This article serves as an overview of our new configurable workspaces and some best practice guidance around implementing a configurable workspace. It does not serve as technical guidance for configuring a workspace, refer to the product documentation site for technical information on configuring our product workspaces and custom workspaces.
What are Configurable Workspaces?
A configurable workspace is a workspace that can be configured and extended using UI Builder. ServiceNow products are launching their own configurable workspaces and it is advised that customers explore our product workspaces before creating their own custom workspaces. If a product solution does not meet specific business needs, customers can create configurable workspace experiences via App Engine Studio.
Configurable workspaces provide agents, case managers, service desk professionals, managers, and other process users with tools to help answer customer questions, resolve customer problems, and perform process tasks. From a single view, agents get full context, analytics, and AI-assisted recommendations to resolve issues quickly – they are the command centers for taking action. The core features include Advanced Work Assignment with Agent Affinity, Playbook Experience, Analytics Center, Agent Assist, automatic interaction logging, a flexible layout, tabbed interface, global search, and a seamless handoff from chatbot.
Why Configurable Workspaces?
Classic (previously known as Agent) Workspace was the first iteration of utilizing Next Experience Components in a user interface, and as it was the first experience launched most components were built for Agent Workspace specifically. Components were tightly coupled to work together in the context of Classic Workspace and were not very configurable or customizable and did not allow for many of the visual customizations that users of Core UI were accustomed to, such as changing the position of a form on a page. We broke down the fundamentals of the workspace technology to provide re-usable and configurable components, that could be used in a number of workspace experiences and re-factored our workspace experiences to use these reusable components.
Features specific to configurable workspaces and not found in Classic Workspace:
- UI Builder tool can be used to tailor workspace and portal experiences for agents, analysts, human resources, and more.
- Ability to build a highly customized workspace from a library of 150+ components. These components control every aspect of the user experience from page layouts, content display, data visualization, messaging, and navigation.
- Empower developers to create and deploy custom components into configurable workspaces.
- Empower partners and independent software vendors to leverage Ul Builder custom web components to build industry-specific solutions.
Our Product Workspaces
Our product teams launched many configurable workspaces in the San Diego release, and are continuing on enhancing workspaces as well as creating new ones to fit a variety of persona needs. See our article on Exploring Product Workspaces for a running list of current workspaces we offer. For any product and/or licensing questions we recommend contacting your account representative regarding workspaces.
Implementation Best Practice Guidance
Step 1: Define Process and Goals
Define the process you are wanting to move to a workspace. Is the process for ITSM users, or CSM users, or a custom application? What features are being used in the current user interfaces that will need to be used in workspace? Once the process has been defined, check out the product documentation to see if an out-of-the-box configurable workspace has been created for your process rather than creating one. Define the goals the workspace should meet and what agents/fulfillers are trying to achieve before any development work begins on the workspace.
Workspaces are geared towards Tier 1/2 personas, though really any process that does not have a high level of customization in the Core UI can be used in workspaces. For power users and users who still need access to Core UI while using workspaces, the Next Experience UI was created to bridge that gap, allowing users to switch back and forth between Core UI and workspaces without having to navigate multiple windows or tabs.
Step 2: Activate
After reviewing the product specific workspace product documentation and speaking to an account representative about any licensing costs activate the product specific configurable workspace via plugins or the store in a sub-production instance and follow your current development standards for configuring and promoting changes. If you need to create your own workspace, we suggest using App Engine Studio to easily spin up a starter workspace experience. App Engine Studio is a licensed product, so talk to your account representative before using this product.
Step 3: Configure
If using a product specific workspace, follow the product documentation set up steps for information on which plugins to install, whether the workspace has its own guided setup module, and more specific information on configuring headers, landing pages, etc. If creating a custom workspace, define what configurations need to be made. Some product specific workspace product documentation may have information on configuring common elements such as headers, and landing pages. Visit the Next Experience Center of Excellence Workspace Resource hub for more information.
During configuration make sure to meet the goals defined in Step 1. Setting up a workspace is an opportunity to re-imagine how agents/fulfillers can work and improve their experience rather than trying to aim for a lift-and-shift of the existing Core UI.
Step 4: Pilot Groups and Training
While configuring a workspace, use pilot groups to gain valuable feedback and insights on what agents need to get their job done efficiently. Since workspace and Core UI can be used at the same time, agents can work on both in parallel and provide information on whether the workspace is meeting their needs.
Offer training early in the process instead of at the end to get more end user feedback and address any questions that may have been overlooked when documenting requirements or during development. Switching user interfaces is not a small change, many users will have questions and will need more time with trainers and support.
FAQ
For questions on configurable workspaces check our FAQs.
