On January 17th, we launched a new version of Now Learning which gives users a great new front-end interface for taking ServiceNow training. But what you may not realize is that there’s also powerful new back-end functionality that gives your organization the ability to manage and distribute training benefits across your organization. This blog post is for users of Now Learning who want to tap into their company’s training benefits, training or team leads who want to manage these benefits, and system administrators wondering about their role in it all. Read on as we break down the new process. In each section, we’ll provide additional resources and step-by-step directions to explore more.
Note: This blog post describes the process for ServiceNow customers. Partners access benefits by linking their Now Learning account to their account in the Partner Portal. Learn more here. Federal customers will also follow a slightly different process, outlined here. We’ll write a follow-up blog soon with additional details for our federal customers.
What do you mean by training benefits?
- Now Learning is full of free on-demand training that all users can explore. But some courses and certifications have a cost associated which can be paid for by credit card or Learning Credits, which many companies purchase for their employees to use.
- Resource: Guide to Learning Credits
How do I access those benefits?
- The only way to access company benefits (like learning credits and free or discounted courses), is to be linked to your company’s official account. Each ServiceNow customer has a special Account Number that’s shared with key account contacts and serves like a password for entry into certain entitlements.
How do you get linked to an account?
- In Now Learning, there’s a form to fill out with your account number and your access level. You want to select Employee (receive company learning benefits.)
- When you submit this form, a request gets sent to your primary customer administrator. They have two weeks to “link” your account to your company, at which point you’ll be able to see any applicable entitlements and use learning credits that have been designated for you.
- Resource: Request Access to Your Company Training Benefits (Customers)
What if I don’t have my account number or get an error message?
- If you’re not sure what your account number is, we recommend you reach out to your internal ServiceNow platform team, or your ServiceNow account team. If you’re still stuck, or if you get an error message when you submit your request, we can help! Log in to Now Learning, go to Help, Create a Support Case, and we can tell you who manages your account. (Though we can’t tell you the account number – remember, it’s like a password to access training entitlements!)
Tell me more about this Primary Customer Administrator…
- The primary customer administrator is a critical role for all ServiceNow customers. When you become a customer, we help you designate this role in a system called Now Support. This person is responsible for key instance management activities, password resets, and more. Now, they’re also the gatekeeper for which users are formally “linked” to the company, and what role those linked users play. When you submit a request to be linked to your account in Now Learning, your primary admin gets an email with the details. They then log into Now Support and follow steps to link your account to your company (using your account number).
- So, what can you do if your admin isn’t responding to your request, has left the company, or you believe there should be a different admin? Well, in these cases, remember that the primary customer admin is designated not in Now Learning, but in Now Support. To assume the role of primary system administrator, or to get any other help related to this role, log into Now Support and create a case.
- Resource: Contact Now Support to change your administrator.
What should I do if I’m the Primary Customer Admin? (Or want to be?)
- If you’re the primary customer admin, the first thing you should do is review the instructions for linking accounts to your organization to access training benefits.
- Resource: Add Employees to Your Company for Training Benefits
- The second thing we recommend is assessing your strategy for managing training benefits moving forward. We recognize that some primary admins will stay focused on system administration responsibilities and delegate the management of training entitlements to others at the organization who are specifically responsible for learning. For that, we’ve created two additional admin roles:
- Training Administrators: Training Administrators (TAs) review progress, learning credit consumption, and enroll learners in training courses.
- Learning Credit Managers: Learning Credit Managers (LCMs) handle the daily operations of learning credits, including monitoring balances, managing learning credit pools, and allocating or restricting learning credit spending.
- Resource: Now Learning Roles
! Key Takeaway: Linking users to your company account lets them access training benefits like discounted courses. However, it also allows them to spend your company’s learning credits! Ensure that you have communicated to users about what they can spend, OR, create managed pools that put guardrails around your learning credits.
- Resource: Manage Learning Credit Pools
TL;DR
- As a Now Learning user, you must request to be linked to your company’s ServiceNow account to access training benefits like learning credits, which are required to sign up for some classes.
- This access is granted by your company’s primary customer admin, a role that is managed not in Now Learning, but in larger system called Now Support. For help identifying or updating your primary admin, click here.
- If you’re responsible for training at your organization, don’t leave learning credit management up to your primary admin! Request or delegate the Training Administrator and Learning Credit Manager roles and start managing your training benefits today.
- Confused? We can help! Submit a case through Now Learning, and the Now Learning team will point you in the right direction to start accessing or managing your training benefits.
2 Comments
