Data integrations from and to ServiceNow Instances - Part 3: Decision path and matrix

Lisa Holenstein · ‎08-31-2020

Introduction

ServiceNow is the “Platform of Platforms” and your System of Action that connects processes and data within your enterprise. Different use cases have different requirements regarding the speed and scale at which data is being sent from one system to another, be that your own ServiceNow instances, instances that belong to a ServiceNow partner or service provider working for you, or third-party software platforms.

This is part 3 of an article series that will give you

An overview of the available technology for transferring or replicating data between your systems (Part 1)
Integration best practices (Part 2)
A guideline on when to choose which option (this article)

Note: Some of the products and technology mentioned in this article require a subscription. Please contact your Sales Representative before activating any plugins.

How to make a decision?

This article is an attempt at walking you through the most important decisions to make when choosing the right integration option for a given use case and providing guidance on which would be the best technology. It may not cover all the decisions that you are encountering in your own use cases and we'd love to hear your input on which other decisions have to be made before integrating with other systems.

Decision path

To facilitate the decision on when to use which technology for transferring your data, you can ask yourself a series of questions.

Are you connecting to another ServiceNow instance?
1. No => Does the target system have an API?
2. 1. No => Use Export Sets to provide files with the exported data (e.g. CSV, XML, …) for manual or semi-automatic import into your target system
  2. Yes =>
  3. 1. Use a third-party spoke in IntegrationHub (preferred option)
    2. Use an Orchestration activity pack (legacy option)
    3. Create a scripted REST integration (custom scripting should always be your last option)
3. Yes => Continue with the next question
Is the target instance internal, i.e. belongs to your own company?
1. No => be vigilant about transferring (personal/private) data and make sure you adhere to valid data privacy regulations for your own and the target instance
2. 1. Use the Remote Instance Spoke in IntegrationHub (preferred option, available Orlando and up)
  2. Use the action designer to create your own integration with REST steps in IntegrationHub (use eBonding Spoke as an example)
  3. Use Orchestration to create a REST web service integration (legacy option)
  4. Create a scripted REST integration
3. Yes => Continue with the next question
Are you preparing your sub-prod instance(s) for an upgrade or patch?
1. Yes => Use System Clone to copy your prod database to your sub-prod instance(s)
2. No => Continue with the next question
Do you want to sync data as part of a process, based on a specific trigger or schedule?
1. Yes =>
2. 1. Use the Remote Instance Spoke in IntegrationHub (preferred option, available Orlando and up)
  2. Use the action designer to create your own integration with REST steps in IntegrationHub (use eBonding Spoke as an example)
  3. Use Orchestration to create a REST web service integration (legacy option)
  4. Create a scripted REST integration
3. No => Use IDR to sync your data from a source instance to one or more target instances, optionally configure IDR as bi-directional to sync from the target instances back to your source instance.

Decision Matrix

The following decision table is designed to give you a more graphical overview which technology is suited for which decisions as mentioned in the question tree above as well as the type of licensing required to use it.

Connect to	Third-party Spokes	Remote Instance Spoke	IDR	Cloning
Licensing	IntegrationHub Tx	IntegrationHub Tx	IDR License	Included in Platform
Third-party software	✅	❌	❌	❌
ServiceNow instance (internal)*	❌	✅	✅	✅
ServiceNow instance (external)**	❌	✅***	❔***	❌
Sync data	✅	✅	✅	❌
One-off import/export	✅	✅	❌	✅
Full instance database copy	❌	❌	❌	✅

*Integrating to an internal instance that belongs to your own account/company

**Integrating to an external instance that belongs to a partner, service provider, or other customer

***Whenever you’re integrating to an external instance, be vigilant about transferring (personal/private) data and make sure you adhere to valid data privacy regulations for your own and the target instance. https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/paris-servicenow-platform/page/administer/instance-data-replicati...

Comparison of Instance Data Replication, Remote Instance spoke, and Remote Process Sync

Summary

This article series was designed to give you an insight on the options to integrate your ServiceNow instances with each other, external ServiceNow instances or third-party software, which new integration technology has been introduced in the past releases, best practices to follow when creating integrations and lastly, guidance on when to choose which integration technology. I'm looking forward to your comments and input, which use cases you come across and how you solve them with the Now Platform.