Domain separation and On-Call Scheduling

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Domain separation and On-Call Scheduling

    Domain separation is supported in the On-Call Scheduling application, which ensures dedicated support team members are available to resolve issues promptly. Domain separation allows you to logically separate data, processes, and administrative tasks into distinct domains, controlling user access and visibility. This is especially useful for service providers managing multiple customers within a single instance.

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    The On-Call Scheduling application operates the same way with or without domain separation, enabling customers to create and maintain on-call shifts that specify active times and assigned users.

    How Domain Separation Works in On-Call Scheduling

    When domain separation is enabled, users with the rotaadmin role create schedules within their group's domain using the Create New Schedule wizard. All related records inherit the domain of the master record, enforced by the domain field and the domainmaster attribute. This ensures data isolation between domains.

    Domain-Separated Tables and Domain Master Relationships

    The On-Call Scheduling application includes several tables that are domain-separated, such as Shift, Rotation Escalation, On-Call Group Preferences, and various templates and escalation-related tables. Some tables use the domainmaster attribute to derive their domain from a related master record, ensuring consistent domain alignment across related data.

    Use Cases and Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • End users with roles like itil or rotaadmin can only see on-call shifts, schedules, and reports within their assigned domain, enhancing data security and privacy.
    • Service providers can configure business logic and parameters per tenant, supporting multi-tenant environments securely.
    • Administrators can enforce domain-specific requirements, such as requiring comments on record closure in one domain but not another.

    Supported Features with Domain Separation

    • On-Call calendars
    • On-Call schedules
    • My Schedule reports
    • Schedule reports
    • Escalations

    This domain separation capability enables ServiceNow customers, especially service providers, to manage on-call scheduling securely and efficiently across multiple tenants or organizational units while maintaining clear data boundaries and user access control.

    Domain separation is supported in On-Call Scheduling. The On-Call Scheduling application helps you to ensure that dedicated support team members are available to resolve issues as they arise. Domain separation enables you to separate data, processes, and administrative tasks into logical groupings called domains. You can control several aspects of this separation, including which users can see and access data.

    Support level: Standard

    • Includes all aspects of Basic level support.
    • Application properties are domain-aware as needed.
    • Business logic: The service provider (SP) creates or modifies processes per customer. The use cases reflect proper use of the application by multiple SP customers in a single instance.
    • The instance owner must configure the minimum viable product (MVP) business logic and data parameters per tenant as expected for the specific application.

    Sample use case: An Admin must be able to make comments required when a record closes for one tenant, but not for another.

    For more information on support levels, see Application support for domain separation.

    On-Call Scheduling domain separation overview

    • On-Call Scheduling behaves the same with domain support as it does without domain support. Customers have the same ability to create and maintain on-call shifts.

    • A shift includes a selection of users from a group. It uses the base-system Advanced Schedules Support plugin to specify when the shift is active.

    How domain separation works in On-Call Scheduling

    With domain separation enabled, a user with the rota_admin role uses the Create New Schedule wizard to generate schedules in the group's domain. All generated related records for the new schedule are created with a matching domain.

    This setup is enforced with a combination of the domain field and the domain_master attribute. The attribute is used to derive the domain of the record from the master record. For the roster table, it derives the domain from the associated shift record.

    Domain-separated tables

    • Shift [cmn_rota]
    • Rotation Escalation [cmn_rota_escalation]
    • Shift Escalation Set [cmn_rota_escalation_set]
    • Shift Escalation Step Definition [cmn_rota_esc_step_def]
    • On-Call Group Preference [on_call_group_preference]
    • On-Call Contact Source [sys_on_call_contact_source]
    • On-Call Group Template [sys_on_call_group_template]
    • On-Call Shift Template [sys_on_call_shift_template]
    • On-Call Template Contact Attempt [on_call_template_contact_attempt]
    • On-Call Template Contact Preference [on_call_template_contact_preference]
    • On-Call Template Escalation Policy [on_call_template_escalation_policy]
    • On-Call Template Escalation Step [on_call_template_escalation_step]
    • On-Call Escalation [on_call_escalation]
    • On-Call Escalation Level [on_call_escalation_level]
    • On-Call Escalation Contact Attempt [on_call_escalation_con_attempt]
    • On-Call Escalation Notification [on_call_escalation_comm]

    Tables that use the domain_master attribute

    • Roster [cmn_rota_roster]: domain_master=rota
    • Rota Member [cmn_rota_member]: domain_master=roster
    • Roster Schedule Span [roster_schedule_span]: domain_master=schedule
    • Shift Escalation Set [cmn_rota_escalation_set]: domain_master=cmn_rota
    • Shift Escalation Step Definition [cmn_rota_esc_step_def]: domain_master=cmn_rota_escalation_set
    • On-Call Escalation Level [on_call_escalation_level]: domain_master=escalation
    • On-Call Escalation Contact Attempt [on_call_escalation_con_attempt]: domain_master=escalation_level
    • On-Call Escalation Notification [on_call_escalation_comm]: domain_master=contact_attempt

    To learn more, see Domain support for schedules

    Use cases

    For the following On-Call Scheduling features, domain separation ensures that end users (whether they possess the itil or rota_admin role) are able to see only shifts accessible via their domain:
    • On-Call calendars
    • On-Call schedules
    • My Schedule reports
    • Schedule reports
    • Escalations