ServiceNow - Usage

To use the ServiceNow plug-in, the plug-in must be loaded and an instance created before you can configure the plug-in integration and use plug-in automation tasks. You define configuration properties in the user interface or in a JSON file.

See the Automation Tasks section for information about automation tasks.

Authentication Type

Choose required authentication type from drop down listed i.e:-

• Basic Authentication : Provide user name and password.
• OAuth Authentication : Provide client_id, client_secret and refresh token (refer oauth authentication heading)
• Bearer Authentication : Provide access token Note: This filtering will only be applicable for velocity version 5.1.6, for below version feature will not work.

OAuth authentation

You must provide the following details during integration of ServiceNow plug-in to set up OAuth 2.0 authentication:

• client_id
• client_secret
• refresh_token

Generating the OAuth credentials in ServiceNow

To obtain the client_id and client_secret from your ServiceNow instance, perform the following steps:

• Log in to the ServiceNow instance.
• On the left-hand navigation pane, search for OAuth, and then select Application Registry.
• Click New, and then select Create an OAuth API endpoint for external clients.
• Fill in the required details, and then click Submit.
• Navigate to the newly created OAuth record, and then click on it to view the client_id and client_secret.

For refreshToken use https://instanceURL/oauth_token.do

• select body x-www-form-urlencoded -> select BulkEdit

`grant_type:password
client_id:'yourclientId'
client_secret:'yourClientSecret'
username:'yourUsername'
password:'yourPassword`

Integration type

The ServiceNow plug-in supports scheduled events integration which are listed in the following table.

Name	Description
snowAllResources	Queries the ServiceNow repository for Incidents, Change request, Problems, ServiceNowWaitChangeTask, ServiceNowWaitRequests

Integration

There are two methods to integrate the plug-in:

• Using the user interface
• Using a JSON file

The tables in the Configuration properties section describe the properties used to define the integration.

To install the plug-in, perform the following steps:

1. In IBM DevOps Velocity, click Settings > Integrations > Available
2. In the Action column for the ServiceNow plug-in, click Install.

Integrating the plug-in by using user interface

To integrate the plug-in using the user interface, perform the following steps:

1. In IBM DevOps Velocity, click Settings > Integrations > Installed.
2. In the Action column for the ServiceNow plug-in, click Add Integration.
3. On the Add Integration dialog, enter values for the fields used to configure the integration and define communication.
4. Click Add.

Integrating the plug-in by using JSON file

The JSON file contains the information for creating a value stream. Within the JSON file is a section for integrations. It is in this section that plugin properties can be defined. Refer to the sample JSON code.

To integrate the plug-in using a JSON, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to value stream page, and then click the necessary value stream.
2. Click wrench icon, and then Select Edit value stream to modify the JSON file in the code or tree view editors.
3. Alternatively, you can also click Download JSON option to download the JSON file, and then select the Import JSON option to upload the revised JSON file.
4. Edit the integration information in the JSON file to add the plug-in configuration properties. Refer to JSON sample code in the Configuration Properties section more details.
5. Click Save.

Automation Tasks

The following automation tasks are available in the ServiceNow plug-in:

• ServiceNow – Create Change Request and Change Task
• ServiceNow – Update Change Request and Change Task
• ServiceNow – Wait Change Request
• ServiceNow – Wait Change Task

ServiceNow – Create Change Request and Change Task

Use this step to create a ServiceNow change request and change task.

Name	Type	Description	Required	Property Name
Short Description	String	A short description of the ServiceNow change request.	Yes	short_description
Request type	String	The type of request type for the ServiceNow application. For example: Standard, Normal, and Emergency.	Yes	requestType
Standard template id for change request	String	Standard template id for servicenow change request.Note: This field is required when change request type is standard.	False	standardTemplateId
Assignment group	String	The assignment group for the ServiceNow application.	False	assignmentGroup
Additional properties	Json	A list of additional properties for the change request in the format for each list item is {“property”:”value”}. For example: {“short_description”:”Created by DevOps Velocity”}. Separate each list item with a comma (,). See the ServiceNow API documentation for additional properties.	No	additionalProperties
Create change task	Json	To create change task , provide necessary properties. Example:[{“short_description”:”createtask”,”change_task_type”:”planning”,”description”:”changetask”,”start_date”:”2024-01-30 08:05:04″,”end_date”:”2024-01-31 08:05:13″,”outputProperty”:”example”}]. Here outputProperty holds sys_id of change task created. To create multiple change task provide comma separated objects. Example: [{},{},{}].To create under existing change request mention “parent”:”CHG0030008″,”change_request”:”CHG0030008″ along with other properties.	No	changeTaskProps
Output property	String	The name of the property that the sys_id of the created change request is saved.	No	outputProperty

ServiceNow – Update Change Request and Change Task

Use this step to update a ServiceNow change request in IBM DevOps Velocity.

Name	type	Description	Required	Property Name
Change Request Number	String	Enter the change request number. Note: Either change request number or property reference must be provided	No	changeRequestNumber
Change request system id from property reference	String	Enter the property reference to system id. Note: Either change request number or property reference must be provided	No	propertySysId
Assignment group for change request	String	Assignment group for ServiceNow Application.	No	assignmentGroup
Change request properties	Json	Enter properties for the change request to be updated in the format for each list item is {“property”:”value”}. For example: {“short_description”:”change request description”,”planned_end_date”:”2024-01-31 07:52:53″,”planned_start_date”:”2024-01-30 07:52:47″}. Separate each list item with a comma (,). See the ServiceNow API documentation for additional properties.	No	changeRequestProperties
Update change task	Json	To update change task , provide necessary properties. Example to update:[{"sys_id":"abcd123","change_task_type":"planning","state":"1","planned_end_date":"2024-05-17 02:36:44","planned_start_date":"2024-05-17 02:36:30"}] Example to create:[{"short_description":"createtask","change_task_type":"planning","description":"changetask","planned_end_date":"2024-05-17 02:36:44","planned_start_date":"2024-05-17 02:36:30","outputProperty":"example"}]. If sys_id not given, it creates change task. To update multiple change task provide comma separated objects.Example: [{},{},{}]	No	updateChangeTaskProps

ServiceNow – Wait Change Request

Use this task to wait ServiceNow change request in DevOps Velocity.

Name	Type	Description	Required	Property Name
Change Request Number	String	Enter the change request number. Note: Either change request number or property reference must be provided	No	changeRequestNumber
Change request system id from property reference.	String	Enter the property reference to system id. Note: Either change request number or property reference must be provided	No	propertySysId
Field	String	The change request field to wait for a match.	Yes	field
Value	String	The value to match with the change request field.	Yes	value

ServiceNow – Wait Change Task

Use this step to create a ServiceNow wait change task.

Name	Type	Description	Required	Property Name
Change task number	String	Enter the change task number. Note: Either change task number or property reference must be provided	No	changeTaskNumber
Change task system id from property reference.	String	Enter the property reference to system id.	No	taskPropSysId
Change Request Number	String	Enter the change request number. Note: Either change request number or property reference must be provided	No	changeRequestNumber
Change request system id from property reference.	String	Enter the property reference to system id. Note: Either change request number or property reference must be provided	No	propertySysId
field	String	Enter the change task field to wait for a match	Yes	field
Value	String	Enter the value to match the change task field	Yes	value

Adding automation tasks to a release

After the plug-in is integrated automated tasks are available to add as a task within a release.

• Verify that the ServiceNow server is connected to IBM DevOps Velocity.
• On the Create Task page, select the automation task from the Type field drop-down list.
• Complete the properties required for the task.
• Click Save.

Custom field mapping

• ServiceNow now supports user-defined fields, to enable mapping of these fields to Velocity fields, a custom field mapping option is introduced within the ServiceNow plug-in. Additionally, ServiceNow allows custom values for any field. To implement the change failure rate metric, it is essential to determine which change requests have a failed status, making value mapping necessary.

For example

[
  {
    "type": "change_request",
    "fieldMapping": {
      "changeType": "u_deployment_category"
    },
    "valueMapping": {
      "resolution": {
        "failed": ["unsuccessful", "rejected"]
      }
    }
  }
]

In the above custom mapping configuration example, we are defining a mapping for the change_request resource in ServiceNow. The custom mapping ensures that specific fields from the velocity system are appropriately mapped to corresponding fields in ServiceNow.

• Resource Type:

The resource type is identified as change_request. This is the type of record in ServiceNow where we want to implement the custom mapping.

• Field Mapping:

The field changeType in the velocity system will be mapped to the field u_deployment_category in ServiceNow. This mapping ensures that when a record is transferred or synced, the changeType value will correctly correspond to the u_deployment_category field in ServiceNow.

• Value Mapping for Resolution:

The resolution field in the velocity system may currently contain values like "unsuccessful" or "rejected." After applying the custom value mapping, these values will be mapped to a standardized value of failed. This ensures that records in ServiceNow will use a consistent value for the resolution status.

Configuration Properties

The following tables describe the properties used to configure the integration. Each table contains the field name when using the user interface and the property name when using a JSON file.

• The General Configuration Properties table describes configuration properties used by all plug-in integrations.
• The ServiceNow Configuration Properties table describes the ServiceNow configuration properties that define the connection and communications with the ServiceNow server. When using the JSON method to integrate the plug-in these properties are coded within the properties configuration property.

Some properties might not be displayed in the user interface, to see all properties enable the Show Hidden Properties field.

General Configuration Properties

Name	Description	Required	Property Name
NA	The version of the plug-in that you want to use. To view available versions, click the Version History tab. If a value is not specified, the latest version is used.	No	image
Integration Name	An assigned name to the value stream.	Yes	name
Logging Level	The level of Log4j messages to display in the log file. Valid values are: all, debug, info, warn, error, fatal, off, and trace.	No	loggingLevel
NA	List of configuration properties used to connect and communicate with ServiceNow server. Enclose the properties within braces.	Yes	properties
	The name of the tenant.	Yes	tenant_id
NA	Unique identifier assigned to the plug-in. The value for the ServiceNow Server plug-in is ucv-ext-servicenow	Yes	type
DevOps Velocity User Access Key	An auto-generated user access key provides credentials for communicating with the Velocity server.	Yes	NA

ServiceNow Configuration Properties

Name	Type	Description	Required	Property Name
URL	String	The URL of the ServiceNow server.	Yes	baseUrl
Page Size	String	The number of issues retrieved per page.	No	pageSize
Resource types and sys_params	String	The type/parameters of events to be synced from ServiceNow. Example:[{"table": "change_request", "sys_params": { "category": "Software" }},...]	Yes	resourceTypesAndSys_params
Custom Field Mapping	Json	Map ServiceNow fields to IBM DevOps Velocity as a JSON Object.	No	fieldMapping
Replica Server Name	String	Any non-empty string value to replica server name would enable read only replica. An Empty string will disable read only replica.	No	replicaServerName
Proxy Server	String	The URL of the proxy server including the port number.	No	proxyServer
Proxy User Name	String	The user name used to authenticate with the proxy server.	No	proxyUsername
Proxy Password	String	The password used to authenticate with the proxy server.	No	proxyPassword
Authentication Type	Dropdown	Select required authentication type.	Yes	authentication
..........When Basic Authentication selected..........
User Name	String	The username used to authenticate with the ServiceNow server.	Yes	username
Password	Secure	The password used to authenticate with the ServiceNow server.	Yes	password
..........When OAuth Authentication selected..........
Client Id	String	The client ID used to authenticate with the ServiceNow server using OAuth2.0.	Yes	client_id
Client Secret	Secure	The client secret used for authentication with the ServiceNow server using OAuth2.0.	Yes	client_secret
Refresh Token	Secure	The refresh token used for authentication with the ServiceNow server using OAuth2.0.	Yes	refresh_token
..........When Bearer Authentication selected..........
Access Token	Secure	The access token used to authenticate with the ServiceNow server. You can use either this property or the Password property for authentication. NOTE: When using OAuth 2.0, the Access Token will be ignored.	Yes	accessToken

JSON code sample

The following sample code can be used as a template to define the integration within the JSON file for a value stream. Copy and paste the template into the JSON file Integration section and make the appropriate changes.

integrations": [
    {
      "type": "ucv-ext-servicenow",
      "name": "Plugin for ServiceNow",
      "tenant_id": "tenant_id",
      "logginglevel": "info",
      "properties": {
        "baseUrl": "url_servicenow_server",
        "authentication": "authentication_type (basicAuth OR oauth OR bearerAuth)",
        "client_id": "client_Id", 
        "client_secret": "client_secret",
        "refresh_token": "refresh_token",
        "resourceTypesAndSys_params": "[   
             { "table": "table_name"}, 
         ]"
        "proxyServer": "proxy_server_url",
        "proxyUsername": "proxy_server_user_name",
        "proxyPassword": "proxy_server_password"
        } 
    }
]

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