This blog is a deep dive into the new features for the August 3, 2023 release of the Workplace Service Delivery (WSD) Store Apps.
Please note that this is a summary of the most notable items, not an exhaustive list. For full details, refer to the Product documentation and release notes on the ServiceNow Store.
Important note:
The Workplace Safety Management application has been renamed to Workplace Core.
New features:
- Workplace Connectors
- Move Scheduler
- Map Based Space Administration
Enhancements:
- Reservation & Case Management:
- Display description for workplace services categories and workplace service items
- Outlook integration
- Synchronize reservations with Exchange Server (On Premises)
- Notify admin of Outlook Online expired subscription
- Workplace Indoor Mapping
- Filter map content at the user level
- Improve navigation in Campus list
- New CAD file import options to better manage content titles/names and computation of surfaces
- Health and Safety Incident Management
- Incident Playbook
- Incident Overview
- Role Specific Landing Pages
Workplace Connectors
Persona: Facility Manager
Roles: sn_wsd_wc.manager / sn_wsd_wc.admin / sn_wsd_wc.user
Plugins: Workplace Connectors, Workplace Central, Workplace Core
Workplace Connectors is a new application delivered during this release to provide organizations with a way to collect occupancy data from badging systems. This data is then analyzed by the system and displayed in a Workplace Analytics dashboard to show key metrics.
The Occupancy Dashboard appears alongside the Space Optimization, Lease Administration, and Maintenance Management dashboards released in May as part of Workplace Analytics available through Workplace Central.
This new dashboard provides Facility Managers with key metrics such as:
- Total headcount
- Highest total headcount in a day
- Average daily onsite headcount
- Headcount trends over a certain period which compared total headcount vs. Onsite headcount
Filters such as the date, location hierarchy (region, site, campus...), cost center and department can be applied to view location specific data.
To be able to view this data, the Facility Manager should proceed to configure how the badging data is collected and displayed. The process can be divided into the 3 following steps (but read the Workplace Connectors Technical Documentation for detailed configuration information):
- Provider configuration: (Left filter navigator > Workplace Connectors > Provider Configuration)
The Facility Manager will create a new record in the provider table for every badging system/vendor that needs to be configured.
- Connector configuration: (Left filter navigator > Workplace Connectors > Connector Configuration)
In this step, the Facility Manager will indicate in which tables the data will be collected and displayed.
- Employee Attendance Data: (Left filter navigator > Workplace Connectors > Employee Attendance Data)
Once these steps have been accounted for, the scheduled jobs will run to pull the raw data from the badging systems and have all the data centralized here.
From here, the data will be summarized by location, department and cost center for specific dates and shown in the Attendance Analytics, which in turn will populate the Occupancy Dashboard.
Move Scheduler
Persona: Move Manager
Roles: sn_wsd_move.manager
Plugins: Workplace Move Management, Workplace Case Management, Workplace Central, Workplace Core
The new Move Scheduler feature accessible through Workplace Central enables Move Managers to plan, schedule and coordinate bulk moves. Prior to this release, move cases were executed as singular tasks, however, now projects can be created to facilitate the coordination of multiple move cases.
This new feature comes with the Move Management Dashboard which gives the Move Manager the ability to view all ongoing activities. At a high level, they can view how many projects, move requests, and move tasks are currently open. The dashboard also provides visibility into the status of the requests whether they are planned (have a planned start and end date set) or unplanned, in progress, awaiting approval or closed. A general overview of the status of each active project is also shown using a bar chart.
Move Managers can drill down into each project and move request by simply selecting any record displayed in the list view below.
To create a move project, select ‘Create project’ on the dashboard homepage. Start by giving the project a name and short description. The next step is to set up the filter conditions to select move requests that will be included in this move project.
Once the project is created, a calendar view will be displayed which can either be viewed by the week or by the month. A list view can also be selected. Each column in the calendar represents the date and each row represents a different move request that corresponds to the conditions previously set. New requests can be added at any time, simply by selecting ‘add new requests’ which will take the user to the list of move cases that can be selected and added to the project.
The colored segments show how long each move case has been planned for and the color represents their status. Each of them can be dragged and dropped to be able to adapt to any planning changes.
These segments are also clickable, and once clicked case details will appear and can be edited by the Move Manager to reflect any changes to the case attributes.
By selecting ‘open case details’, this will open the case record where the Move Manager will have the ability to view all tasks related to this move.
A move project can also be created from a Scenario Plan. Once the Space Planner has created a scenario and is ready to deploy this scenario to production data, the deploy feature will automatically prompt the option to create a move project.
For more information on Scenario Planning click here.
Map Based Space Administration
Personas: Space Manager
Plugins: Workplace Core, Workplace Central, Workplace Indoor Mapping, Workplace Space Management
Roles: sn_wsd_spcmgmt.admin, sn_wsd_spcmgmt.manager, sn_wsd_spcmgmt.space_planner
This latest enhancement of Map Based Space Administration enables Space Planners to make either single or bulk edits to space attributes directly from the map, making the process more visual and faster as edits will be effective on live data as soon as the edits are saved.
To make these changes, the Space Planner navigates to the Space Optimization module in Workplace Central and selects the building in which the edits will be made. By default, the stack plan of the building will be shown, and clicking the floor map tab allows edits to be made.
- Edits to individual spaces using the map
When selecting a space on the map (this can be a desk, a meeting room, a conference room, etc.) the ‘Edit Space’ button will appear on the right-hand side panel alongside information on the capacity, assignment, and department/cost center of the selected space.
From here, the Space Planner can edit all the space attributes, assign the space to a cost center and/or department, and also define which neighborhood the space belongs using the related lists. Once saved, the live data is updated.
- Bulk edits to spaces using the map
The same process can be repeated for multiple or bulk edits. To do so, the Space Planner would draw a shape around the spaces, and the number of selected spaces will then be shown on the right-hand side panel.
After clicking, a new tab will then open with the list of spaces that have been selected.
From here, the Space Planner can either choose to select all spaces and make bulk edits to change the allocation, add an allocation and remove a set allocation, or use the inline edit option to update fields. Once saved these changes will be reflected on production data instantly.
Reservation & Case Management
Personas: System Administrator and employees
Plugin: Workplace Reservation Management, Workplace Case Management
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Displaying descriptions for additional services
When adding services (such as catering) to a reservation, employees will now see an Item Description providing more context on their selection.
Employees will also benefit from the descriptions when adding services to reservations that are made via the Outlook Add-in.
To activate this feature, the Workplace Administrator will need to add a Description to the Workplace Service Item record. The Description is a rich text editor, which supports various fonts and formatting requirements, including hyperlinks.
A Description can also be added to the Workplace Service Category record and displayed to the employee.
Outlook Integration
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Synchronize reservations with Exchange Server (On Premises)
Personas: System Administrator
Plugin: Workplace Core, Workplace Reservation Management, Workplace Calendar Synchronization, Exchange Server Spoke
The Outlook Exchange integration has been enhanced to support organizations that are On Premise. The configuration along with the experience remains similar to Outlook Exchange Online, however, the provider selected during configuration will be different.
The initial step is to configure the provider by navigating to Workplace Calendar Synchronization > Calendar Providers. A new provider record should be created, and Microsoft EWS should be selected as the Calendar Processor. Note: for the new Microsoft EWS option to be displayed, the Workplace Calendar Synchronization app needs to be updated to the latest version.
Differences between Exchange On-Premises and Exchange Online
- Reservations are being synchronized using EWS (Exchange Web Services)
- A MID Server is required to ensure there is connectivity between the two solutions (Exchange & Workplace Service Delivery)
- Basic Authentication is used to connect to EWS
- Exchange On-premises requires Exchange Server Spokes (Note: Using this application may incur Integration Hub transactions that are not included in the Store application. Integration Hub Transactions require a separate Integration Hub or Automation Engine subscription. Please speak to your Account team for more information)
- Synchronizing requires the scheduled job “WSDRS Sync Calendar items” to be active. By default, it runs every 5 minutes. Changes are then retrieved using sync-delta
- Attendees are only retrieved when a change to the date, time, or location is changed in Outlook
- Retrieving the acceptance state per attendee is not received
- The Outlook add-in is not supported -- The available OfficeJS API is not able to provide the required information (iCalUId)
Detailed information on the Outlook integration and its configuration can be found here.
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Notify admin of Outlook Online expired subscription
Personas: System Administrator
Plugin: Workplace Core, Workplace Reservation Management, Workplace Case Management, Workplace Calendar Synchronization
The Workplace Calendar Synchronization with Exchange Online requires a subscription ID, and with this release a new notification is sent to the Workplace Administrator to alert them if it fails to renew.
Previously, when the subscription expired, the reservation status would either show an error status or would not be handled, and there was no notification.
Indoor Mapping
- Filter map content at the user level
- Plugins: Workplace Indoor Mapping, Indoor Mapping
Building maps often contain desks, rooms, printers, furniture, and more. The new Filter Map Content feature enables employees to filter out elements (Place Types and Layer Types) to display specific content in the Location Directory and the map view when making reservations.
- The employee can access the maps that have been configured and filter out certain Layer Types and Place Types using the ‘eye icon’ located at the bottom right corner of the map.
Employees can filter out Space Types and/or Layer Types by unchecking specific boxes.
The map displayed when making a reservation also holds the same filtering capabilities.
To enable employees to use these filtering capabilities, the feature must be activated by the Workplace Administrator within the Place Types and Layer Types tables using the ‘Display in the map filter’ field.
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Improve navigation in Campus list
Persona: Map Editor / Map Admin
Plugins: Indoor Mapping, Workplace Indoor Mapping
A new search field has been added to help filter the Campus list in Map Studio. The Campus list on the Map Studio home page also includes a pagination feature.
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New CAD file import options to enhance titles/name
Persona: Map Editor / Map Admin
Plugins: Workplace Indoor Mapping/Indoor Mapping
Organizations often use technical terms when referring to space for internal purposes, and have employee-facing names for those outside the facility team. There are now CAD file import options to easily input these different labels.
As a reminder, the title is visible on the map to all employees and the name is visible to admins in the back end, typically serving as the more technical name for the space.
This new feature is available on the CAD configuration page.
- If organizations do not need to differentiate the title and the name of a space, the ‘Place name and title templates are the same’ feature should be selected, and the title template column will not be visible.
- If organizations decide to have a different name and title for each space, the ‘Place name and title templated are the same’ should not be selected. Admins will define the name template and title template separately.
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Compute surfaces from CAD polylines
Roles: Map Admin, Map Editor
Plugins: Workplace Indoor Mapping/Indoor Mapping/ Space Management
Before this release, three options were available to populate the space measurement details in the space table:
- Surfaces could be retrieved from the block attributes defined in the CAD files for each space
- Surface values could be manually added to each space
- Surfaces could be extracted from Map Studio but this may not always provide precise information as it’s dependent on accurate georeferences
An additional option to directly compute surfaces from CAD polylines is now available. The surface can now be retrieved from AutoCAD if the file has a unit, and each place is defined by closed polylines.
Note: if polylines are not closed the system will not be able to retrieve the information. Please refer to the following guidebook for instructions on how to ensure the file has closed polylines.
To use this option, the CAD_COMPUTED_SURFACES property must be set to true in Space Mapping > Indoor Mapping Administration > Place Properties Mapping.
Once this step is completed, a synchronization in Space Mapping > Indoor Mapping Administration > Indoor Map / WSD Synchronization must be executed to ensure the information is retrieved and the space measurement fields are populated.
Health and Safety Incident Management
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Flexible Incident Playbook and Incident Overview for Streamlined Incident Management
Personas: System Administrator, Health and Safety Agent, Health and Safety Manager, Health and Safety Compliance Manager
Plugin: Health and Safety Incident Management
Enhancements have been made to the data model to simplify the process of reporting and working on safety incidents. The investigation workbench has been merged with the incident record so all incident artifacts are presented in a single, comprehensive view.
A new Playbook feature from the platform consolidate the number of tabs for a more streamlined and organized experience. Health and Safety teams will no longer need to navigate through multiple tabs to view all the collected information for an incident. The playbook structure provide a step by step process for the Health and Safety teams working on the incident.
The screenshot above showcases the out of the box playbook. Customers will be able to configure the playbook features if they are licensed to Process Automation Designer with App Engine.
On the right side of any page within the incident, Health and Safety teams will be able to see consolidated comments, work notes, activity stream, and attachments without having to navigate to a new page.
The Incident Overview page has also been updated to allow Health and Safety agents to see all information that has been collected in the playbook in a single view. This view gives an overview summary of the entire incident and investigation process. Health and Safety Users can click the hyperlink to be brought to the record and update any information as needed.
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Role Specific Landing Pages
Personas: System Administrator, Health and Safety Operations, Health and Safety Executive
Plugin: Health and Safety Incident Management
Two new roles for Operations Managers and Executives (sn_ohs_im.operations_manager and sn_ohs_im.executive) have been added to ensure the landing pages in the Health and Safety Workspace are tailored to the persona viewing them.
Note: these users will not see sensitive information unless the sensitive information role has been granted.
The Executive landing page has been designed to surface reporting and metrics of safety across the organization. This user does not have the ability to create observations and incidents. The user will be able to see reports and metrics and have a high level insight into injury metrics and incidents which they are able to sort through with the newly added date range picker. If the executive would like to see the metrics at a record level, they are still able to see incidents and observations without the ability to edit.
The sn_ohs_im.operations role is the newly added role for Safety Agent Managers or Operation Managers. This role will be able to work on incidents and observations, see metrics, and have visibility across their entire team who is also working on incidents and observations. This role also will have the ability to use the newly added date range picker to pull metrics from previous reports.
To explore further and access detailed technical documentation, we recommend using https://docs.servicenow.com/ .
