Plan your architecture, instances, integrations, and data flows - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Plan your architecture, instances, integrations, and data flows

Slide2

The development of your architecture, instance strategy, and data strategy for the Now Platform

® need to be considered through a technical lens and to be driven by your business context and objectives for transformation. Decisions you make with respect to key architecture question— like whether to pursue a multi- or single-instance approach—require consideration first by relevant business considerations, both in terms of your current situation and future considerations that may affect your Now Platform expansion.For the purpose of this document, “architecture” includes your Now Platform instance configuration and management, data architecture and configuration management, and integration strategy, design, and management.

Insight: Plan your architecture, instances, integrations, and data flowsStart your technical planning with a clear view into your transformation objectives for the Now Platform and how these will shape key architecture decisions. Three questions are essential to your technical planning and management:What architectural/technical requirements need to be reflected in your planning so you can deliver on your business objectives for the Now Platform and/or the needs specific to your organization.What data requirements can be derived from your business objectives and/or organizational requirements? How should these be reflected in the design of your CMDB and integration strategy?How do you plan for expanding your Now Platform capabilities without disrupting effective management of your architecture?

Plan your architecture, instances, integrations, and data flows

Key implementation stepsStartImproveOptimize

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Slide3

Understand the Now Platform infrastructure

Learn about Now Platform’s cloud infrastructure. Ensure your teams:

Review the

overview of the

ServiceNow® Advanced High Availability (AHA) architecture.Build a deep understanding of the ServiceNow infrastructure, including its capabilities to scale horizontally, load balance, and failover when necessary.Learn how data is stored and managed in your ServiceNow instance. Refer to product documentation (of your instance release version) for an overview of how applications

use tables and records

to manage data and processes on the Now Platform.

The Now Platform is designed as an enterprise cloud platform, providing the scalability, security, and availability needed for mission-critical applications. It helps create a single system of record that maximizes the value of your enterprise data and enables custom

application development. Before defining requirements, ensure that your core and extended technical teams understand the architecture and functionality of the Now Platform.Step 1a: Understand the out-of-the-box Now Platform architecture

Understand the Now Platform’s core features and functionality

Ensure your teams develop an understanding of the following features and functionality of the Now Platform:

Capabilities

– For example, Service Portal, Configuration Management Database (CMDB), Compliance, etc.

Products

– For example, IT Service Management, IT Operations Management, Security Operations, Customer Service Management, HR Service Delivery, etc.

Certified applications – Explore the

ServiceNow Store.ServiceNow Store integration hub apps – For example, preconfigured integrations with Box and Splunk, and Okta.Ensure your teams are familiar with the Now Platform user interface including:Forms – Display information from one record in a data table.Lists – Display a set of records from a table.Available options to configure lists and forms.Ensure your teams know how business processes are triggered and completed on the Now Platform, including:Business rules – Server-side scripts that runs when a record is displayed, inserted, updated, or deleted, or when a table is queriedFlow Designer – A Now Platform feature for automating processes, including integrations, in a single design environment without coding

Practitioner insight: The best way your team can build up its expertise on the Now Platform’s core features and functionality is to start by taking the ServiceNow Foundations eLearning course and then review ServiceNow Training and Certification courses for training and certification opportunities.

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Slide4

Identify the enterprise IT teams you’ll need to partner with to support the Now Platform

Enterprise architecture (EA) – 

EA performs the analysis of business structure and processes. EA may have been involved in evaluating the Now Platform and will help determine how it fits into your business and systems architecture.

Data architecture and technical integration –

These teams define how different data entities and IT systems will store, consume, integrate, and manage data. They'll be an important resource as you integrate the Now Platform with other enterprise systems.Security – Security is responsible for defining security requirements and protocols for your environment.Network administration – This resource will help enable Now Platform access to users (e.g., opening a network port for access, single sign-on, etc.) and help to ensure appropriate network support.IT support – This resource supports the platform on a daily basis. IT support also coordinates and supports patches, upgrades, defects, and enhancements.Your internal ServiceNow platform support team

will be the primary team responsible for implementing, maintaining, and extending ServiceNow as a strategic business platform. However, you’ll need to identify and work with enterprise IT teams that manage the systems and infrastructure environment in which your Now Platform will operate.

Step 1b: Identify the extended technical team you need to work with

Provide an overview of Now Platform architecture and functionality to your enterprise IT partners, to find questions and requirements that may affect your architectural decisions

You may conduct this as a planning workshop—be sure to include your implementation partners. (Note: This may already be planned or conducted as part of your onboarding process with ServiceNow.)

In addition to finding potential questions and requirements, you can use this workshop to identify points-of-contact within the teams listed previously, who can collectively act as your “extended” ServiceNow team. This should provide the basis for a RACI chart that defines “ownership” for key decisions and responsibilities between the core ServiceNow team and enterprise IT functions.

Practitioner insight:

Technical planning needs to be coordinated with the development of

governance

(e.g., for the establishment of documented technical standards). Work with the ServiceNow governance lead and/or

executive sponsor

to coordinate governance policy development with your ServiceNow architecture design process.

Practitioner insight: Your extended ServiceNow team may also include non-technical teams within your organization such as vendor management, legal, and procurement to assist with business-related processes (e.g., purchasing instances, terms and conditions related to software licensing, etc.) involving the Now Platform.1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs 2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now PlatformSteps

Slide5

Assess the potential impact your business objectives/strategy will have on Now Platform architecture requirements

Complete the following:

Document business objectives and strategy considerations (both for ServiceNow and outside the scope of your ServiceNow implementation) that may impact your architecture for the coming year (Note: You can do this as part of the planning workshop recommended in 1b). Ensure you review this with your executive sponsor to validate your assumptions.

For each objective/consideration, define potential implications or decisions that you may need to raise with enterprise architecture and other stakeholders. For example, a corporate merger and acquisition strategy should prompt you to ask stakeholders whether your architecture will need to accommodate rapid integration of new user populations, or whether the intent is to onboard new populations gradually.

Validate these implications and decisions with your enterprise architecture team and strategic governance function for ServiceNow. Make sure that you make decisions on a defined timeline so you’re able to advance the development of the requirements in your architecture planning.Your business objectives and strategy—both for ServiceNow, as well as outside ServiceNow — may shape your architecture direction and planning process. For example, a business strategy focused on mergers and acquisitions for growth may mean that your architecture will need to accommodate the integration of substantial new user bases (and/or data) during the year, which may impact the choices you make about architecture and instance strategy.

Step 1c: Assess the impact of business objectives/strategy on architecture requirements

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Practitioner insight:

Choosing an architecture is an important decision that sets the foundation for your implementation’s success. Refer to the Success Insight

A comparison of four complex ServiceNow architectural models

for guidance.

Slide6

Identify requirements that will guide your cloud architecture*

Work with your enterprise IT team (see step 1) to address the following questions:

Will data sovereignty considerations influence your use of ServiceNow’s cloud infrastructure?

What additional data security constraints will influence your use of ServiceNow’s cloud infrastructure?

What regulatory guidelines do you have to follow that affect data storage and access?Do you need to provide one virtual view that shows tasks that reside in multiple instances?Identify specific requirements and constraints for cloud hosting with your ServiceNow implementation partner, based on the questions aboveIdentify whether you will require any on-premises server infrastructure to run your ServiceNow instance(s). Note: We highly recommend using cloud infrastructure as your preferred option, as maintaining on-premises infrastructure can be costly and does NOT include advanced features that ServiceNow has implemented to manage cloud infrastructure.ServiceNow customers have access to their own instance with one or more separate application nodes and a database. As part of planning for your ServiceNow architecture, determine where you want to host your ServiceNow instance(s), how many you will require based on your organizational need to separate data and processes, and how you will protect your instances.

Step 2a: Design your instance configuration and management strategy

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Practitioner insight:

You can choose to have a multi-instance strategy for your dev and test environment as well. Work with your technology development teams to understand their development and testing processes to design a sub-production instance architecture.

*Refer to our

Plan your platform architecture

page on the Customer Success Center for more resources.

Slide7

Step 2a: Design your instance configuration and management strategy

(Continued)

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs 2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now PlatformSteps

Identify requirements for process and data separation

Your architecture and instance strategy will be strongly influenced by requirements for process and data separation. Identify requirements to separate data, administrative tasks, processes, or reporting across different entities, customers, or sub-organizations within your organization

.

Work with your executive sponsor, enterprise IT, legal/compliance functions, and key business stakeholders to answer the following questions:

Do you need to enforce data separation between different entities within your organization due to regulation, data protection policies, or other business requirements?

Do you need to preserve business process and user interface differentiation across business entities/Do you need to define policies to govern instance configuration and management (e.g., policies that govern how upgrades are done, how to right-size environments, replicate instances correctly, develop a security access control model, and ensure proper maintenance)? If so, do the same policies apply to all instances? Or are separate policies needed for separate instances?

Do you anticipate variation in speed of process change/evolution across different functions or entities in your organization?

Do you need a single virtual view that consolidates tasks from multiples instances in one view?

Based on the answers to the above questions, work with your ServiceNow implementation partner to determine whether requirements should drive: 

Domain

separation

– This allows you to separate data, processes, and administrative tasks into logical groupings called domains. You can then control several aspects of this separation, including which users can see and access data.A multi- vs. single-instance architecture – A separate instance provides complete and total separation of all system properties. Consider separate instances only if you don’t require global reporting or global processes along with total separation of all system properties.Application scoping – Application scopes keep data separate, allowing for additional access controls and security. In addition, it offers delegated development.Access control list rules (ACL), business rules, or configurations – These let you vary your processes and preferences without separating data from the overall governance or administrative tasks. Examples are custom views and form layout.Global queue – Using this queue helps you create a single virtual view of the tasks in multiple instances. This is also known as a mesh architecture.

Slide8

Step 2a: Design your instance configuration and management strategy

(Continued)

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs 2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now PlatformSteps

Capture your instance security requirements

Work with your global data and network security team, along with your ServiceNow implementation partner, to incorporate the following security considerations* in your instance design. These considerations should be accounted for in each instance. For example, a developer may have admin access in a development instance but should not have it in a production instance:

Input validation –

Minimize malformed data from entering the system in the form of input data, whether obtained from the user, infrastructure, external entities, or database systems.

Access control –

Define what functionality and data the user may access, ensuring the proper allocation of access rights after authentication is successful.

Authorization –

Allow resource access only to those permitted to use them.

Authentication

–

Put in controls to verify that an individual, entity, or website is who it claims to be.

Attachments – Many ServiceNow applications’ business processes allow for the upload of data/information. Include business logic to scan for files during the upload process and reject those perceived as malicious. (Note: ServiceNow regularly checks the validity and security of text, but accepting files can introduce even more risk.)Session management – Put controls in place to govern the state of interactions between a user and a web-based application.Email security – Control which inbound messages are accepted and from whom, encrypt the transmission of outbound messages, and scan the contents of any attachments for malicious content.Encryption – Configure your Edge Encryption for applications hosted in your environment, use platform encryption to manage how supported fields are encrypted and decrypted, and implement database encryption at rest to protect your data even while not in use. System logs – Create a logging and auditing plan so you can identify and act on suspicious activity in a timely manner.ServiceNow Management, Instrumentation and Discovery (MID) Server security – MID server is a lightweight Java application that runs as a Windows service or UNIX daemon on standard hardware, including virtual machines. Determine which of the servers located within your organization are used for this purpose and what security considerations you require to govern it.Maintain an Instance Security Center to track compliance effectiveness of your instance security controls, monitor security event monitoring metrics, and configure and maintain instance security settings. *Refer to the Instance Hardening Guide for more information and guidance on making your instance more secure and resistant to malicious intrusion.

Slide9

Determine your CMDB requirements*

Identify a list of CMDB use cases that directly impact your organization’s key strategic initiatives. These use cases will help you make the case for effective configuration management and get required funding and support for implementation. Below are examples of questions you could use to identify CMDB use cases:

What level of understanding do we need of our infrastructure configuration to assess the impact of an incident on business services*?

What level of understanding do we need of our infrastructure configuration to assess the potential risk of a component-level change?

What level of detail of cloud services is needed to monitor the performance of our business services?What level of understanding do we need of our infrastructure assets for better financial tracking and management?Define clear configuration management goals, objectives, and outcomes. Document:What you want to accomplish with configuration management, per the use cases outlined above.How you will approach your implementation, as well as your assumptions and constraints.What business outcomes this will support.How will you know if you’re doing it right, i.e., the measures of success you’re going to use.

The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) provides a single source of truth to support ServiceNow capabilities and provide data to support strategic, tactical, and situational decisions. While ServiceNow recommends an early implementation of the CMDB capability, you should be careful to ensure that the CMDB is appropriately scoped to support your business objectives and focuses on the data required to support those objectives. Also, consider a phased approach as trying to do a complete CMDB implementation all at once can be overwhelming.

Step 2b: Define your configuration management strategy

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

*Consider using

CSDM

(ServiceNow’s Common Services Data Model) to map your IT services. Following this model ensures that the data for your application maps correctly to the appropriate tables

Practitioner insight: Build your configuration management team and data model early, to set the foundation for configuration to support other applications long term. See ServiceNow’s Success Playbook for more information on planning a successful CMDB deployment.

Slide10

Determine your CMDB requirements (Continued)

Scope the requirements for your CMDB. Use the below questions as a guide:

What environments will configuration management oversee (e.g., production, development, test, etc.)?

Which CIs in the CMDB need to be managed at the relationship level and which CIs require only inventory-level management?

What IT services will be included?Are there geographic considerations to account for?Are there regulatory or compliance requirements that must be met?Are there specific levels of control required for traceability and auditability?What security issues must be addressed?Are interfaces to internal and external service providers required?Step 2b: Define your configuration management strategy (Continued)

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Design the CMDB

Work with your ServiceNow implementation partner and configuration manager to design a foundational CMDB based on your organizational needs. Complete the following tasks, using requirements derived from the questions to the left as a guide:

Design the CMDB data model – Class/sub-class structure, which are typically aligned to technology domains: server, network, database, application, storage, etc.

Identify the required content for each class/sub-class – Attributes including class-level inheritance and required relationships

Establish the configuration item (CI) naming conventions/standards

Determine data ownershipDefine the data security requirementsIdentify the data sources and determine the mechanism(s) you will use to import data into the CMDB (discovered, automated, and/or manual)Validate and get approval for your CMDB design from your key stakeholders including representatives from key functions who depend on CMDB data, the

configuration management team, and data architects, if any.Practitioner insight: Just like any other new IT implementation, a successful configuration management implementation requires cultural change. Consider creating a comprehensive communication plan for your CMDB implementation, highlighting CMDB needs and value, in term of “what’s in it for me,” progress against key milestones, and success stories. Coordinate this communication with any ongoing and/or planned organizational change management efforts.

Slide11

Define the CMDB control structure

Create a

configuration management plan

that accounts for the following activities to ensure proper controls are established.

Define the process and procedures for creating new, modifying and retiring CIs. They should be retired rather than deleted to preserve any relationships that the CI has to other records in the CMDB.Establish integration with the change management process.Define the process and procedures for Discovery reconciliation if used.Define the process and procedures for CMDB verification and audit.Identify the configuration management and CMDB key performance indicators (KPIs), and establish measurement procedures and a reporting schedule.Use the CMDB health dashboard to monitor and maintain your CMDB health.Create a roadmap for continual CMDB expansion and configuration management process improvement.Step 2b: Define your configuration management strategy (Continued)

Practitioner insight:

Your ability to deliver on many critical capabilities, such as incident management or change management, depends on having a robust single system of record. Instead of delaying your CMDB implementation, aim for a minimum viable product that includes the “right” amount of configuration management. Avoid a big bang approach to configuration management. Most organizations that try that approach get bogged down and may not ever manage to implement a CMDB.

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Slide12

Many ServiceNow customers obtain additional value by integrating with third-party applications. The most common third-party integrations are with: CMDB, Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, User Administration, and Single Sign-on. You can use a variety of methods, but be prepared to meticulously gather requirements to design and develop effective integrations. See our

Implement integrations with ServiceNow

Success Checklist for additional information.Step 3a: Determine the requirements for effective integrations1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Tie your integration strategy to your business objectives

Challenge your current practice. Do not simply replicate existing integrations. Review your updated business objectives to make sure integrations directly contribute to the success of those objectives.

Look for opportunities to improve or simplify existing processes. Look for unnecessary steps that can be eliminated.

Revisit your integration strategy regularly to be more responsive to business needs and objectives. Embrace change by being lean and agile.

Create a list of potential integrations based on your current ServiceNow implementation

Consider the following categories:

Engagement channels (e.g., email, social media, collaboration)

Foundational data (e.g., your customer's users or locations in another system so they can be referenced when the customer raises a ticket on your system)

CMDB CI data (e.g., servers, applications, services, network equipment, cloud infrastructure)

Application data (e.g., HR data from an HR system, vulnerability data from a security application)

ServiceNow-to-ServiceNow integration across instancesConsult with your enterprise architecture and security teams to define integration requirementsDocument current integrations, integration tools, and organization standards.Coordinate integration and architecture requirements—tables, fields, and data relationships.

Slide13

Step 3a: Determine the requirements for effective integrations

(Continued)

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs 2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now PlatformSteps

Determine what data elements are needed to support ServiceNow business processes

Identify foundational data from external systems that needs to be in place, both initially and ongoing.

Determine what data needs to be transferred to and from ServiceNow, and whether translation is required at either end.

Identify the system of truth for each data element.

Identify the process events that will trigger an exchange of data between systems

This could be events—such as creating an incident or assigning it to a particular group—when certain fields such as Priority are changed, when a work note is added, etc.

Gather additional must-have information about each proposed ServiceNow integration to ensure an effective and accurate design

How does this data support the process? Is the data truly necessary for the new process in ServiceNow?

How frequently should data be transferred?

What is the volume? What are the estimated number of transactions and size of the data?

What are the triggers for the process?

Capture remote system capabilities to understand integration design constraintsWhat is the target system?What data is available? In what format? Can fields be mapped easily?Can you show a sample?What is the data quality like?What protocols are available?

Who is the owner? And who makes the decisions?Understand ServiceNow integration technologiesWeb servicesFile retrieval/import setsJDBC connectionsLDAPREST and SOAP (REST is recommended)Excel, CSV, and email

MID Server – API and command line integrations

Slide14

Customers have many technologies and methods to manage integrations between ServiceNow and external systems.

Always look for configuration options first, starting with ServiceNow-supported integrations or those available on the ServiceNow Store.

If you need custom integrations, contact your ServiceNow account team or build your own integration using the platform’s integration capabilities. Check with your ServiceNow account representative about licensing. Step 3b: Design effective integrations1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Select the best ServiceNow integration from the options below, listed in order from the most supportable to those that provide the most flexibility/choice

ServiceNow Store integrations

–

These integrations are built by ServiceNow or a partner that’s an expert in the external system. The seller of the integration will generally provide implementation and ongoing support. There may be cost associated with the integration.

IntegrationHub

–

IntegrationHub lets you integrate third-party APIs as part of a flow when a specific event happens in ServiceNow. These integrations, referred to as 

spokes

, are easy to configure with Flow Designer and help you quickly add powerful actions without writing a script. There may be a cost associated with the spokes and/or licensing of Flow Designer in order to enable IntegrationHub.

Note: Not all integrations on the ServiceNow Store will be spokes compatible with IntegrationHub. Use the IntegrationHub filter when in the ServiceNow Store to filter integrations specifically designed for use with IntegrationHub.

Custom – Custom integrations (REST, SOAP, IoT devices, file import and export abilities via CSV or XML, Flow Designer with IntegrationHub) meet a specific customer use case, are designed from scratch, and are owned and maintained by the customer long term.For custom interfaces, determine the following for each interface:Message structures, response formats, and exception actions (e.g., validation fails, message timeouts)Rules around ownership of records and what updates can be made by the non-owning party (Note: Allowing both sides of an integration to update any field at any point can cause issues, so we normally advise that non-owners should only add journal fields, such as comments and work notes.)

Slide15

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now PlatformStepsPractitioner insight: Customers engaged in enterprise services transformation will see more demands for cross-platform integration, but this doesn’t necessarily have to lead to complex, customized integration. ServiceNow’s

IntegrationHub reduces the need for complex, custom-coded integrations because you can execute third-party REST APIs as part of a workflow when a specific event occurs in ServiceNow. IntegrationHub supports three use cases, reducing the need for custom code:

Third-party REST API integrations – Customers can post messages and ServiceNow incident, problem, and change record details to collaboration channels like HipChat, Slack, or Microsoft Teams.Integrations between ServiceNow instances – IntegrationHub provides an easy-to-configure spoke allowing data synchronization across multiple ServiceNow instances.

Creating REST actions – IntegrationHub supports developing custom REST web service actions to support API development for web-based applications.

Step 3b: Design effective integrations (Continued)

Practitioner insight: Use as much out-of-the-box functionality as possible

in the initial deployment, unless it’s absolutely critical to build a custom integration. Otherwise, avoid customized integration until the platform is adopted and your process users trust it. ServiceNow provides several interfaces that let you directly integrate with the platform. These interfaces are considered part of the platform and are provided at no additional charge. You can find list of supported integration interfaces in the ServiceNow product documentation.

Follow these best practices when you create integrations:

Integrations come in two halves—one for each system.

Make sure your resources have the necessary expertise to implement their half.

Define business rules to extract only relevant data from source systems

and don’t pull in more data than you need. Validate which data is transmitted with your executive sponsor and business owners to make sure you’re capturing the data necessary to achieve your end goal.

Execute large integration loads after hours or during a non-peak time of day to minimize performance impact to your systems.Use out-of-the-box features and functions as the baseline, especially the ServiceNow API.Use IntegrationHub (requires a separate subscription) for designing custom integrations. IntegrationHub extends the ServiceNow Flow Designer to incorporate integrations into automated processes.Work with a certified partner when you build custom integrations unless you have strong, ServiceNow-specific integration expertise within your organization. The right expertise can dramatically simplify work and even reduce total investment (by reducing the need for rework). Consider our

internal, customer, and partner learnings when you design your integration.

Slide16

While ServiceNow Discovery and Service Mapping are the preferred methods to populate the CMDB, they’re not the only methods. For various reasons, users may need to populate the CMDB from a custom, external data source and want to populate it automatically. Fortunately, ServiceNow provides the facilities to do this:

CMDB Identification and Reconciliation

. For a great explanation on how this works, check out the Community Forum article on populating related CIs into the ServiceNow CMDB.Step 3c: Maintain CMDB integrity1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Use CMDB Identification and Reconciliation-enabled integration methods when creating CIs in the CMDB

Create the integration in a scoped application.

Identification engine APIs

are accessible in scoped apps. Activate the Configuration Management for Scoped Apps (CMDB) plugin.

Always include the CI’s unique identifier.

When inserting CIs with JavaScript code, use the internal ServiceNow function

IdentificationEngineScriptableApi.createOrUpdateCI

. This will confirm that any inserts or updates use the Identification and Reconciliation Engine.

Slide17

Develop and maintain your runbook

Document the following information:

Update sets

–

Keep the number of items in an update set low. A low number of items makes it easier to manage and review. Update sets should also be ordered so that when they’re being committed, you avoid any collisions. In larger development implementations, consider establishing a role to have the workstreams and update sets managed to avoid development collisions. Conversely if update sets need to be backed out for some reason, it should be done in REVERSE order in which they were applied. Data migration – Any data that needs to be migrated can be done by using the system import functionality or by exporting/importing via XML. This is another opportunity to use your runbook, making note of all data that needs to be migrated. Integrations – Ensure that all integrations work as expected in the other sub-production instance. Note: licensing may be an issue with some third-party integrations; if this is the case, make sure that there is a test plan for the integration when it is implemented in the production instance.Instance promotion order – The recommended approach for an implementation is to begin in a development instance, then migrate to sub-production, and then to the production instance.Proper management of your Now Platform architecture is key to good performance and helps ensure that required upgrades are implemented with little to no disruption to the business. Ensuring top performance

of your architecture will demonstrate to users that the Now Platform user experience is second to none.As you implement (and upgrade) your Now Platform, ensure that configurations and data are migrated and promoted through your ServiceNow environments via our recommended steps. During the development phase, keep a runbook to document the steps that need to be taken when migrating the data and promoting update sets. A runbook is a set of defined procedures developed by the administrator for various tasks such as migration plans, daily procedures, and handling exceptional incidents or tasks.

Step 4a: Develop a robust migration plan as you move toward production

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Slide18

Create your instance maintenance plan

Set a cadence for reviewing system logs. Reviewing system logs on a frequent basis is a proactive way to catch any performance issues.

Set a cadence to test your instance. A system administrator should go through core system functionality to verify system usability and performance. Navigating through forms and lists to check page load times, form rendering, field data entry, etc. will let you know if there are any potential issues with system configuration, internal network, or browser performance. Consider engaging ServiceNow for a

HealthScan

to better understand the health of your instance.Ensure timely review of release notes. ServiceNow may release patches to address issues. It’s critical to review release notes for these regularly, as well as for planned upgrades.Ensure timely review of ServiceNow-scheduled maintenance notifications. There are periodic maintenance activities that ServiceNow executes on its systems (databases, application infrastructure). Notifications are sent with all the details you need, including support details. It is important to review notifications and understand the support process if any issues arise.Having a maintenance plan is key to making sure that system performance adheres to the desired service levels. The following tasks should be part of your maintenance plan, which should be documented and reviewed with your technical governance team.Step 4b: Develop an instance maintenance plan

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Slide19

Gather relevant information about upcoming ServiceNow releases

Build awareness about new features and develop an understanding of how to incorporate these features into your environment.

Review updated

product documentation

which includes the new release notes by version.Attend the new release broadcast (ask your account manager for details).Attend ServiceNow Knowledge or Now at Work user conferences which provide release learning opportunities and insights into the product roadmap.Join the ServiceNow Developer Program which provides resources to learn, build, and deploy applications on the Now Platform and offers resources (e.g., technical library, online training, developer community, etc.) to ensure a successful application-building experience.Become a Now Creator and explore Now Learning to continue your education.

Treat upgrading a ServiceNow environment as a major project that requires detailed planning, execution, and validation. Your upgrade plan should include the steps listed here. Access our

upgrade planning checklist for a comprehensive list of activities.Step 4c: Develop an upgrade plan

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Gather relevant information about your ServiceNow environment

Confirm your instance hosting model, the instances in scope for upgrade, and the upgrade features you plan to enable or disable.

Identify a core team of testers, power users, and key stakeholders to validate functionality before and after you upgrade.

Create a comprehensive

test plan, including test cases for all core instance functionality and integrations, your testing scope and approach, your method for tracking defects, and the availability and restrictions of the systems required for integration testing.Develop a high-level implementation plan covering sequence and timing to upgrade production and non-production instances (including any change freeze windows which may affect timing), instances to be cloned, and the instance to be used for integration testing.Define and document a process to review and update supporting documentation, including training material and knowledge base articles.

Slide20

Define a cloning schedule

Determining when you clone and how often can be challenging simply because there may be overlapping activities occurring in your other instances. Typically, clones occur after releases, however, if you are in a pre-go-live scenario you may not need to clone this often.

Define and document cloning prerequisites

Setup target –

Configure the target instance to accept clones. You will need to use an administrator account for the process.Data – Determine what data, if any, needs to be preserved on the target instance. For more details, visit this page on data preservers.Instance activities – Ensure that any activities occurring in that instance are completed, data is backed up or exported, and update sets are complete if any development is ongoing. Consider creating a shared folder that users can save their exported items to.Integrations – Ensure that any integrations on the target instance are turned off or paused during the clone.Notifications – Notify all users of the instance and any stakeholders that a clone is taking place. After the clone has completed, send out another notification advising that users are able to continue their work in the instance.The System Clone

application allows you to copy data from your production instance to your non-production instance to replicate your production environment as closely as possible. By cloning, you can develop and test changes before implementing them into your production instance. For ServiceNow Express customers, System Clone becomes available once the ServiceNow Express High Availability Cloning plugin is active; by default, Enterprise customers have the System Clone application available to them.

After a release cycle is complete, consider cloning your instances using your production environment. This ensures that the instances remain in sync from a data and functionality perspective. We also strongly recommend that you never clone a production instance from a sub-production instance. If a circumstance arises where this is a consideration, contact ServiceNow support for assistance.

Step 4d: Develop a standard process for cloning to support upgrades and other changes

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Slide21

Define the process and requirements for developing on the Now Platform in accordance with your defined architecture and technical requirements

Define a detailed plan describing the process developers should take to develop, maintain, and enhance capabilities on ServiceNow.

Define an end-to-end software development lifecycle (SDLC) specific to ServiceNow (or adapt an SDLC currently in place in your organization to work for ServiceNow).

Define how

demand for new ServiceNow applications and functionality will be managed.Define requirements that specifically address what needs to happen during updates and release management involving the Now Platform.Define how to use application scoping, including when and where to use private scoped apps (referred to as scoped apps, where access to the apps’ data and code is restricted) vs. global scoped apps (with shared resources that any developer can access and modify).Establish private scoped apps as the default for new applications whenever possible. This makes it easier to manage a larger number of apps on the platform without hindering upgrades.Define the requirements for the development teams working on ServiceNow, including: Requirements for developers to make sure that set architecture, instance, integration, and data flow requirements are upheldRequirements to make sure that new development does not negatively impact the ability to upgradeDefine requirements for testing processes, user acceptance testing (UAT), and managing ongoing changes for ServiceNow.Work with your executive sponsor to ensure that appropriate staff and resources are available to oversee development operations adherence.

Your Now Platform can expand both through planned deployment of new capabilities as well as organically, through configuration and

custom development. Provide clear guidance for development to consistently extend the capabilities implemented on ServiceNow.

Step 5a: Define guidance for development

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Practitioner insight:

Coordinate with your ServiceNow

governance group and/or executive sponsor as you define development operations. Technical and/or portfolio governance policies may already define some of the requirements you need to establish. If they do, take the opportunity to review set policies and suggested changes/additions to them as needed.

Slide22

Define how you will manage the portfolio of new applications, integrations, etc. that are developed on the Now Platform

Assign the Now Platform owner and application developer to review all applications, integrations, etc. deployed on the Now Platform every six months (with a focus on new additions). During this review, they should:

Build and update an inventory/portfolio of what is running on the Now Platform (identifying new additions since the last review in the inventory).

Audit the inventory to assess whether custom applications on the platform still provide value, still align with business needs (defined in your ServiceNow

vision and phased program plan), and align to current development operations needs and requirements (e.g., still works with established architecture, will function through any planned changes in architecture, etc.).Identify where apps are not private scoped apps to assess if they need to be.Consider what can be removed from the platform (e.g., because it’s no longer used, not supportable by operations, or not adhering to current requirements).Communicate findings to the developer groups that deployed the applications, etc. (especially if you are recommending that their application be removed or requires updates).

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Step 5a: Define guidance for development

(Continued)

Define clear accountabilities for ownership of development

Define development ownership/accountabilities across ServiceNow support and internal development groups, including:

Assign the ServiceNow platform support team ownership and accountability (especially the ServiceNow platform architect) for defining and updating

development operations, as well as educating relevant groups about these operational needs.Assign the ServiceNow platform owner accountability for managing new releases and updates on the Now Platform, including making sure that all ServiceNow development requirements are followed prior to deployment and coordinating any organizational change management (OCM) needs.Assign accountabilities for adhering to development processes for developers directly involved in developing and implementing new capabilities on the Now Platform (especially ServiceNow application developers on the platform support team and within IT).

Define any needed development accountabilities for external resources (including partners, contractors, consultants, other vendors, etc.).Practitioner insight: Make sure the developers working on ServiceNow attend training for new releases and/or get early access to upcoming versions so they can better understand requirements for developing on the Now Platform.

Slide23

Define and clearly communicate the organizational goals and priorities for ServiceNow deployment so that delegated developers are not pursuing contradictory strategies

Work with the ServiceNow platform support team to define development goals that align with your ServiceNow vision.

Define the technical functionality needed and requirements involved for planned projects so developers can understand what development is already in progress and/or planned for the future.

Define what development requirements should be applied to delegated developers who are developing on the Now Platform.

Define the specific responsibilities/accountabilities that delegated developers need to fulfill or follow to be able to reliably contribute to Now Platform development.ServiceNow application development may not be limited to developers in enterprise IT, especially as your ServiceNow footprint expands across the organization. Individuals across the enterprise have clear knowledge of the discrete problems within their areas that need solving. It’s a good idea to take advantage of this expertise when planning how to manage development on ServiceNow.To do so, you need to plan for how to include delegated developers (users outside of IT and defined ServiceNow teams who can create new applications or functionalities within applications) to enhance ServiceNow, including how you ensure that they adhere to your architecture by following consistent development guidelines.Step 5b: Extend development operations

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Slide24

Define and clearly communicate the organizational goals and priorities for ServiceNow deployment so that delegated developers are not pursuing contradictory strategies (Continued)

Write a document (can be formatted as a policy, announcement email, or even a newsletter) to clearly communicate these goals/priorities and responsibilities to delegated developers.

Capture the defined development goals in a document that can be shared with delegated developers across the organization.

Include the delegated developer responsibilities/accountabilities defined above.

Include a brief description of the development guidelines that delegated developers must follow (e.g., the defined ServiceNow SDLC).Invite delegated developers who read the document to connect with the ServiceNow platform support team to coordinate development.Work with the executive sponsor to spread the word—they can share the documented goals with leaders in other departments who can then share with the delegated developers in their departments.

1. Develop a clear understanding of architectural needs

2. Define your instance and data architecture

3. Define your integration architecture

4. Manage your ServiceNow architecture

5. Plan for expansion and development on the Now Platform

Steps

Practitioner insight:

Consider providing a separate environment for delegated developers to test and safely implement code on ServiceNow. Since they are less likely to strictly follow your development operations and requirements, this can help make sure that their contributions can’t directly disrupt your core environment.

Step 5b: Extend development operations

(Continued)

Slide25

Key performance indicators

Essential KPIs

% of security compliance metrics met for ServiceNow instances % of CMDB performance measures (e.g., throughput of change per week, month, year) delivered according to business expectations % of instances that have recommended sub-prod/prod architecture# of times instance maintenance is performed per month Number of releases behind current upgradeMean time to resolve performance issuesNice-to-have KPIs# certified staff for key ServiceNow roles# of enterprise IT partners identified# of business objective considerations on architecture requirements validated with the architecture and governance teams% custom apps that are scoped apps

# developers working on ServiceNow apps

Stakeholder mapResponsible/accountableNow Platform owner ServiceNow system administratorPlatform support teamExecutive SponsorConsulted/informedEnterprise architectureVP of IT infrastructure/operationsTechnical integration teamConfiguration management process ownerCISO

CIO

Development teams for ServiceNow (outside the platform support team)Plan your architecture, instances, integrations, and data flows

Slide26

Customer Success Best Practices

ServiceNow’s Best Practice Center of Excellence

provides prescriptive, actionable advice to help you maximize the value of your ServiceNow investment.

Get started today.

Visit

Customer Success Center

.

Contact your ServiceNow team

for personalized assistance.

Definitive

guidance on a breadth of topics

Management

Technical

Tactical

Strategic

Critical

processes

Expert

insights

Common

pitfalls and challenges

Created and vetted

by experts

Distilled through a

rigorous process

to enhance your success

Based on

thousands of successful implementations

across the globe

Best practice insights

from customers, partners,

and ServiceNow teams

Proven to help you transform with confidence

Practical

Actionable

Value-

added

Expert-validated

Designed for:

Executive sponsors

Platform

owners

and teams

Service

and process owners