Best Practice: One Service Request linked to multiple Service Offerings & Services ?

[FrancescoF82933]

Hi all,

I am tasked with creating a large number of Services and Service Offerings in ServiceNow for my client. Given the numerous Service Requests that share similar elements and variables, I would like to explore whether I can create a single Service Request template that allows end users to select the desired Service or Service Offering via a Reference Field. Would this approach be considered a best practice? Furthermore, is it feasible to implement this solution even when requests have different SLAs, approval workflows, and generated tasks?

[GlideFather]

Hi @FrancescoF82933,

you can create a variable set, which is a few variables that can be reused with all its behaviour (e.g. default value, or submit validation, ...).

Either search for Variable set in the app navigator or it is a related tab in the bottom of any catalog item.

You should consider this

[pr8172510]

 

• Single catalog item for multiple services → Not recommended as best practice
•  Works technically, but becomes hard to manage

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2. Why it’s not recommended

If you use one request with a reference field:

• SLA → becomes complex to manage dynamically
• Approvals → need heavy conditional logic
• Tasks → difficult to control per service
• Reporting → less clear (all requests look same)

 Leads to overloaded catalog item + maintenance issues

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3. Recommended approach (best practice)

Use multiple Catalog Items (preferred)

• One catalog item per:
  • Service Offering / use case

 Benefits:

• Clear SLA mapping
• Clean approval flows
• Better reporting
• Easier maintenance

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4. If you want reuse (better design)

Instead of one item:

 Use:

• Order Guides → group related requests
• Shared variables (Variable Sets)
• Flow Designer reusable actions/subflows

This gives reuse without complexity

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5. When single item is acceptable

You can use one catalog item only if:

• Services are very similar
• Same workflow logic
• Minor variations only