Exploring Universal Request
- UpdatedJan 30, 2025
- 3 minutes to read
- Yokohama
- Employee Service Management
The ServiceNow Universal Request application enables cross-departmental reporting from the time of an initial employee request through the final issue resolution. You can map various departmental ticket states and activity streams into a unified and simplified experience for your employees and agents.
Universal Request application supports the following two most common ESM or GBS service delivery models.
Cross-departmental Tier 1 support desk
If your organization has a cross-trained group of Tier 1 agents to resolve routine requests, then you can use this support desk model. In this model, universal requests are assigned to the cross-departmental tier 1 support desk agents to triage, resolve, or forward unresolved requests to a higher support level within a specific department.
Embedded Tier 1 Support Desks
If your organization has tier 1 agents in each department, such as IT, HR, and Finance, then you can use this support desk model. In this model, universal requests are routed to the appropriate departmental tier 1 agents who resolve, escalate, or transfer the requests to the correct department.

- Facilitates employees to create a request by just clicking Request Help in the Service Portal if they cannot find the relevant search results or are unsure of which department to contact for help.
- Provides a consistent and unified ticket page experience to employees across service departments.
- Enables agents to effectively resolve a case or request through cross-departmental interactions rather than working in silos.
- Provide an end-to-end user experience with complete visibility to the case details.
- Enables ticket transfers across departments or between a Tier-1 support desk and higher-level departmental support teams, with enhanced security.
- Enables agents to task employees using the Universal Task application to complete a catalog item or upload a document to facilitate quick resolution of a request.
- Monitor and improve the end-to-end experience with cross-departmental SLAs and metrics.