basics for admins&itil users
TRANSCRIPT
Basics for Administrators and ITIL Users
August 2011
Basics for Administrators and ITIL Users
ServiceNow 2
Basics for Administrators and ITIL Users
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1: System Overview .............................................................................................. 5 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 5 Applications ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Applications for Employee Self Service Users .......................................................................... 6 Applications for IT Users ........................................................................................................... 6 Applications for Administrators .................................................................................................. 8
Chapter 2: Getting Started ................................................................................................ 10
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 10 Understanding the User Interface .................................................................................................. 10
Banner Frame .......................................................................................................................... 11 Application Navigator ............................................................................................................... 11 Content Frame ......................................................................................................................... 12 Graphical Interfaces ................................................................................................................ 16
Navigating Applications .................................................................................................................. 18 Using the Application Navigator .............................................................................................. 18 Using the Navigation Filter ...................................................................................................... 19
Common Icons ............................................................................................................................... 20 Searching ....................................................................................................................................... 20
Search Suggestions ................................................................................................................ 21 Searching for Attachments ...................................................................................................... 21 Wildcard Searches .................................................................................................................. 21 Fuzzy Searches ....................................................................................................................... 22 Proximity Searches .................................................................................................................. 22 Go To Searches ...................................................................................................................... 22 Boolean Operators .................................................................................................................. 23 Grouping .................................................................................................................................. 23
Chapter 3: Managing Records in Lists ............................................................................ 24 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 24 Using Lists ...................................................................................................................................... 24
Title Bar ................................................................................................................................... 25 Breadcrumbs ........................................................................................................................... 25 Column Headings .................................................................................................................... 26 Fields ....................................................................................................................................... 27 Action Check Boxes ................................................................................................................ 28 Hierarchical Lists ..................................................................................................................... 28 Navigating to a List .................................................................................................................. 29
Finding Information in Lists ............................................................................................................ 30 Searching a List ....................................................................................................................... 30 Sorting a List ............................................................................................................................ 30 Grouping Items in a List ........................................................................................................... 30
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Using Filters and Breadcrumbs ...................................................................................................... 32 Breadcrumbs ........................................................................................................................... 32 Quick Filters ............................................................................................................................. 33 Creating Filters ........................................................................................................................ 33 Saving Filters ........................................................................................................................... 34 Using Saved Filters ................................................................................................................. 34 Deleting Saved Filters ............................................................................................................. 35 Scripted Filters ......................................................................................................................... 35
Editing in Lists ................................................................................................................................ 35 Quick Edit Functions ................................................................................................................ 35 Using the List Editor ................................................................................................................ 36 Editing Multiple Records .......................................................................................................... 37
Creating Personal Lists .................................................................................................................. 38
Chapter 4: Managing Records in Forms .......................................................................... 39
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 39 Understanding Form Elements ...................................................................................................... 39
Title Bar ................................................................................................................................... 40 Form Context Menu ................................................................................................................. 41 Fields ....................................................................................................................................... 42 Field Status Indicator ............................................................................................................... 42 Sections ................................................................................................................................... 43 Embedded Lists ....................................................................................................................... 43
Working with Forms ....................................................................................................................... 44 Navigating to a Form ............................................................................................................... 44 Editing in Forms ....................................................................................................................... 44 Inserting Records .................................................................................................................... 45
Appendix A: Glossary ....................................................................................................... 46
Appendix B: Article Sources ............................................................................................ 49
ServiceNow 5
Chapter 1: System Overview
Introduction
ServiceNow offers on-demand IT service management. This software as a service (SaaS) platform
contains a number of modular applications that can vary by instance and user. Additionally,
ServiceNow offers platform as a service (PaaS) features that let develop your own web-based
applications.
ServiceNow offers multiple roles that fall into these general classifications:
Administrator— ServiceNow administrators can configure the system in many different ways
to address an organization's business needs. They can set up any of the process applications
provided with ServiceNow and create custom application, as well as assigning the roles with
access to each.
The primary administrator role is the System Administrator which has access to all system
features, functions, and data, regardless of security constraints. Delegated administrator roles
manage specific applications. Some delegated administrator roles are standard, and others
require the Role Delegation plugin.
ITIL User— IT support staff uses ServiceNow to track the processes that fulfill service
requests. Depending on your specific role and system setup, additional functionality and
processes may also be available. Users granted the itil role can perform standard actions for an
IT helpdesk technician. The itil_admin role, or IT administrator, is intended for team leads.
This role has more privileges than the itil role, such as deleting incidents, problems, changes,
and other related entities.
Employee Self-Service User—Most employees are self-service users, also called ESS users.
They can make requests such as ordering a computer, log incidents such as a service
interruption, search the knowledge base, and view articles through a user-friendly website
called the Employee Self-Service Portal (ESS Portal) or through the self-service application in
ServiceNow.
The remainder of this chapter introduces the standard applications. Other chapters in this document
introduce you to these foundational concepts and activities:
Getting started with the user interface
Working with lists
Working with forms
In addition to internal cross references, this document contains links to the ServiceNow Wiki which
provides thorough documentation that is constantly updated to reflect new releases.
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Applications
The day-to-day activities of the ITIL user commonly involve the applications available to this role
by default. Keep in mind that administrators can choose which applications are active, so any
particular instance may not have all these applications. Additionally, administrators can install
optional plugins that provide applications not described here. For complete information on all
ServiceNow applications and functionality, see the ServiceNow Wiki.
Applications for Employee Self Service Users
Employees who do not work in the IT department can access the Self Service application in
ServiceNow, shown here, or the separate ESS portal.
A separate book, Basics for Employee Self-Service Users, provides foundational concepts and
details for using the self-service features.
Applications for IT Users
IT users who do not have administrator rights can use applications to research a problem or
recommend and implement a change. The applications shown here are provided with ServiceNow.
The actual applications available to you may vary.
Default Applications for IT Users
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Service Desk—provides access to information about incident and service level access tasks
assigned to you and to your group. This application also provides a list of callers that cross
references their incidents and configuration items, and provides access to the knowledge base.
Incident—enables the IT organization to record, classify according to impact and urgency,
assign to appropriate groups, escalate, and manage incidents through to resolution and
reporting in accordance with the ITIL process.
Problem—helps to identify an error in the IT infrastructure that causes multiple reports of
related incidents. Resolving a problem means fixing the error that will stop these incidents
from occurring in the future. While incident management deals with fighting symptoms,
problem management seeks to remove the causes of incidents from the IT infrastructure
permanently.
Change—provides on-demand capabilities for creating, assessing, approving, and
implementing changes to your environment.
Release—is a vehicle for planning releases. Release Management encompasses the planning,
design, build, configuration and testing of hardware and software releases to create a defined
set of release components. Once a release is finalized, a Change Item can be generated (using a
custom-built UI Action), allowing the implementation and deployment of a release to be
handled within the change management process.
Configuration—enables you to build and maintain the Configuration Management Database
(CMDB), which maintains attributes for each configuration item (CI) that is part of your
environment, as well as its relationships to other CIs, users, or groups. These relationships
identify who or what is affected by a change or outage. A CI may be:
A physical entity, such as a computer or router
A logical entity, such as an instance of a database
Conceptual, such as a Requisition Service
Service Catalog—provides a list of goods and services the IT organization provides,
administration of that list, and a user front end for ordering the goods and services.
Reports—enables both IT users and administrators to generate charts and reports. ServiceNow
comes with over 60 customizable, commonly used reports. Administrators can create
additional reports that can be viewed by everyone or specific groups, and IT users can create
custom reports for their own use. Reports can be used as homepage or content gauges,
published to a visible URL, or scheduled to be run and distributed at selected intervals.
BSM Map—gives IT users control over the actions and views available for business service
maps (BSM). Administrators can control map properties, as well. A business service map
(BSM) graphically displays and indicates the status of the configuration items that compose a
business service. The map is accessed from the Configuration or Incident application.
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Applications for Administrators
System Administrators have access to all ServiceNow applications, enabling them to configure and
customize the platform for their organization. In addition to the applications available to the ESS
user and the IT user, the applications shown here are provided with ServiceNow. System
Administrators can grant other roles access to these applications, as appropriate. The actual
applications available to you may vary.
Default Applications for Administrators
Asset Portfolio—links to a CMDB of all assets, hardware, software, assets in stock, as well as
records for manufacturers and vendors.
Asset Contracts—contains information about contracts, including leases, service contracts,
purchase orders, warranties, and software licenses. The Configuration application (available to
IT users) has a focus on operation.
Content Management—enables customizing the ServiceNow interface. The Content
Management application provides complete control over the look and feel of an instance while
maintaining functionality and data access.
ECC—displays the External Communication Channel (ECC) Queue, a database table that is
queried, updated, and inserted into by other systems. The ECC Queue is the normal connection
point (though not the only possible one) between a Service-now instance and other systems that
integrate with it.
Homepage Admin—enables the administrator to customize homepages by user or role.
Metrics—provides an easy way to define metrics. Once defined, the data for the metric will be
gathered, and instances (or occurrences) of the metric will be calculated and stored.
MID Server—is a Java server that runs as a Windows service or UNIX daemon. The MID
(Monitoring, Integration, and Discovery) Server facilitates communication and movement of
data between the Service-now platform and external applications, data sources, and services.
To learn more, see MID Server Requirements for Discovery.
Service Level Management—enables definition and management of Service Level
Agreements, Underpinning Contracts, and Operational Level Agreements which represent
guaranteed levels of service from both internal and external providers.
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Survey— provides predefined surveys and enables administrators to create customized
surveys to collect user opinion data for continual service improvement.
System Definition—provides modules for configuring and customizing system features such
as tables and columns, database views, business rules, UI actions, and more.
System Diagnostics—provides modules for diagnosing a running instance and cluster nodes
as well as session debug, query performance, and database diagnostic modules.
System Import Sets—imports data from various data sources, and then maps that data into
Service-now tables. The Import Sets table acts as a staging area for records imported from a
data source.
System LDAP—enables integration with a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
directory to streamline the user login process and automate administrative tasks such as
creating users and assigning roles.
System Localization—provides modules for customizing the currencies and exchange rates
used in ServiceNow. Other localization settings are available in the System Properties
application.
System Logs— provides utilities to view and download system logs, including transactions
(browser activity), email sent from within the platform, system events, data import activity,
system warnings, and error messages.
System Mailboxes—displays a filterable view of email received (Inbox), Sent, and waiting to
be sent (Outbox), from within the platform.
System Policy—enables the administrator to define policies for email, system rules, events,
service level agreements, and the service catalog.
System Properties—provides modules for customizing various system elements, including
company name and logo, user interface elements, and more.
System Scheduler—contains two separate engines for scheduling. The Scheduled Jobs engine
performs any work that must be done at a specific time or on a recurring basis. The Schedules
engine is used to manage schedules that provide rules for including or excluding time on a
calendar for service levels, inactivity monitor, and the Group On-Call Rotation Plugin.
System Security—provides modules for configuring and debugging the security rules and
specifying the administrators who can access those settings.
System UI—includes modules for customizing many user interface elements, including forms,
gauges, lists, and views, as well as defining policies, actions, scripts, and more for the interface.
System Update Sets—allows administrators to organize a series of customizations into a
named set and then copy this set as a unit to other instances.
System Web Services—enables administrators to configure HTTP-based web services that
allow diverse applications to talk to each other. ServiceNow supports both inbound (provider)
and outbound web service consumer services.
User Administration—enables administrators to define system users and assign them to
groups. Users automatically inherit the roles associated with assigned groups; additional roles
can be assigned on a user-by-user basis.
Workflow—automates multi-step processes based on an administrator-defined sequence of
activities.
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Chapter 2: Getting Started
Introduction
Understanding these foundational concepts can help you used ServiceNow more effectively:
User interface elements
Navigation
Common icons
Search techniques
Understanding the User Interface
The primary user interface is divided into three areas:
Banner frame across the top provides global navigation controls.
Application Navigator, or left navigation bar, provides links to all applications and modules.
Content frame displays the information for each application and module.
User Interface
Some modules provide graphical interfaces that may open in the content frame or in a separate
window or tab. Examples of graphical interfaces include schema maps, relationship maps, and
workflow editors.
Banner Frame
Content Frame
Application Navigator
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Banner Frame
The banner frame runs across the top of every page. Administrators can customize the banner. This
figure illustrates the banner frame.
Banner Frame
The banner frame contains a logo and the following information and controls:
Welcome message—shows the name of the currently logged in user.
Impersonation key ( , administrators only)—allows a System Administrator to switch user
views without logging out. This option is useful for testing security and role-specific setup
functions.
Logout—returns to the Welcome page for subsequent login.
Homepage ( )—provides links to selectable application homepages.
Print ( )—opens a printable version of the current content frame.
Help ( )—opens the ServiceNow Wiki in another window or tab.
Debug ( , administrators only) —opens the client-side JavaScript Debug window.
Global text search—searches for text in multiple applications. To learn more, see Global Text
Search in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Header Expand/Collapse ( )—alters the amount of space the banner frame occupies.
Application Navigator
The Application Navigator, or left-navigation bar, provides links to all applications and the
modules (pages) they comprise. It appears at the left side of the screen and can be hidden (click the
Hide button‒ ‒beside the Welcome message in the banner frame). To learn more, see Navigating
Applications.
Banner Frame
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Application Navigator
Content Frame
The content frame displays the modules, or pages, to which a user navigates.
Content Frame
Many types of content are displayed in the content frame, including:
Application
Navigator
Content Frame
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Welcome page—appears when a user is not logged in. Administrators can customize the
welcome page.
Welcome page
Homepages—provide easy access to commonly used functions or information. Users and
administrators can customize homepages.
Homepage
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Service Catalog—provides a portal for customers to order goods and services. It is similar to a
homepage, where each gauge is a category of catalog items. To learn more, see Using the
Service Catalog or explore the Service Catalog portal in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Service Catalog
Knowledge base—allows for storage and publication of any information, such as desktop
support information, company/department processes or procedures, or documentation on
internally developed applications. It is similar to a service catalog, where each gauge is a topic
in the knowledge base. To learn more, see Introduction to Knowledge Base in the ServiceNow
Wiki.
Knowledge base
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Lists—display information in a table. Users can search, sort, filter, and edit lists. To learn
more, see Using Lists.
Lists
Forms—create or modify an individual record. To learn more, see Using Forms.
Forms
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Surveys—enable users to take surveys and administrators to create surveys.
Survey
External URLs—display content from outside the ServiceNow platform.
Custom URLs—display ServiceNow content. Administrators can define a module using a
custom URL.
Content pages—display content built with the content management system. Requires the
Content Management plugin.
Graphical Interfaces
Some modules provide graphical interfaces, and may open in a separate window or tab. Examples
of graphical interfaces include:
Business Service Map—displays a navigational view of configuration items and their
relationships, such as computers on a network. To learn more, see Using the Business Service
Map in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Business Service Map
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Schema Map (administrators only)—displays the relationships between tables in the database.
To learn more, see Schema Map for Tables in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Schema Map
Graphical Workflow Editor—provides a graphical interface for defining task workflow. To
learn more, see Creating a Workflow in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Graphical Workflow Editor
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Navigating Applications
An application is a group of modules, or pages, that provide related information and functionality
in a ServiceNow instance. For example, the Incident application contains modules for creating and
viewing incidents; the Configuration application contains modules for configuring servers,
databases, and networks.
The Application Navigator, or left-navigation bar, provides links to all applications and the
modules they comprise enabling users to quickly find information and services. Use the Hide
button ( ) in the banner frame to hide or display the Application Navigator.
Administrators can customize the Application Navigator to provide different modules by user role,
modify or define applications and modules, and change its appearance.
Application Navigator
Using the Application Navigator
The Application Navigator contains a list of application labels and the Application Navigator
header.
Each application appears as a section in the Application Navigator denoted by an application label.
Modules are listed by name under each application label.
Click the application label to expand or collapse an application section.
Click the module name to open a module in the content frame.
Header
Application label
Application
Modules
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The Application Navigator header appears above the application list.
Application Navigator header
It provides these tools:
Navigation Filter—filters the applications and modules that appear in the navigator based on
the filter text. To learn more, see Using the Navigation Filter.
Increase ( ) and Decrease Font Size ( )—change the font size on all pages and menus.
Refresh Navigator ( )—refreshes the list of applications and modules. Administrators who
are customizing the navigator can test their work without refreshing the entire browser session.
Collapse All ( ) and Expand All Applications ( )—collapse all applications so that only
application labels appear, or expand all applications so that all available modules appear.
Switch Perspective ( )—filters the available items by role (for example, select ITIL to show
only ITIL items such as Incidents, and filter out Asset Management items such as Asset
Portfolio). You must have access rights to the items to see a perspective in the list.
Administrators can customize perspectives. To see all available applications, click the arrow
and select All.
If you cannot find an item in your Application Navigator, consider the following:
You may have applied a filter or switched perspectives.
The application that contains the module may be collapsed.
You may not have access rights. The applications and modules available to you may depend on
your role. For example, the Finance department may not have access to change management
modules.
The application may be deactivated in your company's ServiceNow implementation. Contact
the System Administrator to activate it, if necessary.
Using the Navigation Filter
The navigation filter helps you quickly access information and services by filtering the items in the
Application Navigator.
1. Click Type Filter Text in the Application Navigator header.
2. Begin typing the filter text (for example, type inc for Incidents). The list of items available in
the Application Navigator is filtered as you type.
To open a module, click the module name.
If you want to open a list or form directly, enter the table name followed by .list or .form
(.LIST or .FORM for a new tab or window). For example:
incident.LIST opens the incident list in a new tab or window
incident.form opens a new incident form in the content frame
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Common Icons
Several icons appear throughout the system. Become familiar with them so that you can take
advantage of quick access to additional information and functionality.
Homepage ( )—displays your primary homepage when clicked. When you point to the icon it
displays a list of pages identified as homepages for different applications.
Reference icon ( )—appears in lists and forms. Hover over the icon to display a pop-up box
showing detailed information about the associated record. Click the icon to open the associated
record in form view.
Reference Lookup icon ( )—appears in forms beside reference fields (fields that contain
data from a different table). Click the reference lookup icon to display a pop-up box listing
records on the referenced table.
Previous ( ) and Next ( ) icons—appear on forms. Use these icons to move up (previous) or
down (next) one record at a time.
Toggle Tabs icon ( )—appears on forms with more than two sections or more than one
related list. Click this icon to toggle between showing the sections and/or related lists in tabbed
format or as a single, scrollable page.
CI Map icon ( )—appears in the Related Items header bar of configuration item forms. Click
this icon to display the Business Service Map (BSM) for the configuration item.
Impersonate ( ) icon—appears in the welcome message for System Administrators only.
Click this icon to open a dialog box where you specify the user to impersonate.
USE WITH CAUTION: All actions that occur while you are impersonating a user are logged as
if that user had performed them.
Searching
Within the platform, there are several methods of searching:
Global text search
Application Navigator filter text
Record list search
Knowledge base search
Searches are not case sensitive. In some cases, a search of multiple terms will search for all of the
terms, regardless of the presence of the word AND. To search for any one of the terms, insert OR
between the terms.
A variety of options make searching very flexible:
Search Suggestions
Attachment searches
Wildcard searches
Fuzzy searches
Proximity searches
Go to search terms
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Boolean operators
Grouping
Searching is performed by the Zing search engine, which provides a variety of advanced searching
and administrative options. To learn more, see Zing Text Search in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Search Suggestions
Knowledge base and global text searches provide type-ahead suggestions, which let you select
from a drop-down list of previous search terms that begin with the same letters.
Type-ahead suggestions
You can also enable Did you mean? suggestions in knowledge base and global text searches.
Suggestions appear if the original search does not return any results and an alternate spelling or
similar recent search does. For example, if you misspell a search term (such as eail), the correct
spelling (email) may appear as a suggestion beneath the search box on the results page
Did you mean? suggestions
Searching for Attachments
ServiceNow automatically searches attachments in the Knowledge base table. Administrators can
enable or disable attachment searching for other tables.
Knowledge base searches find the search term in attachments as well as in the text of knowledge
articles. Administrators can enable or disable attachment searching for other tables.
Wildcard Searches
The following searches support single and multiple character wildcard searches:
Global text search
Knowledge base search
Record list search
To perform a single character wildcard search, use the question mark (?) symbol. The single
character wildcard search looks for matching terms that contain any one character in the location of
the question mark. For example, to search for text or test, you can use the search:
te?t
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To perform a multiple character wildcard search, use the asterisk (*) symbol. Multiple character
wildcard searches looks for 0 or more characters to replace the asterisk. For example, to search for
test, tests, or tester, you can use the search:
test*
You can also use a multiple character wildcard (*) search in the middle of a term. For example, to
search for planned or placed, you can use the search:
pl*d
NOTE
You cannot use an asterisk (*) or question mark (?) symbol as the first
character of a search.
Fuzzy Searches
Text search supports fuzzy searches based on the Levenshtein Distance, or Edit Distance algorithm.
To do a fuzzy search, use the tilde (~) symbol at the end of a single word search term. For example,
to search for a term spelled similar to roam enter:
roam~
This entry finds terms like foam and roams. An additional (optional) parameter can specify the
required similarity. The value must between 0 and 1, with a value closer to 1 indicating that a higher
similarity is required. For example:
roam~0.8
If the parameter is not given, the default 0.5 is used
Proximity Searches
Text search supports finding words within a specific distance from each other. To do a proximity
search, enclose the words in quotation marks and place a tilde symbol (~) and number after the
closing quotation mark. For example to search for password and forgot within 10 words of each
other in a document, use the search:
"forgot password"~10
Go To Searches
Go to searching is available when searching a specific field in a list. Select the field and then enter
the search text. By default, a Go to search uses a greater than query, meaning that it first sorts the
records on the selected field, then finds the first record that starts with the search term and all
following records. Administrators can change the default behavior to perform a contains search
instead of a greater than search.
The following wildcards can be used in the Go to search in a list to change the default query:
*searchterm adds a CONTAINS filter for ―searchterm‖
%searchterm% similarly adds a CONTAINS filter for ―searchterm‖
%searchterm adds an ENDSWITH filter for ―searchterm‖
searchterm% adds a STARTSWITH filter for ―searchterm‖
=searchterm uses an EQUALS filter for ―searchterm‖
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Boolean Operators
Boolean operators allow terms to be combined through logic operators. Text search supports these
Boolean operators. (Boolean operators must be ALL CAPS.)
OR The OR operator is the default conjunction operator. This means that if there is no Boolean
operator between two terms, the OR operator is used. The OR operator links two terms and
finds a matching document if either of the terms exist in the document. This is equivalent to
a union using sets. The symbol || can be used in place of the word OR.
To search for documents that contain either ―email password‖ or just ―email‖ use the query:
"email password" email
or
"email password" OR email
AND The AND operator matches documents where both terms exist anywhere in the text of a
single document. This is equivalent to an intersection using sets. The symbol && can be
used in place of the word AND.
To search for documents that contain ―CPU load‖ and ―10 minutes‖ use the query:
"CPU load" AND "10 minutes"
+ The +, or required, operator requires that the term after the + symbol exist somewhere in a
field of a single document.
To search for documents that must contain the word email and may contain the word
password use the query:
+email password
NOT The NOT operator excludes documents that contain the term after NOT. This is equivalent
to a difference using sets. The symbol ! can be used in place of the word NOT.
To search for documents that contain the term CPU load but not the term 10 minutes, use the
query:
"CPU load" NOT "10 minutes"
NOTE: The NOT operator cannot be used with just one term. For example, the following
search will return no results:
NOT "10 minutes"
- The -, or prohibit, operator excludes documents that contain the term after the - symbol.
To search for documents that contain the term CPU load but not the term over 10, use the
query:
"CPU load" -"over 10"
Grouping
Text search supports using parentheses to group clauses to form subqueries. This lets you control
the Boolean logic for a query.
To search for either the term CPU or diskdrive and the term failure, use the query:
(CPU OR diskdrive) AND failure
This eliminates any confusion and makes sure that the term failure is present, along with either term
CPU or diskdrive.
ServiceNow 24
Chapter 3: Managing Records in Lists
Introduction
Lists display information from a data table. Users can search, sort, filter, and edit data in lists. Lists
also may be embedded in forms and may be hierarchical (have sublists).
Understanding these concepts will help you manage record lists efficiently:
Using the list interface
Finding information in lists
Using filters and breadcrumbs
Editing lists
Creating personal lists
Using Lists
The list interface contains four main elements:
Title bar
Breadcrumbs
Column headings
Fields
Additionally, a Response time indicator ( ) may appear at the bottom right of some lists to
indicate the processing time required to display the list.
Lists
Title bar
Breadcrumbs
Fields
Column
headings
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Title Bar
The title bar displays the title of the list (table) and provides several controls.
Title Bar
Title menu—appears when you click the arrow beside the list title. It provides the following
list controls:
Refresh List—refreshes the list to show changes immediately.
View—changes the columns and order of the list to a predefined layout. Administrators
can customize views.
Filters—applies a saved filter.
Group By—aggregates records by a field.
Show—changes the maximum number of records per page.
New—opens a blank form that allows you to create a new record in the list.
Go to or Search—finds information in the current list. To learn more, see Finding Information
in Lists.
Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs offer a quick form of filter navigation. A filter is a set of conditions applied to a table
in order to find and work with a subset of the data in that table. The current filter is indicated by a
hierarchical list of conditions—breadcrumbs—at the top of the table. To learn more, see Using
Filters and Breadcrumbs.
Breadcrumbs
New
Go To, Search
Title menu
Smart Filter Builder
Breadcrumbs
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Column Headings
Column headings display column names and provide a variety of controls.
Column Headings
Sorting—click the column name to sort the list in ascending order by that column. Click again
to sort in reverse order.
Right-click menu, also called context menu—offers these controls:
Sort (a to z) and (z to a)—sort in ascending and descending order.
Group By—aggregate records by a field. To learn more, see Grouping Items in a List.
Bar and Pie Chart—create quick bar and pie chart reports based on the filter criteria of the
list. You can modify these reports or create gauges (depending on access rights). To learn
more, see Creating Reports in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Personalize (requires access rights)—provides administrative functions related to the
information displayed and how it is controlled.
Export—exports data to Excel, CSV, XML (administrators only), or PDF. To learn more,
see Exporting Data in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Update Selected and Update All (administrators only)—change applicable field values.
To learn more, see Editing Lists.
Import XML (administrators only)—import data from an XML file.
Personalize List ( )—customize the list layout to your preferences. To learn more, see
Creating Personal Lists.
Column names
Right-click menu
Personalize list names
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Fields
Fields display data and provide the following functionality.
Fields
Links—click the reference icon or first column field to open the record in form view. Links to
related records are also available.
Editing—changes the information in one or more records. To learn more, see Editing Lists.
Reference Icon ( )—provides detailed information about the record. Point to the reference
icon to open a pop-up window, or click it to open the record in form view. To learn more, see
Reference Icon in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Right-click menu, also called context menu—offers the following options:
Show Matching and Filter Out—provide quick filter options
Copy URL to Clipboard—copies to the clipboard the URL for the form view of the
record. Follow browser instructions if browser security measures restrict this function.
Copy sys_id (administrators only)—copies to the clipboard the sys_id of the record.
Follow browser instructions if browser security measures restrict this function.
Assign Label—adds a link to the record under a custom application label. Labels provide
quick access to frequently referenced or urgent information. To learn more, see Creating
and Using Labels in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Assign to me, Approve, and Reject—provide quick edit options.
Links
Editing Right-click menu
Reference icons
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Action Check Boxes
Action check boxes appear in the column that shows the gear icon ( ) as the heading. Use them to
select items in a list and then perform actions on those items.
Action Check Boxes
1. Select the check boxes beside the records you want to affect. To select all records on the page,
go to the bottom of the list and select the check box beside the Action choice list.
2. Apply the desired action.
Right-click a column heading and choose Update Selected to modify one or more fields in
the selected records with an editing form. When you click Update in the form, your entries
are applied to all the selected records. To learn more, see Editing Lists.
Use the Action choice list to delete the records (administrators only), assign the records to
a new or existing custom label, or remove the records from a custom label. To learn more,
see Creating and Using Labels in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Hierarchical Lists
Lists may be hierarchical—they may have sublists that can be accessed in list view. Hierarchical
lists allow users to view related information directly from a list without navigating to a form.
Depending on your setup, certain lists may be hierarchical.
To expand or collapse the related lists on a record in a hierarchical list, click the arrow ( ) beside
the reference icon.
Action check boxes
Action choice list
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Hierarchical Lists
Navigating to a List
To open a list using the Application Navigator, click the list name or go to the Application
Navigator filter and type the table name followed by .list. To learn more, see Navigating
Applications.
To open a list using a URL, append the table name and _list.do to the instance Web address. For
example, the following URLs open the incident and change request lists, respectively, in the demo
instance:
http://demo.service-now.com/incident_list.do
http://demo.service-now.com/change_request_list.do
To open a list in the content frame using a URL, add nav_to.do?uri= to the list Web address, as in
the following examples:
http://demo.service-now.com/nav_to.do?uri=incident_list.do
http://demo.service-now.com/nav_to.do?uri=change_request_list.do
Filters, views, and other parameters can also be applied using a URL. To learn more, see
Navigating by URL in the ServiceNow Wiki.
NOTE
Consider creating bookmarks for commonly viewed lists.
Expanded record
Related lists
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Finding Information in Lists
You can quickly find information in a list by searching, sorting, and grouping the list.
Searching a List
The list title bar includes options for searching the list. A drop-down list lets you indicate whether
to search a specific field only (Go to), or to perform a text search on all fields (Search).
Go to Search
1. Select a field (for Go to) or select for text (for Search).
2. Enter the search text and press Enter or click Search ( ).
Go to—sorts the records on the selected field, then finds the first record that starts with the
search term and all following records.
Search—returns records that contain the search term in any field (requires setup for some
tables).
List searches support wildcard searches, fuzzy searches, and proximity searches. To learn more, see
Introduction to Searching.
Sorting a List
To sort a list, use one of these methods:
Click a column name to sort the list in ascending order. Click again to sort in reverse order.
Right-click a column name and select Sort (a to z) or Sort (z to a) to sort in ascending or
descending order, respectively.
Specify a sort order with a filter. Filters provide for sorting by more than one column (for
example, by Category and then Subcategory). To learn more, see Using Filters and
Breadcrumbs.
The current sort order is indicated by an arrow next to the column name ( , up for ascending and
down for descending). Only the primary sort order is indicated.
Grouping Items in a List
Grouping aggregates a list by a selected field and displays the record count per group. Grouping
can help you find data quickly by organizing and providing a summary of search or filter results.
For example, the illustration shows active incidents grouped by caller.
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Group By
Group items in a list with one of these methods:
On the title bar, click the title menu and select Group By. Select the field by which to group the
list. To remove a grouping, select -- None --.
Right-click the column name and select Group By. To remove a grouping, select Ungroup.
Use this information as you work with grouped lists:
Groups are named the values of the field selected for grouping.
Record count per group appears next to the group name.
To expand or collapse a group, click the arrow ( ) beside the group name.
To expand or collapse all groups, click the arrow at the top of the list.
To open the full list for a group, click the group name.
The maximum number of records shown per group is the number of records per page in a list.
To see all records for a given group, open the full list by clicking the group name.
To change the number of records per page, click the title menu and select Show.
The maximum number of groups shown is 100 by default, but may be configured by an
administrator.
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Using Filters and Breadcrumbs
A filter is a set of conditions applied to a table in order to find and work with a subset of the data in
that table. The current filter is indicated by a hierarchical list of conditions—breadcrumbs—at the
top of the table. Users can apply, modify, create, and save filters.
Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs offer a quick form of filter navigation. They are ordered from left to right, with the
leftmost condition being the most general and the rightmost condition being the most specific.
Clicking a breadcrumb removes all of the conditions to its right. Clicking the condition separator
(>) before a condition removes only that condition.
Breadcrumbs
In the example, clicking Priority = 2 removes the condition Category = Software and returns all
active incidents with a priority of 2. Clicking the condition separator (>) before Priority = 2
removes the condition Priority = 2 and returns all active incidents in the software category. In both
cases, removing a condition returns a larger results set.
Clicking All goes to the top of the hierarchy, removing all conditions and returning all incidents in
the system.
Right-click a breadcrumb for additional navigational options:
Open new window—opens the results list for the breadcrumb in a new tab or window.
Copy URL—copies to the clipboard the URL for the results list of the breadcrumb. Follow
browser instructions if browser security measures restrict this function.
Copy query—copies to the clipboard the encoded query for the breadcrumb. This selection is
not available for the All breadcrumb. Follow browser instructions if browser security measures
restrict this function.
Right-click Menu
Click the > symbol before a breadcrumb to remove just that one condition.
Click a breadcrumb to remove all conditions after it.
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Quick Filters
To quickly filter a list by a value in a field, right-click the field and select Show Matching or Filter
Out. These functions add a condition as a rightmost breadcrumb of the current filter.
Quick Filters
For example, right-click 4 – Low in the Priority column and select Show Matching to add the
condition Priority = 4 – Low as the most specific condition of the filter. Alternatively, right-click
4 – Low in the Priority and select Filter Out to add the condition Priority != 4 - Low as the most
specific condition of the filter.
For date and date-time fields you can also use Show After or Show Before to define a time based
filter.
Creating Filters
When a filter is applied, only items that meet the conditions are returned. A condition consists of
three parts: a field, an operator, and a value. The illustration shows a filter with two conditions:
Active is true and Priority is 2 - High. This filter displays all active incidents with a high priority.
Smart Filter Condition Builder
To create a filter:
1. Open the Smart Filter condition builder by clicking the arrow ( ) beside the breadcrumbs.
2. Select a field from the drop-down list.
The field type determines the available operators and values. For example, the Active field may
have a value of true, false, or empty, while a text field may have many different values.
Similarly, the greater than operator does not apply to the Active field, but it does apply to the
Priority field. To learn more, see Condition Builders in the ServiceNow Wiki.
3 Select an operator from the drop-down list.
4. Select or enter a value, if appropriate.
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5. Add or remove conditions until the desired filter is constructed:
To add a top-level condition, click Add AND condition ( ) or Add OR condition ( )
on the Smart Filter tool bar, above the conditions.
To add a dependent condition, click Add AND condition or Add OR condition beside the
condition.
To remove a condition, click Delete ( ) beside the condition.
6. To specify the sort order of the results, click Add Sort ( ), then select a field to sort by and a
sort order.
7. Click Save to keep the filter for future use. To learn more, see Saving Filters.
8. Click Run to apply the filter.
Saving Filters
Depending on your role, you may save filters for everyone, a user group, or yourself.
1 Create or modify a filter.
2. Click Save Filter.
3. Enter a name for the filter in the Save as field.
4. Select who the filter is Visible to:
To create a personal filter (available to all roles), select Me.
To create a global filter (role-based availability), select Everyone.
To create a filter for a specific user group (role-based availability), select Group and then
enter or search for the group name.
5. Click Save.
Using Saved Filters
To apply a saved filter, select the filter name from the title menu. The filter runs and the
breadcrumbs appear.
List Title Menu
To edit your personal filters, select Edit personal filters from the title menu. The Filter table (with
the filter User = [current user]) opens. Filters created from this view are saved as personal filters
for the current user.
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Deleting Saved Filters
All users can delete their own saved filters by opening the title menu and choosing Filters > Edit
personal filters.
Administrators can also delete filters through the System Definition application.
1. Navigate to System Definition > Filters.
To see who created the filter and when, personalize the list to add the created_by and
created fields.
To see who has access to the filter, personalize the list to add the user, group, or domain
fields. Filters that are not assigned to a user or group are global.
2. Click the filter name and click Delete, then confirm the request.
Scripted Filters
The Smart Filter condition builder alone cannot create some filters, such as displaying a record set
that is dependent on an unrelated table. Administrators can create JavaScript functions for use in
advanced filters. To learn more, see Scripted Filters in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Editing in Lists
You can edit data in lists using these methods:
Quick edit functions—change applicable field values using the right-click menu.
List editor—edit field values in a list without opening a form.
Multiple records—edit more than one record at the same time using the list editor or an
editing form.
Quick Edit Functions
To edit a record in a list using quick edit functions, right-click a field and select the appropriate
function:
Assign to me—for records that use assignments, adds your user name to the Assigned to field.
Approve—for records that use approvals, changes the record's approval state to Approved.
Reject—for records that use approvals, changes the record's approval state to Rejected.
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Using the List Editor
The list editor allows you to edit field values directly from a list without navigating to a form.
Depending on your setup, the list editor may be available for certain fields and tables.
List Editor
1. Double-click (or click, depending on setup) in an empty area of the field. The appropriate
editor for the field type opens.
Before the list editor opens, access rights to edit the field are verified. A loading indicator
appears if this process takes longer than expected.
If the field has a dependency relationship (for example, Category and Subcategory), then a
composite editor opens to allow editing of all dependent fields. Note that you must have
rights to edit all dependent fields to use the list editor.
2. Enter the appropriate values and click Save ( ).
Personalizing the List Editor
To personalize the behavior of the list editor:
1. Open the list.
2. Click Personalize List ( ) in the upper left corner.
To allow the list editor to open for the list, select the Enable list edit check box. Clear the
check box to prevent the list editor from opening for the list.
To open the list editor with a double-click, select the Double click to edit check box. Clear
the check box to open the list editor using a single click.
Modify the columns that appear on the list, if desired.
3. Click Ok.
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Editing Multiple Records
You can edit multiple records at the same time using the list editor. This is the quickest way to
change single field on multiple records to the same value, and is available to all users.
1. Select the records to edit as follows.
To select multiple consecutive records, click in the first or last record, then hold Shift, and
drag in the desired fields.
To select multiple non-consecutive records, press Shift and click in one of the desired
fields, then hold Shift + Ctrl (Shift + Command, Mac), and click in the desired fields.
2. Open the list editor by double-clicking (or clicking, depending on setup) in an empty area of the
field.
The number of selected rows that will be edited is indicated. If any rows cannot be edited (due
to security constraints), that is indicated.
3. Enter the appropriate values and click Save.
Selected Fields Highlighted in Blue
Administrators can edit multiple records at the same time with an editing form. This method
enables you to edit multiple fields or fields that do not appear in the list view.
1. Select the records to edit in one of these ways.
Select the check boxes in the record rows.
Highlight a field in the record rows.
Filter the list to show only the rows you want to edit.
2. Right-click the column header and select Update Selected or Update All (if you filtered the
data). An editing form opens.
3 Enter appropriate values in any of the fields, then click Update to save the changes in all
selected records.
Selected fields are highlighted in blue.
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Creating Personal Lists
Personal lists modify a specific list view according to individual preferences. While administrators
can manage the personal lists function, any user can create a personal list.
Personalize List
1. Open the list.
2. Click Personalize List ( ) in the upper left corner.
3. Use the slushbucket to select the columns and the order you want them to appear.
The first non-reference field automatically links to the form view of the record. For this reason,
consider using the record number as the first column in your personal list layout.
4. Select display options.
To display long text on more than one line, select the Wrap column text check box. Clear
the check box to display text on one line.
To condense the vertical space between rows, select the Compact rows check box. Clear
the check box to use standard row spacing.
5. Select list editing options (requires setup).
To allow the list editor to open for the list, select the Enable list edit check box. Clear the
check box to prevent the list editor from opening for the list.
To open the list editor with a double-click, select the Double click to edit check box. Clear
the check box to open the list editor using a single click.
NOTE
To reset a list to the default layout, click Personalize List ( ) and select
the Reset to column defaults check box.
If a list is personalized, an indicator ( ) appears in the upper left corner.
ServiceNow 39
Chapter 4: Managing Records in Forms
Introduction
While lists allow you to view and edit selected information from a group of records in a data table,
forms allow you to view and edit information about a specific record.
Administrators can customize forms, easily adding and removing fields as well as changing the
order in which the fields appear, depending on their access rights.
Learning these concepts will help you manage individual records in forms:
Understanding form elements
Working with forms
Understanding Form Elements
A form displays complete information for one record. The specific information depends on the type
of record displayed. The form interface contains these elements:
Title bar—appears at the top of the form and provides navigational and functional controls.
Fields—display individual data items for the record.
Sections—group fields under a header. Tabs on the form let you collapse or expand individual
sections.
Related links—provide access to additional functions based on record type and system setup.
Administrators can add related links to forms. To learn more, see UI Actions in the
ServiceNow Wiki.
Related lists—display records in another table that are related to the current record. To learn
more, see Using Related Lists in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Embedded lists—allow for editing related lists without having to navigate away from the
form. Saving the form automatically saves any changes to embedded lists.
Response time indicator ( )—appears at the bottom right of some forms to indicate the
processing time required to display the form.
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Title Bar
The title bar displays the title of the form (table) and provides various controls.
Form Title Bar
Back ( )—navigates to the previously viewed page without saving change.
Form context menu—appears when you points to the arrow ( ) beside the form title or
right-clicks the title bar.
Submit or Update—saves changes and returns to the previously viewed page.
Related actions—provides standard actions appropriate to the table, such as Close Incident in
incident.
Attachments ( )—allows you to view and add attachments to the record. To learn more, see
Uploading Attachments in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Email ( )—opens an email message regarding the information in the open form. (Not
available on all forms.)
Previous ( ) and Next ( )—open the previous and next record on the list from which the
record was accessed.
Toggle tabs ( )—toggles between tabbed and sequential arrangements of related lists and
form sections.
Expand/Collapse ( )—expands or collapses the current section or all sections of the
form.
Form context
menu
Related
actions
Attachments, Email, Next, Previous, Toggle tabs, Collapse/Expand
current or all sections
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Form Context Menu
The form context menu provides controls based on the table and your access rights. Administrators
can customize some of the options available on a context menu using the Context Menu plugin and
UI Actions.
Form Context Menu
Available options include:
Save—saves changes without leaving form view.
Related actions—provides standard actions in the form context menu for some tables, such as
Create Change, Create Problem, and Create Request in the illustration.
Insert and Insert and Stay—save the data to a new record instead of updating the current
record. (These options are available on selected forms.) To learn more, see Inserting Records.
Personalize and Templates—provide administrative functions for personalizing forms and
creating templates.
Export—exports data to PDF (or XML, administrators only). To learn more, see Exporting
Data in the ServiceNow Wiki.
View—changes fields to a predefined layout. Administrators can customize views.
Assign Label—adds a link to the record under a custom application label (new or existing).
Labels provide quick access to frequently referenced or urgent information. To learn more, see
Creating and Using Labels in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Copy URL—copies to the clipboard the URL for the form view of the record. Follow browser
instructions if browser security measures restrict this function.
Copy sys_id (administrators only)—copies to the clipboard the record’s internal system
identifier. Follow browser instructions if browser security measures restrict this function.
Show XML (administrators only) – displays record data in XML format.
History (administrators only)—displays audit history for the record (must be enabled for the
table).
Reload Form—reloads information from the database to refresh the form view.
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Fields
A field represents an individual data item on a record. You can view and modify fields on a form.
Fields may be configured as:
Mandatory—requires a value before saving the record.
Read-only—prevents the field from being edited.
Standard data entry—accepts values such as numbers, text, choice lists, dates and times, and
check boxes.
Specialized data entry—accepts one or more of the following:
Journal –permits text entry. When the record is saved, journal field entries are listed under
the input field, marked with the user name and timestamp (example, Additional Comments
on an incident).
Suggestion—provides the option to include predefined text in a text or journal field.
Reference – lets you select a record on another table (example, in an incident, the Caller
field references the User table). Reference fields define a relationship between two tables.
Watch List—allows multiple users to subscribe to notifications of a task. A watch list is a
common type of glide list, which is a field that allows users to select multiple records from
another table.
HTML—enables use of HTML to define how field content renders (example, knowledge
base article text). HTML fields can include media elements, including images, Web links,
and videos.
Wiki (requires Wiki Plugin)—enables use of Wiki markup to define how field content
renders.
Image—permits uploading an image file (type of .gif, .jpg/jpeg, or .png only) to the record.
Video—permits uploading a video file to the record.
Normalized—alters raw input as needed to match standardized values for improved
searching and reporting.
Currency or Price—accepts monetary information.
Translated HTML or Translated Text—enables translation with the Internationalization
plugin (similar to standard HTML or text fields).
Duration—permits entering a length of time. The field automatically converts hours to
days for values greater than 24 hours. For example, 30 hours is converted to 1 day and 6
hours.
URL—accepts a URL (Web address) and creates an active hyperlink.
Field Status Indicator
A field status indicator is a colored bar that may appear to the left of form elements. Administrators
can customize the colors of field status indicators.
Field Status Indicator Description
Mandatory—required field that is empty. You must enter a
value to save the form. Default color is red.
Populated Mandatory—required field for which a value has
already been saved in the database. Default color is light red.
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Field Status Indicator Description
Modified—contains data that has not been saved. Default
color is green.
Read-only—user cannot edit this field on the form. Default
color is orange.
Sections
Sections provide headers for a group of related fields.
To expand or collapse a section, click expand ( ) or collapse ( ) in the section header.
To toggle between tabbed and sequential arrangements of sections, click Toggle tabs ( ).
Embedded Lists
Some forms may show related lists as embedded. Changes to embedded lists are saved when the
form is saved (see Editing in Forms).
Embedded List
Use these controls to work with an embedded list:
To expand or collapse an embedded list, click expand ( ) or collapse ( ) in the list header.
To add a new row, click Add in the list header.
To edit a row, double-click in an empty area of the field. To learn more, see Using the List
Editor.
To delete a row, click Delete ( ) beside the row.
Section
headers
Expand or
Collapse
Basics for Administrators and ITIL Users
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New rows are removed immediately.
Existing rows are designated for deletion when the record is saved. To clear this
designation and retain the row, click Delete again.
Working with Forms
Working with forms involves these activities:
Navigating to a form
Editing a form
Inserting a record
Navigating to a Form
You can navigate to a blank form to create a new record, or to an existing record form.
To open a blank form for a new record, use one of these methods:
Open a list (example, Incident for a new incident), and click New.
In the navigation filter, type the table name followed by .form (example, Incident.form).
Append the table name and .do to the instance Web address. For example, the following URL
opens a new incident form in the demo instance:
https://demo.service-now.com/incident.do
To open an existing record in form view, use one of these methods:
Locate the record in a list and click the record number or the reference icon. To learn more, see
Navigating Applications in this document or Using Record Lists in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Append the table name, followed by .do?sysparm_query=number= and the record number to
the instance Web address. For example, this URL opens incident INC0000007 in the demo
instance:
https://demo.service-now.com/incident.do?sysparm_query=number=INC0000007
Additional record parameters can be applied using a URL. To learn more, see Navigating by
URL in the ServiceNow Wiki.
Editing in Forms
To edit a record in form view:
1. Navigate to the form.
2. Enter appropriate data.
3. Save the record using one of these methods:
Click Submit or Update to save changes and return to the previously viewed page.
Right-click the title bar and select Save to save changes without leaving form view.
Right-click the title bar and select Insert or Insert and Stay to save the data as a new
record instead of updating the current record (see Inserting a Record).
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NOTE
Depending on the system setup, the data you enter in a form may affect
other options on the form or change its appearance. For example, if you
select a status of Closed for an incident, a Close Notes field may appear and
may be required to save the record. Administrators can create custom form
effects in a variety of ways, such including UI Policies and Client Scripts.
Inserting Records
Insert provides a method for creating multiple similar items, such as email notifications, users,
groups, or business rules. Administrators may also enable the Insert function for task records.
1. Open a similar item.
2. Edit the item and give it a new Name.
3. Click one of the following:
Insert saves the item as a new record and returns to the previously viewed page.
Insert and Stay saves and views the new record.
Insert Record
ServiceNow 46
Appendix A: Glossary
Below is a list of terms and definitions as they apply to the ServiceNow platform.
admin: The admin (administrator) role in the platform, which has permission to perform
almost all of the functions. The term admin usually includes both the global admin, and the
admin for a given application. For example, both the admin and catalog_admin roles have
rights to administer the Service Catalog.
application: An application is a grouping of modules as they appear in the Application
Navigator.
Application Navigator: The Application Navigator is a navigation bar on the left side of the
page that displays a list of applications and modules.
banner frame: The banner frame is the portion across the top of every page that contains the
platform's logo and basic global navigation choices.
breadcrumbs: Breadcrumbs are a series of filters displayed as links at the top of a record list.
Click the individual elements of the path to alter the filter and see a different group of records.
Business Service Map (BSM): A Business Service Map is a graphical display of the
configuration items (CI) within a system and their relationships.
catalog item: A catalog item is any unique item or service in the Service Catalog that can be
ordered by the end user. To specify how a catalog item is procured, who works on it, or how it
is delivered, the item must be tied to a Service Catalog execution plan.
client script: A client script is JavaScript you create to run in the client browser. Service-now
supports the following script types:
onLoad() -- Runs when a form is loaded.
onChange() -- Runs when a particular widget changes value.
onSubmit() -- Runs when a form is submitted.
condition builder: A condition builder constructs a condition statement with a series of
contextually generated fields. Condition builders are used in many applications, such as filters,
survey administration, and access control administration.
configuration item (CI): A configuration item (CI) is a computer or other device attached to
an enterprise's networks.
configuration page: The configuration page is the module within the Content Management
System that sets the global defaults for content pages and sites.
Configuration Management Database (CMDB): A CMDB is a database of the configuration
items (CI) and their relationships within an enterprise's network.
content frame: The content frame is the main area of the primary user interface. The content
frame displays pages to which a user navigates.
field: A field contains an individual item of data on a record in a table.
field status indicator: A field status indicator is a colored bar that may appear to the left of
form elements. These indicators convey field status, such as mandatory, read-only, and
modified.
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filter: A filter is a set of conditions applied to a table in order to find and work with a subset of
the data in that table.
form: A form is a page that allows users to view and enter data on a record in a table.
gauge: A gauge is an item that can be added to a homepage or content page. Gauges display
data in a variety of forms, such as charts and lists.
graphical workflow: A graphical workflow is an interface that represents workflow events
and transitions.
homepage: A homepage is a dashboard that consists of navigational elements, functional
controls, and system information (gauges). When a user first logs in to ServiceNow, the system
homepage appears. Administrators can create other global homepages to provide an overview
of frequently used information by application. Users can customize homepages for their
personal use.
left navigation bar: See Application Navigator.
module: A module is a link in the Application Navigator that opens a page in the content frame
or in a separate tab or window.
navigation menu: See Application Navigator.
PaaS: Platform as a Service provides a single streamlined environment that facilitates the
development, testing, and deployment of applications, and also supports the building, testing
and hosting of Web applications.
platform: The platform is the complete set of the ServiceNow software services.
plugin: A plugin is an extension to the existing platform that a user installs to add functionality
to the platform.
pop-up: A pop-up is a customizable information box about any field in a Service-now record
that is displayed from a reference icon. You can define the fields to display in pop-ups and set
the wait delay for the mouseover action.
record: A record is an entry in a database table.
reference field: A reference field draws data from a different table.
reference icon: A reference icon displays customizable information about fields in
Service-now forms when you hover your mouse over the icon. Reference icons appear on some
forms and in all list views, enabling you to view abbreviated versions of records.
role: A role is a category assigned to a user or group of users that defines access privileges to
Service-now functionality. All groups or users assigned to a role are granted the same system
access. Roles can also contain other roles; the combined role is granted all the access rights
from all the contained roles. To learn more, see Creating Roles on the ServiceNow Wiki.
SaaS: Software as a Service is a software delivery method that provides access to software and
its functions remotely as a Web-based service. Software as a Service may also be referred to as
hosted applications
search page: A search page is a content page used to display search results.
Service Catalog: The Service Catalog is the central repository of goods and services that your
IT help desk provides for its users. Users can directly request these services and items from the
Service Catalog.
slushbucket: A slushbucket is a double column interface for choosing multiple selections from
an available pool of items.
table: A table is a collection of records in a database.
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view: A view is a saved version of a form or list. Views enable users to quickly display the same
form or list in multiple ways. Administrators can create custom views.
welcome page: A welcome page is displayed to visitors to the site before they log in.
wizard: A wizard is a user interface element that provides a step-by-step sequence of dialog
boxes to lead the user through a procedure.
workflow: A workflow is a configured, automatic process for addressing a task.
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Appendix B: Article Sources
Navigation and the User Interface Source: http://wiki.service-now.com/index.php?oldid=72321
Navigating Applications Source: http://wiki.service-now.com/index.php?oldid=72324
Introduction to Searching Source: http://wiki.service-now.com/index.php?oldid=72325
Using Lists Source: http://wiki.service-now.com/index.php?oldid=72334
Finding Information in Lists Source: http://wiki.service-now.com/index.php?oldid=72357
Using Filters and Breadcrumbs Source: http://wiki.service-now.com/index.php?oldid=72365
Editing Lists Source: http://wiki.service-now.com/index.php?oldid=72398
Creating Personal Lists Source: http://wiki.service-now.com/index.php?oldid=72394
Using Forms Source: http://wiki.service-now.com/index.php?oldid=72401
Glossary Source: http://wiki.service-now.com/index.php?oldid=71450