Additional information for onboarding DevOps tools and apps using the Service catalog

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Additional information for onboarding DevOps tools and apps using the Service catalog

    This guide explains how ServiceNow customers can use the Service Catalog as a self-service method to onboard DevOps tools and applications efficiently. It focuses on the Classic Environment interface and details activating catalog items, submitting onboarding requests, and managing approvals. It also covers onboarding at scale through APIs and importing historical DevOps data to ensure seamless integration and data continuity.

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    Activating and Using Onboarding Catalog Items

    • DevOps Tool and App Onboarding catalog items are initially inactive; activate them via Service Catalog > Catalog Definitions > Maintain Items by setting their Active state to True.
    • To make these items accessible in the Service Portal, assign them to a DevOps category. If the DevOps category does not exist, create it directly from the catalog item record.
    • For visibility in the Employee Service Center, add a new topic under "IT > IT for IT" with taxonomy set to Employee. If the Assigned Topics related list is missing, it can be added through form configuration.
    • Use the Service Catalog to submit onboarding requests by filling out the onboarding form for each tool or app. You may import DevOps data during app creation for faster onboarding.
    • An automated workflow processes approval requests. On approval, a success message is shown; on rejection, error logs are generated to help diagnose issues before resubmission.

    Approvals and Fulfillment

    • Activate the Request for onboarding approval flow in Flow Designer to manage automated approvals by default.
    • Manual approval can be configured by modifying the approval rule set within the flow, allowing specific users to approve onboarding requests.
    • Fulfillment processes for catalog items can be customized to suit organizational approval and provisioning workflows.
    • Roles for approval can be tailored within Flow Designer to align with company governance requirements.

    Onboarding at Scale Using APIs

    • Bulk onboarding of multiple DevOps tools or apps is supported through onboarding APIs, enabling submission of multiple tools/apps in a single request.
    • Example JSON structures demonstrate how to specify multiple tools with credentials for consolidated onboarding.
    • Use the POST /devops/onboarding/app API to create asynchronous onboarding events for apps.
    • Use the POST /devops/onboarding/tool API to create asynchronous onboarding events for tools.

    Importing Historical DevOps Data

    • When onboarding new apps, the Service Catalog supports importing historical DevOps data mapped to associated plans, repositories, and pipelines.
    • Enable polling to schedule regular data imports, ensuring ongoing synchronization of historical and operational data for comprehensive DevOps visibility.

    By following these steps, ServiceNow customers can streamline the onboarding process of DevOps tools and applications, maintain data integrity, and scale onboarding efforts efficiently within their organization.

    Use the onboarding catalog items as a self-service approach to onboard your DevOps tools and apps.

    Onboarding tools and apps

    Note:
    This content pertains to the Classic Environment, which refers to working in lists of records and on record forms directly, not in the Configurable Workspace interface. You can work in the Classic Environment with Next Experience active, or with it inactive, which is referred to as Core UI, (formerly known as UI16).

    Use the ServiceNow Service Catalog to request the onboarding of tools and apps. Fill out the onboarding form details for a tool or an app and submit the request. You can also import the DevOps data for the app that you are creating for swifter and easier onboarding.

    Prior to the request creation, an automated workflow approves or rejects the request.
    • When the workflow is approved, a success message displays.
    • When rejected, an inbound event is created capturing error logs. By ensuring the log is error free, you can create a request again.
    You can onboard DevOps tools and apps using self-service catalog items.
    • Navigate to All > Service Catalog > Catalog Definitions > Maintain Items > DevOps App Onboarding, and set the Active state to True to activate the DevOps App Onboarding maintain item. By default the catalog items (App Onboarding) is turned off.
    • Navigate to All > Service Catalog > Catalog Definitions > Maintain Items > DevOps Tool Onboarding, and set the Active state to True to activate the DevOps Tool Onboarding maintain item. By default the catalog items (Tool Onboarding) is turned off.
    • To add the DevOps catalog items in the Service Catalog categories in Service Portal, set the category of these items to DevOps and add the Service Catalog catalog. If the DevOps category is not available, you must create a new category called DevOps from the catalog item record itself and assign the DevOps Onboarding catalog to it.
    • To add the DevOps catalog items in Employee Service Center, add a new topic in the Assigned Topics related list with taxonomy as Employee in the IT > IT for IT section. The Assigned Topics related list is not available in the Default view of the Catalog Item form. To add it, select Additional icons > Configure > Related Lists and move the Connected Content → Catalog item field to the selected section.
    • Navigate to All > Flow Designer > Flows, and activate the Request for onboarding approval flow, so that the tool or app onboarding requests are approved by default. If you want to request manual approval for onboarding catalog items (i.e. from a user other than the DevOps system user), you can update the rule set in the Ask For Approval action of the flow. You can configure manual request approval for such items by configuring the fulfillment process for the catalog item. For more information, see Service Catalog request fulfillment.
    • Customize roles for approvals of the request for onboarding approval flow from Flow Designer.

    Onboarding at scale

    You can also use the onboarding APIs to onboard DevOps tools & apps in bulk instead of onboarding one tool or app per request. In the request parameters for tools or apps, you can specify multiple values to onboard them in one go. For example:
    {
        "tools":[
        {
            "name": "jira_revamp",
            "type": "Jira",
            "url": "http://jira1.sndevops.xyz",
            "username": "admin",
            "password": "DevOps1!",
            "useMidServer": false
        },
        {
            "name" : "azure_revamp",
            "type" : "Azure DevOps",
            "url"  : "https://dev.azure.com/ADOLightweight/Testing%20ADO%20On%20empmolugu",
            "username" : "devops.integration.user",
            "password" : "a5xvoea2osy3ld43p2biojcu6eog5y5q3xicqbbgxwuphjbbcu6a",
            "useMidServer" : false
        },
        {
            "name" : "jenkins_revamp",
            "type" : "Jenkins",
            "url"  : "http://jenkins5.sndevops.xyz/",
            "username" : "admin",
            "password" : "DevOps1!",
            "useMidServer" : false
        },
        {
            "name" : "github_revamp",
            "type" : "GitHub",
            "url"  : "https://api.github.com",
            "username": "admin",
            "password": "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",
            "useMidServer" : false
        },
        {
            "name" : "bitbucket_revamp",
            "type" : "Bitbucket",
            "url"  : "",
            "username" : "admin",
            "password" : "DevOps1!",
            "useMidServer" : false
        },
        {
            "name": "gitlab_revamp",
            "type": "GitLab",
            "url": "http://gitlab2.sndevops.xyz",
            "username": "admin",
            "password": "mYdAJQCLi6Qft4Nk3XvS",
            "useMidServer": false
        }],
        "credentials" : {
            "name" : "devops.integration.user",
            "password" : "devops"
        }
    }
    • Onboard DevOps apps at scale by using the DevOps app onboarding API. The POST/devops/onboarding/app request creates an onboarding app event that is asynchronously processed by the DevOps service. For more information, see POST/devops/onboarding/app.
    • Onboard DevOps tools at scale by using the DevOps tool onboarding API. The POST/devops/onboarding/tool request creates an onboarding tool event that is asynchronously processed by the DevOps service. For more information, see POST/devops/onboarding/tool.