Data Discovery scheduled discovery
Summarize
Summary of Data Discovery scheduled discovery
Data Discovery in ServiceNow Zurich release enables you to set up and schedule discovery jobs that scan your instance to detect sensitive information. This functionality helps identify and manage sensitive data by running systematic scans and analyzing the findings.
Show less
Discovery Jobs
The Discovery Jobs table provides an overview of all scheduled discovery jobs, including details like job name, description, scan type (Sample or Full), progress, scheduling frequency, and current state (such as Ready to Schedule, Scheduled, In Progress, Completed, Error, Canceled, or Paused). You can create new discovery jobs to tailor scans to your needs.
Discovery Findings
The Discovery Findings table lists sensitive data uncovered by discovery jobs. It shows key attributes such as the target table and column where data was found, the data pattern used for detection, match counts, percentage of matching rows, associated discovery job, and status of each finding. This helps you review and classify sensitive data efficiently.
Granular Configuration and Findings
Granular discovery jobs allow more focused scanning on specific tables and columns starting from a defined scan start point. If no start point is set, all entries are scanned. The Granular Configuration table tracks these jobs, including their active state.
The Granular Findings table captures detailed results from granular scans, including discovered records, data patterns, and assigned actions such as Review, Ignore, or Anonymize. Each finding’s status reflects its processing stage: New, Processed (actions applied), or Manual Review (if action application failed). Processed findings are retained for 3 days before deletion, and users should manually delete findings in Manual Review after handling them appropriately.
Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Automate detection of sensitive data across your ServiceNow instance.
- Gain visibility into where sensitive information resides and its exposure level.
- Customize scanning scope and frequency with full or sample scans and granular settings.
- Manage findings through classification, review, anonymization, or ignoring, enabling compliance and data privacy controls.
- Track job progress and statuses to monitor scanning activities and quickly respond to errors or issues.
Set up and schedule data discovery jobs to scan your instance for sensitive information.
Discovery Jobs
The Discovery Jobs table lists all discovery jobs. See Create discovery job to create a new discovery job.
| Name | Name of the job |
| Description | The job description |
| Percent Complete | The percentage completion of the job |
| Scan Type | Scan type of the job. Possible states are as follows:
|
| Start Date | The start date of the job |
| Updated | When the job was last updated. |
| State | State of the Data Discovery job. The possible states are as follows:
|
| Run | How often the job is scheduled to run. |
Discovery Findings
The Discovery Findings table lists all the discovered findings from discovery jobs. See Review discovery findings to review and classify findings from discovery jobs.
| Label | Description |
|---|---|
| Dictionary Entry | Column of the target table where the data was in |
| Table | Target table where the data was found |
| Data Pattern | Data pattern used to find the data |
| Data Pattern Match Count | Number of data entries that match the data pattern |
| Total Row Scan Count | Number of rows scanned during the job |
| Percentage of Matching Rows | Percentage of rows in the target table that match the data pattern |
| Data Discovery Job | Job used on the target table |
| Status | Status of the entry |
Granular Configuration
The Granular Configuration table lists all granular discovery jobs. See Create granular job to learn how to create a granular discovery job.
| Label | Description |
|---|---|
| Table | Table of the granular discovery job |
| Column label | Column label of the granular discovery job |
| Scan Start Point | Sensitive data will only be discovered for the day of and after the scan start point. Note: If the scan start point is left empty, all entries in the column are scanned. |
| Active | The state of the granular discovery job. |
Granular Findings
The Granular Findings table lists all the granular findings from granular discovery jobs. See Review granular findings to review the findings from granular discovery jobs.
| Label | Description |
|---|---|
| Record | Discovered record |
| Table | Parent table of the record |
| Data Pattern | Pattern used to discover the record |
| Action | Action to be taken on the record
|
| Status | The status of the record
|