Learn about personas when creating applications

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 1 minute to read

    • Learn about personas and how to analyze personas before creating an application on the ServiceNow AI Platform.

    Before creating an application, you should understand who will use the application and why. Personas provide a mental model of the user’s goals, behaviors, and pain points. They help teams design experiences that align with real-world workflows rather than assumptions. Applications built without persona-driven design often lead to fragmented experiences, forcing users to jump between resources and slowing adoption.

    Common personas

    Applications created in the ServiceNow AI Platform typically serve multiple personas that have different responsibilities including the following:
    • Low-Code developers, including business users or process owners, may use Creator Studio to build request-fulfillment apps without writing code.
    • Platform developers are tech-savvy but not formally trained in coding. They may use ServiceNow Studio to build applications and maintain them through their lifecycle.
    • Professional developers are skilled in scripting and advanced customization, and may work alongside citizen developers to extend functionality beyond low-code boundaries.
    • IT agents (users with the ITIL role) handle incidents, service requests, and asset management. They may need mobile-friendly applications for quick ticket resolution and on-call scheduling.
    • Administrators manage roles, security, and governance, and may also do development work.
    • End Users (requesters) are employees or customers initiating requests, approvals, or browsing knowledge. Their experience should be simple, branded, and accessible through portals such as Employee Center.

    Researching personas

    • Interview stakeholders to uncover goals and pain points.
    • Identify similarities and differences among roles using existing persona information, such as persona foundation cards or internal libraries.
    • Analyze existing applications (especially similar ones) and usage patterns in your instance.

    Key considerations

    • Avoid rigid persona silos. Many roles overlap (for example, admins often act as developers and vice versa). Design flexible experiences that accommodate hybrid responsibilities.
    • Map tasks to outcomes. Focus on what users must accomplish rather than just their job title. This approach helps avoid over-engineering features that don’t add value.
    • Plan for scalability. Use configurable workspaces and templates aligned with persona needs to reduce maintenance overhead.