An Overview of Unito's ServiceNow Integration

Unito syncs ServiceNow records, including incidents, cases, problems etc., between ServiceNow and 50+ other apps and tools.

What does this article cover?

• What does Unito sync from ServiceNow?
• Which fields can Unito sync?
• Necessary permissions in ServiceNow
• How to sync work notes or comments in ServiceNow
• How do I connect ServiceNow to Unito?
• Sync historical records
• Limitations and other considerations
• Watch a demo of Unito's integration between ServiceNow and Jira
• Additional ServiceNow resources

Unito sync records in ServiceNow tables to and from your other tools, as well as between ServiceNow tables (to sync cases and incidents for example). 

You can find instructions on implementing Unito for ServiceNow in our Knowledge Base.

What does Unito sync from ServiceNow?

Unito syncs ServiceNow records — which can be change requests, incidents, and more — from your ServiceNow instance to your other tools. You can also sync work items from other tools to ServiceNow as new records automatically.

Here's an example of a field mapping table in a flow connecting ServiceNow and Jira Cloud:

Attachments

Unito can copy attachments to and from ServiceNow items, meaning the whole file will be available in any synced work item as long as it's mapped to an attachment field in your other tool.

You can also stream attachments to the description footer of the other tool, adding a clickable link for anyone in the other tool to view it without logging in to ServiceNow.

Why sync ServiceNow records with Unito?

• Real-time 2-way sync between records and other items. This keeps teams on either end updated with the latest and most accurate information.
• Customization and flexibility. Unito's low-code integration adapts to your ServiceNow instance by supporting custom fields and a range of  ServiceNow field types which can be applied to rules or linked to fields in other tools. 

Necessary permissions in ServiceNow

Users require full access to read, write, create, and delete permissions on the specific tables you want Unito to sync in ServiceNow. 

You'll also need at least read access to the sys_journal_field table to sync work notes and public comments.

Who typically holds these permissions?

• System Administrators ('admin' role): Admins have wide-ranging control over ServiceNow instances, including managing tables and their permissions.
• Users with Tailored Roles: ServiceNow allows role creation and customization. It's possible to specifically grant the necessary 'read, write, create, delete' permissions to a role for tables targeted by Unito syncs.

How to verify and manage permissions

This process might require the assistance of a ServiceNow administrator:

1. Table Access Control Lists (ACLs): Each table in ServiceNow has ACLs specifying the actions (read, write, etc.) allowed for different roles.
2. Roles: Check roles assigned to the user intending to use Unito. Ensure the role has the needed ACLs on relevant tables.

Syncing with a service account

You can absolutely sync records with a shared service account (also known as a bot or proxy user) as long as the service account has the same permissions listed above. 

How to sync work notes or public comments in ServiceNow

In order to sync comments or work notes to other tools, you'll need someone with the security_admin role to create a u_journal_entry_user role for your table(s).

• Go to System Definition -> Tables
• Find the Journal Entry table
• Then, click Controls tab
• Check Create access controls as pictured below:

That user must then assign a u_journal_entry_user role to each user who will build flows with Unito. 

• Go to Users and Groups -> Users
• Find the name of the user you want to assign this role.
• Scroll down to the Roles tab and click Edit.
• Then, find u_journal_entry_user in the collection, add it to the user's roles list and hit save.

Comments and work notes

Unito can sync private work notes as well as comments to and from ServiceNow records:

How do you sync ServiceNow records with Unito?

To connect ServiceNow and/or another tool through Unito Sync Platform, users create flows. Flows represent the connection between ServiceNow and other tools comprised of four steps:

• Connect ServiceNow and/or another tool

• Choose a flow direction

• Set up rules to filter items from syncing

• Link fields between tools

How are actions, triggers, or rules configured in Unito?

You can create a rule in Unito through one of two ways:

• With a choice field —like State, Urgency, and Category — filtering out certain options as necessary.
• With any other field, filtering out records when that field is filled or empty. For example, you could filter out any records that don't have due dates filled in.

In this example, only records (incidents) from the chosen assignment groups will sync to Jira. If no default fields are chosen, those newly created issues will be set as tasks with the default label Discovery. Here's more information about Unito's default rules.

How do I connect ServiceNow to Unito?

To connect ServiceNow to Unito, you'll only need three things:

1. Your ServiceNow username.
2. Your ServiceNow password.
3. Your ServiceNow Domain URL.  If you're not sure how to get this, ask your administrator.

Here's more information about managing your ServiceNow account details.

Connecting to Unito with a new ServiceNow account

Some ServiceNow instances require newly created users to change their password immediately upon login. If you're using a new ServiceNow account to connect Unito, this can disrupt the authentication process  by the forced password change.

Solution:

There are two ways to resolve this issue:

Option 1: Preemptive Password Change

1. Log in to ServiceNow as the newly created user.
2. Follow the prompts to change the password.
3. Once the password is changed, proceed with setting up the connection to Unito with the new credentials.

Option 2: Disable password reset flag

1. Log in to your ServiceNow instance as an administrator.
2. Navigate to the User Administration > Users section.
3. Locate the user account that you'll be using for the Unito integration.
4. On the user record, set Password needs reset to false.
5. Save the changes.

Sync historical records

In your rules, you can click on the bin icon beside the creation date rule to sync all historical records. If you keep this rule in place, Unito will only sync ServiceNow records created after launching the flow initially.

Limitations and other considerations

• User fields: If user-type fields in your ServiceNow tables don't have public or visible display names, you won't be able to sync display names. Instead, you'll get a long string of alphanumeric characters.
• ServiceNow API limitations
  • Required fields: Unito flows might not sync fields marked as required. This could lead to ServiceNow users needing to manually fill in missing required fields on newly created work items.
  • Rich text:  This integration can't sync rich text (like bold and italics). Avoid using rich text in the work items you're syncing with Unito, or you'll see rich text tags (like <b> Bold title </b>) in other tools.

Watch a demo of Unito's integration between ServiceNow and Jira

Browse additional ServiceNow resources

• Read an overview on how Unito stacks up against ServiceNow Integration Hub.
• Explore an overview of ITSM in ServiceNow.
• Follow our guide to connect ServiceNow AzureDevOps instances with 2-way sync,
• Salesforce or ServiceNow? Why not use both?
• How to run a ServiceNow export to Microsoft Excel.
• Here's a guide on how to optimize incident management and IT operations between ServiceNow and Azure DevOps.