Our instance of SN does not show the all the information that the demo is showing, such as assets, financial info, etc. Is there a specific plugin that I am missing?
Not an official Sn person here but this is my $.02
Using import tables is a much less risky and more versatile option when importing data. Transforms allow the opportunity to scrub invalid data, trap errors, transform and normalize data and manipulate and add data to other related tables - all without the risk of corrupting the target table.
This philosophy extends to web services integrations as well. We create REST import tables and transform maps for most of our integrations.
Hi John, it's an interesting idea. You could write a Business Rule on the alm_hardware table that runs only when a asset's location is changed. The rule would have to look up the target contract using the GlideRecord API and update the asset record. You could alternatively create a Scheduled Job to periodically assign assets to maintenance contracts.
If I have a maintenance agreement for all Dell computers I purchase, what would be the best approach to get all of those assets associated to that contract?
Hi, contract_manager is the role. It's a regular role with no specific licensing implications, but as Kailey said it is best to check licensing with an account rep.
Our Stockroom and Asset folks do their own imports using transform maps created by Sn admin. They use excel templates to assure proper column headings (to match the pre-existing import table and map). Occasionally a fat-fingered column header leads to a Incident to our team.
Long story short - a well documented process makes this work.
Yes, technically this can be done as ServiceNow provides the ability to customize most of the forms/processes. That said, the big question to ask is "should it be done".
If you exhaust all options and determine this is the best way then one way this could work from a technical perspective would be:
Create a linkage: either reference field on location table for contract, or separate mapping table
Create a Role (and ACL) for Asset Management to be able to edit this field (or table)
Create a Business Rule that looks at the mapping to auto-set the contract.
One of the main considerations around this is to make sure your process dictates who is going to maintain this data going forward (when contracts expire).
Hi, if you click Edit on the Assets Covered related list, the Edit Members form has a filter at the top. So would it be practical to use the filter to identify the Dell computers and then bulk select them? Let me know if you want me to show you what I am referring to, thanks.
Rather then adding plain text in the description field of a Terms and Condition record, if you were to add an attachment how would that render in the Contract Lease after you add the Terms and Conditions then Build the Terms and Conditions?
Hi, I if you have the Contract form visible but no rate cards, then yes there is a plugin to add activate. I believe the rate cards all appear with the Cost Management plugin (not Financial Management which is different), but let me check..
Hi Dave, we are going to be looking into Rate Cards later today. There are labor/contract/task/CI rate cards to specify when to generate the costs, and you can use Expense Allocation Rules to roll up the costs to another entity (e.g. dept, cost center). Let us know if you want to discuss this further after we have introduced this in class.
Yesterday we discussed Importing Data and matching the fields.
Is their a corresponding 'Export' process?
And related; does their exist a related CSV or spreadsheet file with the appropriate Field names? (being able to import data knowing in advance what fields ServiceNow expects should only ease the import process, I am thinking).
Hi Brian, I attach a list of the ast_contract business rules. We would need to look through and potentially adjust some of these to create a more lightweight contract process. I would start with Manage Contract Lifecycle and Create Approval Record.
Hi, there is a Contract Model called Software License, and software allocations (formerly known as entitlements) can be created via the catalog, using a similar process to the one we will see today for hardware assets. There is also a (in my opinion useful) application called Client Software Distribution, which we discuss on the Orchestration course. Also worth noting that SAM is now covered in detail in the 3-day Software Asset Management class (for future reference!).
Ive got a off topic it down question regarding model categories and if there is a way to prevent updates ? We are in the process of moving from our old asset mgmt system to serviceNow and we are seeing a mid server updating some category data. While we find root cause would like to prevent additional changes. Ideas
Hi Ray, on a list of records you can use the context menu Export option to export the records to excel, CSV, XML, JSON, and other formats. There is also a feature called Export Sets.
Hi Kevin, (disclaimer I'm in need of tea), using Access Controls springs to mind. The MID Server runs as a user with the mid_server role so it is subject to access control as much as any other user. However, as mentioned yesterday, Disco only targets CI tables, so it seems odd to me that you are seeing Model Categories being modified?
There are two reasons that the life cycle logic exists in ServiceNow:
Provide a notification mechanism when contracts are going to expire
Provide easy mechanism for renewals/extensions
You will want to do some testing to make sure that this is behaving the way you expect/need. Usually ServiceNow implements Best/Good Practices OOB and it's easier in the long run to conform to that process. That said, if you really wanted to go this route there are two places I'm aware of that would need deactivated:
Business Rule called "Manage Contract Lifecycle" which does a number of checks and updates based on if the dates of the contract changes.
Contract workflow (Contract Approval) that runs when a contract's state becomes "Under Review" to create an approval record for the specified approver.
So, based on that, if you wanted to disable this process you could set the Active flag to false on the BR, and the click the "Make inactive" button on that workflow.
Thanks for the details. I am actually pushing to implement the lifecycle, but I may not have stakeholder buy-in. The largest challenge could simply be identifying approvers. Does everything else work if we just do not select an Approver on the Contract when it is created?
Hi Ray, just to add if that I agree with your point: if you create the spreadsheet from ServiceNow it will make the 'Automap matching fields' option that we used yesterday very straightforward because the column names are going to auto match. However you need to be careful with fields that SN populates for you, like Display Value.
Thanks, I completely agree with that last statement about process/procedure. We have just been hesitant to give folks the power to ruin the entire Asset repository with one bad update load. Does your process have any review points, or approvals? Do your maps have transform scripts for error checking in the data? We are thinking of going that route.
Did you give them the import_set_loader and import_transformer roles?
Hi Joonlee, navigate to the module called Condition Check Definitions > select the record called Contract Expiration. Here you will see how the 30/60/90 day checks are configured. This uses the standard SN event mechanism to fire the contract.expiration event, and there is an email notification called Contract Expiration that contains the detail of the email.
When back in the office and one is attempting to use the knowledge gained here in Asset Management, would it be standard operation to make your updates in the Development Instance with an Update Set active, before porting the Update Set to Production?
Is anyone duplicating items in the ServiceNow vendor catalog? We use a few different providers, and we are moving to centralize that, but creating the items in a vendor catalog seems like quite a bit of overhead. Perhaps the most commonly ordered assets? We are also considering an integration (Ariba).....
From all the roles that Sam Ipshon has, do we need all those roles to perform everything we have done in this class. We currently are not using discovery? Also, where may i find all the roles required for each of these modules.
I used the first part of our lessions/lab where we added the roles to Sam Ipshon (and copied them into a production/work-related Service Request to my ServiceNow Admin to request the increased Roles).
Hi, the quickest way to see which role is required for a particular application or module is to click on the pencil icon that appears when you point at the application/module in the Application Navigator. You need to be an admin to do so, but you can easily use your personal development instance to get the information.
They system does allow you to link multiple vendor catalog items to a single product catalog item, this allows you to track information about a single item at different vendors. That said, you should first get your data in a good state. This will likely require some up-front work to set it up but hopefully its less resources to maintain over the long term than a typical catalog item.
Before building out a bunch of new items in a large up-front effort; it's best to build a small working set, make sure it works well (tweak where needed) in an agile based approach; then build on that over time.
Definitely interested to hear how your experience goes with the Ariba evaluation.
..one further point relating to SAM ISPHUN. We gave him the discovery_admin role unnecessarily yesterday. This role is only relevant if you are using the SN Discovery plugin, which we mentioned briefly in class yesterday but have not used in the labs.
..one further point relating to SAM ISPHUN. We gave him the discovery_admin role unnecessarily yesterday. This role is only relevant if you are using the SN Discovery plugin, which we mentioned briefly in class yesterday but have not used in the labs.
Just wondering, is anyone working with a 3rd party vendor to house inventory stock for your company? This is something we are implementing and would love to chat and brainstorm on the workflow you went through.
Okay, so the answer from the Financial Management group. Here is his answer: We don't really do budgets in FM (even though it's part of the suite). I was just told that piece will be moving to PPM (Project Portfolio Management).
He also said he will cycle back with the product manager when he gets back at 1 PM to see what he has to say as well.
Hi Nick, just to add to Chris' comment, I teach the current SN Financial Management class if you want to talk about the contents more generally. We do have simple Budgets within the Cost Management plugin (which is not chargeable, unlike Financial Management), and they can be used in conjunction with Expense Allocation Rules. I can show you a quick demo if it's of interest.
