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‎11-20-2024 01:24 PM
We have a business problem where we need to ensure that our end-users are getting prompt and informative "near real time" updates when a critical business system is unavailable, and when it becomes available again.
We'd like to avoid email as the medium, but are open to innovative ideas.
Is anyone else using ServiceNow for this function/capability today?
Solved! Go to Solution.
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‎11-28-2024 08:35 AM
What kinds of messaging are you looking to send to the end users, given that email is not a preference? Within the platform itself, you can essentially send emails, Text Messages (SMS), Push Notifications to mobile devices that use the ServiceNow App, and messaging via the Now Actions app to push notifications to users via things like Teams or Slack (but this also requires an IntegrationHub subscription and configuration).
Source Documentation:
Each solution will require some foundational data validation at a minimum (like you can't send someone an SMS message if you don't have their phone number and you can't push a message to their ServiceNow mobile app if it's not installed and has an active logic).
The source record that triggers the notifications also needs to be considered. Are you using Outage records or some other type of record? This can become important because of the Audit History (it would become quite long if you're tracking all of the SMS messages you send out to the entire user base on an Incident record and still trying to use that Incident record to resolve the issue).
You can also use Targeted Communications, as long as it can deliver anything from a manual email to a dynamically-automated message to different people based on specific conditions.
I know the documentation says that it's covered under the CSM product, but your existing ITSM or other subscription may also make it available. It enables you create dynamic recipient lists and you can track publication history in a centralized place. You can automate the entire process and also use it manually, so it can meet all of those types of needs.
ServiceNow can deliver these outcomes and how you measure them will also play a large part.
If the end goal is to deflect calls to the ServiceDesk, then you'll want to use various touchpoints to accomplish this like email, SMS, in-platform notifications, announcements, the Outages page on the Portal, and perhaps even a Targeted Communication).
If the end goal is to be able to show that you quickly sent a message to someone to fulfill a contractual obligation or meet an audit requirement, then you may just want to use an SMS notification.
When examining potential solutions, I always recommend that a foundational data analysis also be done early on, just so you know what you may have to configure or collect to enable the outcomes and you can put that into your early effort estimate. Like I mentioned earlier, if you don't have a valid number that can receive SMS messages for 40% of your end users, then you'll need to either close that gap or have an additional communication method to reach those people.
Finally, when building and implementing, I also always try to take the following into consideration:
1. How will this deliver the desired outcomes?
2. How will I measure things to determine if I am reaching my goals?
3. How will this impact the business process?
4. How will this impact the ServiceNow module?
5. How will this impact ServiceNow as a whole?
6. How will this impact the Enterprise's architecture?
7. Are there any licensing gaps that need to be closed?
Best wishes!
Chris
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‎11-21-2024 11:24 AM - edited ‎11-21-2024 11:25 AM
Greetings,
Do you have access to or looked into the Major Incident Workbench? If I recall correctly you can use this to organize and distribute information to end users of a critical system outage. Includes Text Messages if I remember correctly.
Have a look at the following link and see if this covers what you are looking for. It has been around for quite some time in the event you are on an older platform release. I don't use it directly, but I believe our incident and problem management team does. It should be part of the ITSM module.
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‎11-27-2024 07:50 AM
I can help @JJK-FHA answer this.
No we don't have access to Major Incident Workbench.
Good suggestion though it looks like it has many of the features we would need to manage higher priority incidents.
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‎11-28-2024 08:35 AM
What kinds of messaging are you looking to send to the end users, given that email is not a preference? Within the platform itself, you can essentially send emails, Text Messages (SMS), Push Notifications to mobile devices that use the ServiceNow App, and messaging via the Now Actions app to push notifications to users via things like Teams or Slack (but this also requires an IntegrationHub subscription and configuration).
Source Documentation:
Each solution will require some foundational data validation at a minimum (like you can't send someone an SMS message if you don't have their phone number and you can't push a message to their ServiceNow mobile app if it's not installed and has an active logic).
The source record that triggers the notifications also needs to be considered. Are you using Outage records or some other type of record? This can become important because of the Audit History (it would become quite long if you're tracking all of the SMS messages you send out to the entire user base on an Incident record and still trying to use that Incident record to resolve the issue).
You can also use Targeted Communications, as long as it can deliver anything from a manual email to a dynamically-automated message to different people based on specific conditions.
I know the documentation says that it's covered under the CSM product, but your existing ITSM or other subscription may also make it available. It enables you create dynamic recipient lists and you can track publication history in a centralized place. You can automate the entire process and also use it manually, so it can meet all of those types of needs.
ServiceNow can deliver these outcomes and how you measure them will also play a large part.
If the end goal is to deflect calls to the ServiceDesk, then you'll want to use various touchpoints to accomplish this like email, SMS, in-platform notifications, announcements, the Outages page on the Portal, and perhaps even a Targeted Communication).
If the end goal is to be able to show that you quickly sent a message to someone to fulfill a contractual obligation or meet an audit requirement, then you may just want to use an SMS notification.
When examining potential solutions, I always recommend that a foundational data analysis also be done early on, just so you know what you may have to configure or collect to enable the outcomes and you can put that into your early effort estimate. Like I mentioned earlier, if you don't have a valid number that can receive SMS messages for 40% of your end users, then you'll need to either close that gap or have an additional communication method to reach those people.
Finally, when building and implementing, I also always try to take the following into consideration:
1. How will this deliver the desired outcomes?
2. How will I measure things to determine if I am reaching my goals?
3. How will this impact the business process?
4. How will this impact the ServiceNow module?
5. How will this impact ServiceNow as a whole?
6. How will this impact the Enterprise's architecture?
7. Are there any licensing gaps that need to be closed?
Best wishes!
Chris
