Overview
This page is for teams interested in joining the platform and in need of a quick primer on the terminology used in onboarding discussions. It is intended to provide supplementary knowledge to the primer information found on Prospective Client and Partner Information.
Service Types
Tickets
Customers interact with ServiceNow by submitting tickets. A ticket can be submitted directly but the customer via the Web portal or an email. Customers can view their active and closed tickets by selecting "Tickets" from the "My Stuff" drop-down in the top nav ribbon on the portal.
Cases
ServiceNow defines a case as "a record that a customer service agent uses to identify and resolve a question or an issue for an external customer. This can include phone calls or emails, knowledge base research, conversations with subject matter experts, and dispatch requests to field service agents, as well as other activities." A case is a specific type of ticket. Other types of tickets include incidents and problems.
Request Item (RITM)
A request item (sometimes to referred to as a "catalog" item) is a combination of a form and a workflow. The form is presented to customers to collect information, and the flow runs in the background, assigning approvals and tasks. Customers are kept up-to-date on the status of their RITMs through the display of "Phases" on the customer portal.
Ordering services: case vs. request item
A case is the best option when there's a need for back and forth between the customer and the agent. Variables can be used for specific types of cases to extend the fields captured on the standard case form.
Request items are ideal for any process that is automated and that involves multiples groups and/or workflows
Order Guide
An order guide is a combination of catalog items that follow rule conditions. Information the customer enters within the order guide can be passed as cascading variables to the ordered items, allowing common information to be reused across multiple item
Agent Groupings in the System
Assignment Groups
Groups of agents in the system are called Assignment Groups. Cases and other records are assigned to these groups for review and completion, and can easily be transferred between Assignment Groups.
Limitations: Assignment Group names cannot have spaces, and each organization may have a designated prefix. For example, ITS groups have the format ITS-GroupName. An agent can be a member of many assignment groups. It's a good idea to try to minimize the number of prefixes per Organization in the system. As an example, within the Organization of Resource Management & Planning (RMP), the group prefixes include TPS- (Transportation Parking Services) and EHS- (Env. Health & Safety). Each of these prefixes can represent a large number of assignment groups.
Organization
Assignment Groups each fall under an Organization, which is the top-level grouping of teams within the system. Organizations have their own email header and signature for the standardized email notifications sent by the system. Current Organizations in the system include ITS, RMP (Containing TPS- assignment groups).
Limitations: The addition of new organizations must be approved by ServiceNow program management. In order to simplify the agent experience, it's very important to be prudent about adding distinct organizations in the system.
Categorization
Services and Service Offerings
Much of our system is designed around Services and Service Offerings. A Service is as it sounds – a service offered to the organization's clients or partners. Service Offerings are the specific "flavor" of the service which are delivered to the intended customer. There can be multiple offerings under a single service. For example:
Service: Email
Service Offering: Gmail
Service Offering: Outlook 365 Email
Limitations: Service Offerings must have a parent Service, and names cannot be duplicated in the entire system.
Categories
Underneath Service Offerings, groups have the option of having Categories created in order to categorize their cases for organization or reporting purposes. A category can be reused across multiple Service Offerings.
Bringing it All Together
Here is a screenshot of the Case form with all of these fields identified:
If you still have questions or need additional assistance, please use the 'Contact ServiceNow Team' form.