New to ServiceNow – Looking for Guidance on Setting Up Foundational Architecture in PDI

[Community Alums]

Hi Community,

I'm currently learning the ServiceNow ITSM platform and have access to my own Personal Developer Instance (PDI). To strengthen my understanding, I’d like to set up a complete foundational architecture in the PDI – including companies, locations, departments, users, groups, roles, and other core configuration elements – based on ServiceNow best practices.

The idea is to treat this as a self-driven project where I build a realistic ServiceNow environment from scratch. Once the foundational setup is complete, I plan to move forward with configuring and exploring key modules like:

• Incident Management

• Change Management

• Problem Management

• Service Catalog

• Knowledge Management

I'm looking for any resources, such as:

• Step-by-step guides or tutorials (blogs, videos, articles) for setting up foundational data

• Best practices around organizing users, groups, and roles

• Example structures (e.g., sample companies or org hierarchies) I can model after

• Tips from your own experience setting up a training/demo environment

• Anything else that might help a beginner avoid common pitfalls

If you've been through a similar learning journey or have any recommendations, I'd really appreciate your insights. I'm eager to learn and want to build a solid understanding of how to design and structure a ServiceNow instance properly from the ground up.

Thank you in advance for your help and support!

Best regards,

Wajahath Farooq

[GlideFather]

Hi there,

for both ITSM as well as guided tutorials, go to and scroll to select your:

Career Journeys:

• System Admin
• App Developer
• Platform Owner
• Implementer
• Technical Project Manager
• Business Process Analyst
• Support Specialist

ServiceNow credentials:

• App Specialist
• Architect
• Developer
• Implementer
• Pre-sales Expert
• Sales Expert
• System Admin

Learning Plan ServiceNow Administrator:

• Learn admin skills to move into app development.
• Includes 13 short, self-paced modules

For the examples of best practice, go to Now Create.

Another resources are:

ServiceNow University 

• Get Started with ServiceNow University
• Learn about ServiceNow and earn badges, points, certificates, and improve your rank.
• Most courses are free, only a few are paid.
• Start with the "Welcome to ServiceNow " training, it's fun and gives you your first certificate!
• The most important first certificate is  Certified System Administrator (CSA), useful for almost any ServiceNow role.
• Trainings at the SN University provide temporary lab instances with pre-installed plugins and apps.

Developer Portal

• Request your Personal Developer Instance (PDI) — your own ServiceNow sandbox to practice safely.
• You can try almost everything for free (except a few advanced features like AI).
• Explore guides, tutorials, blogs, and documentation to learn more.

Learning Plan ServiceNow Administrator:

• Learn admin skills to move into app development.
• Includes 13 short, self-paced modules.

Good luck 🍀