Don't let guidance drive you into a lake

This is your ServiceNow platform when following prescriptive guidance blindly. In one hundred meters, say 'to heck with it' and drive your car into the lake. - that sounds about right. ServiceNow is a...

The hidden upgrade technique

Upgrade Preview Did you know you can cheat in the upgrade process and get a sneak peek at skipped changes? Look into the documentation for the Upgrade Preview Module You can get an estimate of upgrade...

Don't skip skipped changes

Are you going to sneak in an upgrade of ServiceNow during the Holiday downtime and still dreading it a bit anyway? Ever wondered what the actual process for skipped change management looks like, as pr...

CSDM with Charles the Baker - part 2

Welcome to another baking session featuring Charles the Baker and a sprinkle of Common Service Data Model. As with any blog post with respect for itself, I will start by quoting A. Einstein to lend my...

Jakob Anker's Performance Cheat Sheet

Table of Contents Introduction Platform Solutions Platform Logs Health Assessment Other Services Introduction Sometimes ServiceNow is just slow. But is it your internet connection, or is the entire en...

CSDM with Charles the Baker - part 1

I doubt it is just me. I have this gut feeling that most of us struggle to understand the emperor's new cloth, the Common Service Data Model (CSDM). And I think most of us know that the model is as in...

Discover your own Monster of Frankenstein

Thunder clashes, and an evil developer is heard cackling madly from a closed workshop of horror. She just finished stitching on her latest addition to her ServiceNow platform. "That is exactly what th...

Cut workshop costs in half

I have implemented a lot of ServiceNow platforms and applications. Maybe you have. If you have, then this article should resonate with your experience. If you are in the progress of implementation or ...

Stop inventing; we found the wheel!

Please, do your delivery organization a huge favor and take note of this post—crazy amounts of free assets and hours saved if advice is followed. You also get to comply with ServiceNow delivery practi...

Synch comments and work notes

Do you know what pain is? Synchronizing additional comments and work notes across related records. A real-life example is when you need to ensure that approvers, fulfillers, and service desk have the ...

Don't buy a big boat if you don't have a crew

Throughout the past five years implementing ServiceNow, I have found a critical and foundational issue that hinders an organization from extracting maximum value from platform platforms. Most organiza...

Avoid custom fields on Business Service (or any other CI class)

You are all about CSDM because you know what is up. Even before this, you focused on building out your company's business services. Gold star. The only problem, you needed those extra groups represent...

Flow or Workflow

I, for one, know that it was a hard pill to swallow when Flow was introduced. Oh no, a new thing. I already know how to use Workflow. But it has been a while, and I think it is time we let reality daw...

Is it worth it?

Before adopting a new application to your ServiceNow platform, the official Value Calculator may be worth visiting. A Forrester-certified tool to determine an approximate monetary value potential can ...

SN tip #8: Yes, you can get that data in Excel

As true as it is that data, in general, should never leave ServiceNow, if it can be avoided, it can be beneficial to export some data to Excel. A rule of thumb: it is OK to extract data if the extract...

Attempt not to find the fault in others

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." - M. Aurelius You just got a new customer and are embarking on the journey of figuring out what their...

Get away from the "out-of-the-box" box

Get away from the "out-of-the-box" box. It seems that everyone is seeking an 'out-of-the-box' (OOB) solution these days. In fact, I cannot recall a single project in the past five years where OOB was ...

Get what you paid for

The tool is only as valuable as its wielder allows it to be. ServiceNow comes with both features and license costs. Of the two, license costs are the only ones that will affect your organization with ...

Global sys_id search

You are tasked with debugging a script that was created in 400 BC and contains about as many hardcoded system IDs as years have passed since this abomination of a script took its first breath. Fear no...

Kick "It's just a ticketing tool" in the butt

If you see ServiceNow as a ticketing tool, that is precisely what you will get. You need to expand your horizon if you are interested in deriving actual value from your service management efforts. Inc...