Use Case: How to Sync Cases and Incidents in ServiceNow

Any new incident created from a ServiceNow case will create a synced incident with fields updating bidirectionally in real-time.

In this article:

• Step 1: Create a service account
• Step 2: Connect your case and incident tables in Unito
• Step 3: Set a flow direction for creating new incidents or cases
• Step 4: Add rules to specify specific conditions for record syncing
• Step 5: Select fields to keep in sync between incidents and cases
• Step 6: Launch your ServiceNow to ServiceNow integration
• Sync historical incidents or cases

Why Sync ServiceNow Incidents from Cases?

• Enhanced Visibility: Automatically bring case-related incidents into a specific ServiceNow table or even other tools including Jira, Azure DevOps, or project management platforms.
• Improved Collaboration: Keep all stakeholders or relevant colleagues informed of case status from a single source or table.
• Automated Workflow: Avoid manual updates, copy pasting incident details, and help each team member coordinate work with access to the latest information from multiple tables.

User story - syncing cases and incidents

"I have a requirement where if an Incident is created from a case, I need to keep various fields synced when either the case or the incident is updated.  For example when a case changes to a state of "open", the related incident needs to change to a state of "Work in progress"."

Step 1: Create a service account

Create a service account for the integration with the same permissions that you have. It needs to be able to create and edit ServiceNow records in both tables (in this case cases and incidents). Be sure to reset the service account's password before logging in to Unito.

Here's ServiceNow's documentation on how to create a new service account. 

Step 2: Connect your case and incident tables in Unito

1. Create a Unito account for the new ServiceNow service account. 
2. From the Unito interface, create a ServiceNow flow to sync your incident and case tables. 
   1. Select your incident and case tables. Note: even though this flow will sync incidents and cases, all ServiceNow work items are considered records in Unito.

Step 3: Set a flow direction for creating new incidents or cases

1. Select a directional arrow to indicate which table will automatically generate new ServiceNow records (incidents or cases) based on manual activity in the other.
   1. In our demo example, records created in the Case table will automatically create records in the Incident table, but not the other way around. Incidents cases will still be kept updated bidirectionally (explained in step 5 below).

Step 4: Add rules to specify specific conditions for record syncing

1. Add rules to your flow to sync only the cases you need to sync to your incidents table (or vice versa). 
   1. Our recommendation is to filter based on choice fields (single select) in ServiceNow.
   2. In the example below, our demo will only sync ServiceNow cases to our Incident table if the case is in the Issue category. Obviously every use case will be different, so apply as many rules as you need to in order to specify exactly which cases to sync with incidents.
2. Set additional actions for your newly created incidents (optional)
   1. Unito enables you to apply specific fields, states, or other conditions to your synced records. In the example below, we could choose to set a default category for the new ServiceNow incidents.  
       

Step 5: Select fields to keep in sync between incidents and cases

1. Select +Add Mapping to create a new pair of fields to sync between your incidents and cases.
   1. You can do this as many times as needed to include the fields necessary for your use case.
   2. Every pair of fields can be kept in its own directional sync: 1-way or 2-way to determine how manual changes affect the synced record(s).
2. The gear (or cog) icon indicates additional options for configurations. For state or choice fields, you can link values between your fields. Here's how to configure fields in Unito. 
   1. In the example below, our demo flow has linked the Work in Progress state for incidents to the Open state for cases. When a case changes from Open to Resolved, the synced incident will change from Work in Progress to Resolved.

Step 6: Launch your ServiceNow to ServiceNow integration

Now you can click launch in the flow builder dashboard. When you see this prompt, you can choose between automatically syncing records as they are created manually, or only syncing when you click on Sync Now in Unito.

Sync historical incidents or cases

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 cases or incidents created after launching the flow initially.