Universal Task data model

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Universal Task data model

    The Universal Task data model provides a flexible tasking framework that integrates with any department's ticketing system within your organization. It enables the creation and management of diverse task types—such as universal requests, incidents, HR cases, or legal matters—and supports assigning multiple tasks to a single request. This framework is designed to streamline task handling across various services using a common structure.

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    Key Features

    • Universal Task Table: The snunitaskuniversaltask table extends the core Task table to include task-specific details like task type (e.g., Upload document), catalog item references for Submit Catalog Item tasks, employee forms for Collect Employee Input tasks, and associated survey instances.
    • State and Priority Customization: The Universal Task states are tailored for task visibility and lifecycle management with four states: New (draft, visible only to agents), Work in Progress (assigned to employees), Complete, and Canceled. Priority levels range from Critical to Low to help prioritize tasks effectively.
    • Data and Process Separation: The data model follows strict data separation principles, ensuring that Universal Task data is maintained separately from other data sets. Additionally, configuration tables are process-separated to maintain clean and secure operations.
    • Configurable Integration: The Universal Task configuration table identifies the parent table (department-specific task table extended from the Task table), available task types, and default assignment rules to streamline task creation and assignment workflows.
    • Catalog Task Configuration: For Submit Catalog Item task types, a dedicated configuration table allows filtering and controlling which catalog items agents can select, enhancing task accuracy and relevance.

    Practical Use for ServiceNow Customers

    By implementing the Universal Task data model, ServiceNow customers can standardize task management across multiple departments while preserving departmental specificity. This framework enables agents to:

    • Create and assign various task types efficiently under a unified data model.
    • Control task visibility and lifecycle states to match organizational workflows.
    • Leverage customizable configurations to align tasking processes with departmental requirements, including catalog item selections and default assignees.
    • Maintain robust data and process separation to ensure security and data integrity.

    Ultimately, customers can expect improved task coordination, clearer task tracking, and enhanced service delivery across diverse organizational functions using the Universal Task framework.

    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.