Managed Documents plugin

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Managed Documents plugin

    The Managed Documents plugin in ServiceNow (Zurich release) provides a structured system to manage documents, revisions, audiences, classifications, and approvals efficiently. It introduces new database tables, scripts, and roles to support document lifecycle management, approval workflows, and security controls tailored to organizational needs.

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    Database Tables

    The plugin adds specific tables essential for document management:

    • Document [dmsdocument]: Stores document details.
    • Revision [dmsrevision]: Tracks document revisions.
    • Audience [dmsaudience]: Defines intended readers of documents.
    • Classifications [classification]: Specifies document restriction levels (e.g., public, confidential) but does not control access directly.
    • Type [dmstype]: Indicates document purpose.
    • Component [dmscomponent] and Name format [dmsnameformat]: Define and compose naming conventions for revisions.
    • Approval sequence [approvalsequence] and Approval Rule [dmsapprovalrule]: Manage approval processes and automate approver assignment based on criteria.
    • Collection [dmscollection]: Allows users to group documents.

    Scripts and Automation

    The plugin includes business rules, script includes, and client scripts to automate document management tasks:

    • Business rules like Update Document to manage document states and Add Approvers to populate approver lists.
    • Script includes provide core logic (DocumentManagement), database operations, security management, workflow helpers, approval matching, and utility methods.
    • Client scripts dynamically update revision name formats based on document type changes.

    Roles and Permissions

    Two new roles are introduced for managing access and administrative capabilities:

    • documentmanagementuser: Grants access to create, search, review, and approve documents within the plugin. Reviewers and approvers require this role to interact with documents and revisions.
    • documentmanagementadmin: Allows users to configure and manage plugin administrative settings.

    Document-level permissions apply individually, so even with the user role, access to documents is limited to those explicitly granted.

    Installation

    The Managed Documents plugin can be activated by users with the admin role, enabling its features and capabilities within the ServiceNow environment.

    This page describes the applications and modules, database table structure, scripts, and roles.

    Database table structure

    The following tables are added:

    Table 1. Tables
    Display Name (Table Name) Description
    Document [dms_document] The document details.
    Revision [dms_revision] The document revisions.
    Audience [dms_audience] The intended document readers.
    Classifications [classification] The document restriction level, such as public or confidential. (Does not define access to the document. Document security is set in user and group permissions.)
    Type [dms_type] The document purpose.
    Component [dms_component] The components of name formats. The value field is a dot-walking expression that is evaluated. An exception is made for the revision because it does not exist when the revision name is generated.
    Name format [dms_name_format] The composition of components to generate revision names.
    Approval sequence [approval_sequence] The approval sequences that users must follow.
    Approval Rule [dms_approval_rule] The criteria that records of the dms_document table must match. Used to automatically add approvers to a document.
    Collection [dms_collection] The document groups created by the user.

    Scripts

    Table 2. Business rules that are added to sys_script
    Rule Description
    Update Document Changes the state of a document depending on its revisions.
    Add Approvers Populates the list of approvers in the document.
    Table 3. Script includes that will be added to sys_script_include
    Script include Description
    DocumentManagement Contains the main logics for the Managed Documents plugin.
    DocumentManagementDB Contains methods to perform CRUD operations on the database.
    DocumentManagementSecurity Helps manage the security of the Managed Documents system.
    DocumentManagementAjax Updates the details of the temporary revision that is created when opening the upload/check in revision form.
    DocumentAttachmentAjax Renames an attachment file.
    DocumentRevisionWorkflowHelper Helps perform basic workflow operations on a revision.
    DocumentManagementApprovalMatcher Helps obtain the user and group approvers for a document that matches approval rules.
    DocumentApproverHelper Contains logics to handle document approvers.
    DocumentManagementUtils Useful methods.
    DocumentReferenceQualifiers Static methods that return reference qualifiers.
    Table 4. Client script that is added to sys_script_client
    Rule Description
    Document type change Updates the name format field in the revision settings section of the document. Each type has a default name format.

    Roles

    This plugin introduces two new roles:

    Table 5. Roles
    Role Description
    document_management_user This role enables a user to access the Managed Documents plugin, create documents, and search for documents. Document reviewers and approvers need the document_management_user role to access the Managed Document plugin. (Please note that reviewers and approvers can also access a document revision from an approval record.)
    document_management_admin This role enables a user to change administrative settings for the Managed Documents plugin.
    Note:
    Each document has individual permissions, so even if a user is given the document_management_user role and has permissions to the application, the user can only view documents to which they have been given access.