After you have successfully exported data from the source instance, you can import the XML file directly to the target instance. Importing XML does not trigger business rules or update the instance cache.

To import an XML file containing one or more records:

  1. Sign in to the instance which should receive the data.
  2. In the banner frame, click the menu arrow next to your name and select the Elevate privileges option.
  3. In the Activate an Elevated Privilege dialog box, select the security_admin check box and click OK.
  4. Navigate to any list in ServiceNow. Any list can be used because the XML file contains the destination table name for the records.
  5. Right-click the list header and select Import XML. (List v3: Click the list menu and select Import XML.)
  6. In the import screen, click Choose File and select the previously exported XML file.
  7. Click Upload.

Relations to Other Records

When performing an XML import, it is important to keep in mind that only the current record will be exported and not the records related to it. For instance, while exporting a User record (sys_user table), the groups it belongs to and the roles it has been given will not be part of the XML file. In this context, it might be necessary to export the records describing those relations in separate XML files. In the previous example, the tables User Role (sys_user_has_role table) and Group Member (sys_user_grmember table) will need to be exported too.

In this example, because business rules are not running during an XML import, it is important to also export and import the relations to the roles, since importing the relations to the group will not give the user record the roles the groups contain.