Assign user role

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Assign user role

    In the Telecommunications Network Inventory (TNI) application, assigning user roles is essential to control access to specific features, capabilities, and data. Roles determine which users or groups can access particular forms and processes within the application. Role assignments are managed through the ServiceNow AI Platform's user administration feature.

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    Role Assignments

    You can assign roles to:

    • Individual users – to enable specific permissions tailored to their responsibilities.
    • Groups – to collectively grant access to multiple users based on team functions.

    Instructions for assigning roles to users or groups are provided within the ServiceNow platform.

    Key Telecommunications Network Inventory Roles

    The application provides several predefined roles, each with distinct permissions:

    • Inventory Admin – Full create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) access to all TNI functions.
    • Inventory Catalog Manager – CRUD access to metadata for all network inventory entities, including metadata association.
    • Inventory Template Manager – CRUD access to network inventory templates and the ability to manage default templates.
    • Inventory Agent – Read access to inventory models, capacity metrics, and pack tables; write, update, and delete access to inventory tables; read/write access to template, change request, and change task tables. Note: Modifying model and model relationship tables requires additional Asset or Inventory User roles.
    • Inventory Number Manager – Full CRUD access to telephone number tables.

    Important Changes Starting June 2026 (v12.1 Release)

    Standard ServiceNow platform roles will no longer have read access to certain TNI-specific tables to ensure subscription compliance and accurate product usage tracking. This affects roles such as asset, sncmdbuser, cmdbread, itil, and usageadmin.

    Affected tables and permissions removed:

    • tnientity table – Read and report view permissions removed from asset, sncmdbuser, cmdbread, and itil roles.
    • snnicorelicensingresourcecount table – Read and report view permissions removed from usageadmin role.

    To restore access to these tables, assign the appropriate TNI-specific roles to the users explicitly.

    Practical Impact for ServiceNow Customers

    • Proper role assignment ensures users have the necessary access to perform their tasks without exposing sensitive data unnecessarily.
    • Understanding role permissions helps maintain compliance with licensing and subscription terms.
    • Customers should review user roles, especially after the June 2026 release, to ensure users retain required table access by assigning appropriate TNI roles.

    You can assign roles to control user access to specific features, capabilities, and data in the Telecommunications Network Inventory application. These assigned roles enable or prevent access to specific forms and processes by users with the specified roles only.

    You assign roles to users and groups by using the ServiceNow AI Platform user administration feature.

    The Telecommunications Network Inventory provides the following roles:

    Table 1. Telecom Network Inventory roles
    Role Description
    Inventory Admin [sn_ni_core.inventory_template_admin] Role that enables a user with create, read, update, and delete access to all Telecommunications Network Inventory application-related functions.
    Inventory Catalog Manager [sn_ni_core.telco_inventory_catalog_manager] Role that enables a user with create, read, edit, and delete access to the metadata for all network inventory entities. This role also enables the user to associate the metadata of the different entities.
    Inventory Template Manager [sn_ni_core.inventory_template_manager] Role that enables a user with create, read, edit, and delete access to the network inventory templates for the new or existing entities. Also, this role enables the user to perform a Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD) operation on the default template.
    Inventory Agent [sn_ni_core.inventory_agent] Role that enables a user with the following permissions:
    • Read access to all inventory models, capacity metrics, and pack tables.
    • Write, update, and delete access to the inventory tables.
    • Read and write access to the template, change request and change task table.
    Note:
    To modify the model and model relationships tables, a user assigned with the Inventory Agent role must also have either the Asset or Inventory User roles.
    Inventory Number Manager [sn_inv_num_mgmt.inventory_number_manager] Role that enables a user with the following permissions:
    • Read access to all telephone number tables.
    • Write, update, and delete access to the telephone number tables.

    Starting with the Telecommunications Network Inventory (v12.1) June 2026 release, the following standard ServiceNow platform roles no longer have read access to specific TNI tables. This change was made to confirm that subscription consumption accurately reflects only the products a customer has purchased.

    If your users are assigned any of the roles listed below, they will no longer be able to read or query the affected tables. You can explicitly grant access by assigning the appropriate TNI-specific roles to those users.

    Affected tables and roles

    Table Role removed ACL type removed
    tni_entity asset Read, Report view
    tni_entity sn_cmdb_user Read, Report view
    tni_entity cmdb_read Read
    tni_entity itil Read, Report view
    sn_ni_core_licensing_resource_count usage_admin Read, Report view

    Note: The tni_entity table is owned by TNI Core and is populated when a configuration item (CI) is created via TNI. The sn_ni_core_licensing_resource_count table is owned by TNI Core and stores licensing resource count data.