Universal Task data model

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Universal Task data model

    The Universal Task data model is designed to enhance the ticketing system across various departments in your organization. It allows for the creation of universal tasks related to different services, such as incidents, HR cases, or legal matters, and enables the assignment of multiple tasks for a single request.

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    Key Features

    • Integration with ServiceNow AI Platform tables and specific Universal Task application tables.
    • Extends the Task table to accommodate various task types, such as document uploads and catalog item submissions.
    • Customizable fields including State, Priority, and task templates to streamline task management.

    Key Outcomes

    With the Universal Task data model, you can effectively manage tasks across departments by leveraging tailored configurations based on specific needs. The model supports data separation and process separation, ensuring that tasks are organized and tracked efficiently, enhancing overall productivity and response times within your organization.

    The Universal Task is a tasking framework that you can append to the ticketing system of any department in your organization. The Universal Task data model explains the tasking framework and its customizations.

    You can create Universal Task for any department or service, such as a universal request, an incident, an HR case, or a legal matter. You can also assign multiple universal tasks for a single request.

    The following diagram is a high-level overview of the Universal Task data model.

    Universal task data model.

    The Universal Task data model uses a combination of tables to store data:
    • ServiceNow AI Platform tables.
    • Tables that are included with the Universal Task application.
    For information on the tables and components that are installed with the Universal Task application, see Components installed with Universal Task.
    The Universal Task [sn_uni_task_universal_task] table extends the Task [task] table to include:
    • The type of task for the current record, for example, Upload document.
    • The catalog item if the task is of type Submit Catalog Item.
    • The generated table that stores the table name that contains the requested catalog items.
    • The generated ID that is the sys_id of the requested catalog item.
      Note:
      The catalog item, generated table, and generated ID are only applicable for the Submit Catalog item task type.
    • The employee form that is used to request information for the Collect Employee Input task type.
    • The survey instance that stores the instance ID of the employee form for the Collect Employee Input task type.
    • Task template to be used, if any, to auto-fill the Universal Task [universal-task] form.
    The values for the State and Priority fields in the Task [task] table have been modified for Universal Task. The valid states for Universal Task are:
    • 1: New (Draft state). Tasks at this state are only visible to the agent.
    • 2: Work in Progress. Tasks at this state are assigned to and visible to the employee.
    • 3: Complete. Tasks transition to the complete state when the employee completes the task.
    • 4: Canceled. Tasks at this state can be canceled by agents before the task is completed.
    The valid priority values for Universal Task are:
    • 1: Critical. Highest priority for urgent or time-sensitive tasks.
    • 2: High. Tasks that are important but not urgent.
    • 3: Moderate. Tasks that should be completed.
    • 4: Low. Optional tasks.
    The Universal Task [sn_uni_task_universal_task] table follows data separation.

    Universal Task configuration table

    The Universal Task configuration table is configured to identify the following details:
    • The Parent table, or the department-specific table that uses Universal Task. For example, if Universal Task is being used with HR cases, then the HR case table is the parent table. Universal Task can only be created on a table that is an extension of the task table.
    • The task types that are available to the agents to task the requester with. For more details, see Universal Task types.
    • The Default Assigned to field that points to the requester field in the parent table. To auto-fill the Assigned to field with the assignee while creating a task, configure the Default Assigned to field.
    For more details, see Configure Universal Task for your service.

    Specific task types might have additional configuration tables. For example, for the Submit catalog item task type, the Catalog task configuration [sn_uni_task_catalog_task_config] table determines which filters to apply to the catalog items that are available to an agent. For more information, see Configure the catalog items for your service.

    The Universal task configuration [sn_uni_task_config] table and the Catalog task configuration [sn_uni_task_catalog_task_config] table follow process separation.