Agent Client Collector planning checklist

Release version: Australia

Updated March 12, 2026

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Summary of Agent Client Collector Planning Checklist

The Agent Client Collector (ACC) planning checklist is essential for successful large-scale ACC implementations. It helps organizations effectively prepare for deploying endpoints or servers, ensuring that all necessary considerations are addressed prior to rollout.

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Key Features

Define Use Cases and Metrics: Identify specific use cases such as ITOM Visibility and success metrics, targeting data collection performance over a defined period.
Stakeholder Involvement: Engage key teams, including network and security, early in the planning process to ensure comprehensive input.
Licensing and Instance Assessment: Confirm that all necessary licenses and configurations are in place to support the targeted devices.
Software Compatibility: Ensure compatibility with required CPU architectures and operating systems, and assess the need for elevated system privileges.
Network Review: Check for any VPN, firewall, or proxy restrictions that could hinder data transmission to ServiceNow.
Device Management Solutions: Identify internal solutions for software deployment to the targeted devices.
Solution Architecture Drafting: Collaborate with the ServiceNow account team to design the data transmission architecture based on use cases.
Deployment Plan Definition: Structure the rollout into segments, including evaluation, pilot, and full deployment, adhering to device limits to manage risk.
Compliance and Security Review: Conduct thorough reviews and obtain necessary approvals from internal teams and stakeholders.

Key Outcomes

By following this checklist, ServiceNow customers can expect to achieve a well-organized and effective ACC deployment. This structured approach minimizes risks, enhances compliance, and aligns deployment efforts with business objectives, ultimately leading to successful data collection and operational efficiency.

Successful Agent Client Collector (ACC) implementations, especially involving large numbers of endpoints or servers, require careful planning. Before proceeding with a large-scale ACC deployment, follow the steps described in the planning checklist.

Table 1. Agent Client Collector planning
Step number	Action	Description
1	Define use cases, targeted devices, and success metrics	Typical ACC use cases include ITOM Visibility, ITAM (SAM/HAM), ITSM (DEX), ITOM Health (HLA/Metric Intelligence). Many customers have success metrics targeting a percentage of devices with successful data collection for a use case over a 7 to 14-day window (for example, “95% of endpoints report software usage over a 14-day period”).
2	Identify Key Stakeholders	Involve network, security, and device/software management teams (such as jamf/Intune experts) as early as possible during planning.
3	Assess ServiceNow License, Store App and Instance Requirements	Ensure that you have all license entitlements for your use cases. Determine which software updates or configuration changes to your production and sub-production instances are needed to support your targeted number of devices.
4	Assess Software Requirements	Ensure that all CPU architectures and operating systems for your use cases are supported. If not, determine whether non-ACC solutions such as Service Graph Connector or Discovery Patterns can be used. Determine whether your use cases require elevated system privileges on endpoints or servers (for example, root access on Linux for device serial number tracking).
5	Assess Network Requirements	Verify whether there are VPN, firewall, or proxy restrictions that prevent ACC from sending data to your ServiceNow instance.
6	Assess Device Management Requirements	Verify which internal solutions are available for deploying software within your organization on all targeted devices. For example, Intune and Jamf for endpoints; Chef, Puppet, or Ansible for servers.
7	Draft ACC Solution Architecture	Work with your ServiceNow account team to define how ACC agents send data to the ServiceNow instance, based on your use cases and differences in server and endpoint deployment techniques. Verify whether direct connections are made using ITOM Cloud Services or MID Servers.
8	Define and Segment your ACC Deployment Plan	Define evaluation, pilot, and broad rollout stages and the number of devices targeted in each phase. Align each segment with risk tolerance and business goals. ACC must be rolled out gradually, with no more than 5,000 agents per hour.
9	Internal Compliance and Security Review	Work with internal teams and your stakeholders to review your deployment plan, solution architecture, and to obtain approvals.