestion would work.

Thanks,

Laurie

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