New CSA Student Seeking Advice on ServiceNow Administration and IRM/GRC

[AtinukeO]

Hello everyone,

I recently joined the ServiceNow Community and am currently studying for the Certified System Administrator (CSA) certification.

I am interested in ServiceNow Administration, AI, IRM/GRC, and BCM. I have completed the ServiceNow Administration Fundamentals course and registered for ServiceNow AI Learning Days.

As a beginner, what learning resources, hands-on projects, and community recommendations would you suggest i use to build practical experience and prepare for a ServiceNow Administrator role?

Thank you for your guidance and support.

[yashkamde · Accepted solution]

Hello @AtinukeO ,

I have passed CSA. I would be happy to share my experience on my journey throughout preparation :

Refer this :

ServiceNow CSA Exam Study Guide 

If my response helped mark as helpful and accept the solution.

[Tanushree Maiti · Accepted solution]

Hi @AtinukeO 

GRC related Courses:

I will recommend you to go through following courses from ServiceNow University:

1. Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Product Application and Features 

1.Partner Essentials: Integrated Risk Management (IRM) 

3.GRC: Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Simulator 

4. GRC: Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Fundamentals On Demand 

OR

5.GRC: Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Implementation 

Then Prepare for ServiceNow Certified Implementation Specialist – Risk and Compliance (CIS-RC) 

If you have time to know how AI works in IRM, then go through

7.GRC: Now Assist for Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Fundamentals 

8.Now Assist for Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Implementer 

[AtinukeO]

Thank you for the recommendations. I am currently focusing on completing my CSA certification first and will definitely use these IRM learning paths as my next step. I appreciate your guidance.

[Tanushree Maiti]

Hi @AtinukeO 

On BCM:

Micro-Certification - Business Continuity Management 

GRC: Business Continuity Management Implementer 

[Aditya_hublikar]

Hello @AtinukeO ,

Welcome to Servicenow community 

You can start with practicing in Servicenow PDI .  

When you start exploring ServiceNow PDI, begin with understanding the basic platform UI:

• Application Navigator, Banner, Content Frame (UI16)

• Explore Forms and List Views

• Company Branding and changing the Welcome Page

• Context Menu (what it is and its types)

• Breadcrumbs and how they work

Next, move on to data modeling basics:

• Table and Field creation

• Table dependencies and Table Extensions

• Field types

• Views

• Important OOTB tables like User (sys_user), Group (sys_user_group), Role (sys_user_role), Delegations

Once you are comfortable with this, explore core configuration concepts:

• Reference Qualifiers

• Dot-walking

• UI Policies

• Dictionary Overrides

• ACLs

• Priority Lookup

• Difference between Configuration vs Customization

Then understand data movement and backup concepts:

• Update Sets (how to take backup of your work)

• Update Set transfer methods

• Import Sets

After learning these basics, you can confidently move forward to explore Service Management modules like:

• Incident

• Problem

• Change

• Request

And then deep dive into the Development part.

Then  start with Certified System Administrator (CSA) – First & Mandatory

• CSA is the basic and most important certification for ServiceNow beginners

• It helps you understand how the ServiceNow platform works

Main topics to focus on:

• Platform UI and navigation

• Tables, fields, forms, and list views

• Users, groups, and roles

• Basic ITSM concepts

• UI Policies, Client Scripts, and Business Rules (basic understanding)

Best practices:

• Practice each topic in your Personal Developer Instance (PDI)

• Do not just memorize answers—try to understand why a feature is used and when to use it

Once you follow this path, your ServiceNow learning journey will be smooth and structured 

Try to spend 2-3 hours daily  on community which will help you understand different real  time scenarios ,different approaches . Explore University Course which also enhance your knowledge.

Start with the "Welcome to ServiceNow " training, it's really good and it will gives you your first certificate!

The Certified System Administrator (CSA) certificate is initial stage , it's useful for almost for any servicenow role .

You can refer this thread :

https://www.servicenow.com/community/sysadmin-forum/six-steps-on-how-to-start-learning-servicenow-a-...

You can also explore Learning plans from below :

https://developer.servicenow.com/dev.do#!/learn/learning-plans/zurich

If this helps you then mark it as helpful and accept as solution.

Regards,

Aditya

[AtinukeO]

Thank you, Aditya. This is a very detailed roadmap and exactly the kind of guidance I was looking for. I have already started ServiceNow Administration Fundamentals and am currently preparing for the CSA certification. I will continue practicing in my PDI and focus on understanding the concepts rather than memorizing answers. I appreciate your advice and support.

[Aditya_hublikar · Accepted solution]

Hello @AtinukeO ,

for csa exam :

Start reading Servicenow CSA E-book , you will get your e-book from fundamental course .

Most of the time, people get bored reading such a big eBook. However, it is very helpful for the exam. If you have already gone through the concepts in the eBook, and the same topics appear in the exam, you can quickly recognize that those questions are from specific sections.

So, don’t ignore the eBook—try to complete it.

The most important parts of the eBook are the last sections, such as Security Center, Shared Responsibility Model, and ServiceNow Encryption. These sections are often overlooked, but based on personal experience, around 4–5 questions can come from them.

Also, most of the theory and concepts in the eBook are already covered in ServiceNow prerequisite courses, so it becomes easier to revise quickly.

 CSA exam blueprint you can refer from here :

https://learning.servicenow.com/lxp/en/credentials/certified-system-administrator-mainline-exam-blue...

Also refer this(CRAM flashcards which helps most ) :

https://www.servicenow.com/community/training-and-certifications/just-passed-my-csa-certification-ex...

If this helps you then mark it as helpful and accept as solution.

Regards,

Aditya