Service Catalog in Service Portal

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Service Catalog in Service Portal

    The Service Catalog in Service Portal enables ServiceNow customers to configure and customize a modern, user-friendly catalog experience where end users can request various service and product offerings. This enhanced catalog experience is built using Service Catalog widgets within Service Portal.

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    For existing Service Portal customers, migration to the Employee Center is recommended for an improved experience.

    Key Features

    • Catalog Landing Page: Provides a centralized interface to access catalog items, requests, approvals, popular items, recent items, and saved bundles. This page is available by default for zBoot users, while upgrade users must activate the Service Portal - Service Catalog v2 plugin.
    • Search Functionality: A search bar allows users to search across all configured catalogs and categories. Search results display items filtered by catalog and category, helping users locate relevant offerings quickly.
    • Browse by Categories: Allows navigation through Service Catalog categories and their associated items directly within the portal.
    • Requests and Approvals Widget: Displays the user’s current requests and approvals based on configurations in the My Request Filter module.
    • My Saved Bundles Widget: Shows saved bundles that users can manage by removing or editing the cart contents.
    • My Recent Items Widget: Lists recently viewed or requested catalog items, record producers, or order guides, with an option to toggle between viewed and requested items. This widget hides if no relevant data exists.
    • Popular Items Widget: Highlights the most frequently ordered catalog items organization-wide, based on the Top Requests dynamic category. This widget is hidden when no data is available.
    • Order Status Page: Features a stage renderer to show the current stage of a request in a collapsed or expanded view, improving visibility into request progress.
    • Catalog Entities: Supports key records such as Catalog Items, Catalog Categories, and Order Guides, essential for organizing and delivering catalog content.

    Using Service Catalog in Service Portal

    • Access Categories: Users can browse catalog categories to find and select catalog items.
    • Add to Wish List: Catalog items or record producers can be added to a wish list for later review.
    • Add to Shopping Cart: Users can add individual catalog items or entire order guides to a shopping cart for consolidated checkout.
    • Request Items and Order Guides: Utilize the SC Catalog Item widget to request individual catalog items and the SC Order Guide widget to request grouped items tailored for specific needs.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    This enhanced Service Catalog experience in Service Portal streamlines service and product requests by providing intuitive navigation, personalized widgets, and easy management of orders and approvals. Customers can expect improved user engagement, faster request fulfillment, and better organization of catalog content. Activation of appropriate plugins and familiarity with widgets and configuration modules ensures smooth setup and usage.

    Use Service Portal to configure an improved version of Catalog. You can customize Service Portal where your customers can request catalog items such as service and product offerings. You can use the Service Catalog widgets to build a catalog for your portal.

    Note:
    If you’re an existing customer using Service Portal we recommend that you migrate to the Employee Center for a better experience. For more information on Employee Center, see Employee Center
    The Catalog landing page provides an interface from where you can access the catalog items, requests, approvals, popular items, recent items, and saved bundles. This page is available by default for zBoot users.
    Note:
    Upgrade users need to activate the Service Portal - Service Catalog v2 plugin (com.glideapp.servicecatalog.portal).

    You can access the Catalog landing page in Service Portal using the Catalog option from the main menu header of Service Portal.

    The landing page has:

    • A search bar to search within all configured catalogs in Service Portal. When you search for a specific item, the search results page displays results based on the configured catalogs and categories.

      Only the items associated with a catalog and category are searchable. The primary category of the item is displayed under the Category filter. The catalog where the primary category is defined for the item is displayed under the Catalog filter.

    • The Browse by Categories option to navigate to the list of categories in Service Catalog and the items within. Click this option to navigate to the categories landing page.
    • The Requests and Approvals widget to display the list of requests and approvals associated with the user. The list is based on the configurations available in the My Request Filter module in Platform. For information about the My Request Filter module, see Define filters for My Requests.
    • The My Saved Bundles widget to display the saved bundles associated with the user. You can remove a bundle, or open a bundle to add or replace the cart with the items in the bundle.
    • The My Recent Items widget to display catalog items, record producers, or order guides that are most recently viewed or requested by the user. An instance option on the widget allows you to display either the viewed or requested items. This widget is not displayed when it has no data.
    • The Popular Items widget to display the most popular catalog items ordered across the organization by other users. These items are displayed based on the Top Requests dynamic category. This widget is not displayed when there is no data.
    Note:
    • In the order status page of a request, stage renderer displays the current stage in a collapsed view. You can expand this view for all stages.
    • These pages have dynamic titles to display the name of the selected entity.
      • Catalog Item [sc_cat_item]
      • Catalog Categories [sc_category]
      • Order Guide [sc_cat_item_guide]