The best way to get the hang of ServiceNow Administration is to take the training (CLICK HERE). But what if:
- You only manage an Application (or 3) on ServiceNow, like HR Service Management, SecOps etc... instead of Administering the entire platform?
- It's been a while since you've had to do Admin Tasks
- You are lead admin for another platform and only backup on ServiceNow
- Just want to get a quick refresher
Well, that's the goal of this series. Last week we talked about update sets. This week I'm planning to tackle a high-level picture of integration - specifically REST.
Now, before I go to much farther, I want to clarify: Integration is a very complex topic, and I would strongly encourage you to spend some time with professional services, consultants, partners, and resources who have deeper experience.
At the very highest levels (and so you can play a ServiceNow SysAdmin on TV...), ServiceNow manages a lot of it's integrations through Tables.
- There's a Table that points to the system(s) you want to integrate with (REST Message table, or sys_rest_message)
- It includes the URL you are trying to reach
- It refers to separate table for authentication
- It refers to separate table(s) for the function(s) you will do with that integration
- There's a Table for each of the functions you would perform with that integration (function table or sys_rest_message_fn)
- There's a Table for Authentication (that is, a table to store the login information for the system you are integrating with...)
- There's (typically) a table to launch or kick off this whole integration thingamajig...
- Business Rules (that can call the integration when you save, add, search or even delete a new record)
- UI Actions (that exist as buttons and links that can call the integration when you click)
In fact, all of these pieces together might look something like... This:
I know lots of pieces - but I thought maybe this might be helpful. Thanks and appreciation are in order for darrenhalliday and HenryBrooks for some of their help and guidance several years ago...
