Create a data model for your application

Create a data model in App Engine Studio (AES) for your application by creating the tables that will house your application data. Create data tables that will be used in your application by creating the table from scratch, uploading a spreadsheet or PDF, or by using an existing table as a template. You can also create and schedule data imports by mapping a spreadsheet to an existing table in your application.

Creating a data model and populating data into user interfaces are crucial starting points for any new application. Users may provide data, such as their name and phone number, when they fill in a form, and other users may refer to data as they fulfill a request.

In App Engine Studio, application data is stored in table format. When users update application data, they create a row or change an existing row in the table (each row is also known as a data record). You can create tables from existing ServiceNow AI Platform tables, from a spreadsheet or PDF, or customize a completely new table for your application to store records in.

The data records stored in your application may come from several sources. One table might store data records entered by users who are using your application, another might be populated via the import and mapping of data from a spreadsheet or through a script that updates data records with data from another ServiceNow AI Platform table.

Application templates and data

Application templates automatically add data to your application. If you use a template to create your application, you can edit the tables that were added or add different tables.

Forms

When you add data to your app, any associated form views display in the Experience section of your app. To edit the form, select it in the Experience section. Form views can be edited in the Forms tab of Table Builder. For more information, see Forms in Table Builder.

Table extension

There are several tables that your organization may already be using in other applications. For example, your organization may be using the Configuration item [cmdb_ci] table for an application that houses configuration data. You can create a table for your application by extending any of these existing tables.

Table extension allows a table to share fields and records with a parent table. You might extend a table if you expect users to fill in similar fields across different form views in an application. For example, to create a ticketing type of table, you might extend the Task [task] table. The Task table includes fields that are standard for most work tickets, such as Number and Assigned to.

Many organizations create extensible standardized tables for their citizen developers to use when designing their apps. This enables the developers to standardize the way data is utilized across multiple applications within the organization.

To make a table in your application extensible, select Make extensible during table creation. After extending an existing table, you can further customize the new table by adding more columns.

The following table provides a list of commonly extended tables in the ServiceNow AI Platform. For more information on commonly extended tables and models for extension, see Table extension and classes.

Table 1. Commonly extended tables

Table	Short Description	Description
task	Task	Stores fields for the core applications such as Incident, Problem, and Change Management. It provides a series of standard fields used on each of the tables that extend it. Any table which extends the task table can take advantage of task-specific functionality for driving tasks.
cmdb_ci	Configuration Item	Stores configuration items. This table can be extended for configuration items such as hardware, services, etc.
sn_customerservice _case	Customer Service Case	Stores customer service case records.
sm_order	Service Order	Stores data that defines and manages work that needs to be performed.
sm_task	Service Task	Stores units of work performed by one person in one session (one location, one time).
planned_task	Planned Task	Stores additional fields for tasks pertaining to time and effort as part of a planned, multi-stage process.
cmn_location	Location	Stores location information.
cmdb_serviceorder _product_model	Service Order Model	Stores service order templates.
cmdb_servicetask _product_mode	Service Task Model	Stores service task templates.
cmdb_qb_result _base	Query Results	Stores query results created by the CMDB Query Builder.
alm_asset	Asset	Stores general, financial, and contractual information about assets.
cmdb_ci_service	Business Service	Stores IT Services data that directly supports a business process.
sys_user	User	Stores user data. The User table provides a list of all system users and their related department.
sys_user_group	User Group	Stores and groups a set of users who share a common purpose. Groups may perform tasks such as approving change requests, resolving incidents, receiving email notifications, or performing work order tasks.
core_company	Company	Stores company information.
cmn_schedule	Schedule	Stores records that specify a time zone and a type of schedule and use one or more schedule entries.
cmn_department	Department	Stores a list of all departments and their related business unit.
cmn_cost_center	Cost Center	Stores cost center records. This is a reference between financial systems and IT. Cost center records represent business entities, and have a related list of CI Cost Center Relationships that measure the cost center's consumption of business services.
cmdb_model	Product Model	Specific versions or various configurations of an asset. Models are used for managing and tracking assets through various ServiceNow platform asset applications, including Product Catalog, Asset Management, and Procurement.
life_cycle_stage	Life Cycle Stage	Stores standard fields and values for tracking life cycle stages for CIs. Using these standard values consistently across applications helps to effectively track assets through their life cycle transitions.
life_cycle_stage _status	Life Cycle Status	Stores standard fields and values for tracking life cycle stage status for CIs. Using these standard values consistently across applications helps to effectively track assets through their life cycle transitions.
incident	Incident	Stores deviations from an expected standard of operation.
sysapproval	Approval	Stores data that allows you to require authorization on tasks before the work is done. You can define approvals for all tasks and associate users or groups to a task to approve or reject them.

Use the methods listed below to create a data model and add data to your application.

• Create a blank table
  Add a data table to your application from an existing table that you or someone else previously created or from scratch.
• Use a spreadsheet to add data
  Add data tables and records to your application by uploading a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
• Use a PDF to create data tables
  Create tables from a PDF form using the PDF extractor tool in App Engine Studio.
• Create a data integration
  Add new or updated information to your current data sets by importing it into existing tables in your application through the power of Integration Hub. Schedule future imports to add data at specific times.
• Modify application data tables
  Use Table Builder to modify data tables used in your application.