Universal Request integration - Incident Management

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Universal Request integration - Incident Management

    The integration of Incident Management with Universal Request in ServiceNow enables a unified service desk experience by consolidating incident-related services into universal requests. This integration is activated via the Universal Request Integration for the Incident Management plugin (com.snc.incident.universalrequest), allowing users to manage incidents and universal requests together seamlessly.

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    Key Features

    • Incident Creation from Universal Request: Users can create incidents directly from a universal request form, with key fields such as short description, description, caller ID, and opened by, automatically copied. Incident managers can customize which fields are copied.
    • Universal Request Association: The Universal Request field appears on the incident form when linked to a universal request. Incidents can be created with an associated universal request record via record producers or other channels using an activatable business rule.
    • Routing and Transfer: Incidents can be routed back to Universal Request or transferred to other departments, with or without resolution, facilitating proper issue management and assignment.
    • Actions for Requesters: Requesters can perform actions such as resolve, reopen, or close on incidents associated as primary tasks to universal requests, accessible through the Service Portal and AI Platform.
    • Notification Management: Email notifications for incidents that are part of a universal request are suppressed or modified to display the universal request number, reducing redundant or confusing communications.
    • Field Customization and Mapping: Incident managers with admin roles can customize which universal request fields map to incident fields using a configuration form, streamlining data consistency and entry.
    • Access Control: Incidents containing sensitive information can be marked as restricted, limiting access to authorized agents only for enhanced security.

    Key Outcomes

    • Unified Service Desk: Users experience a single, unified interface for managing both incidents and universal requests, improving efficiency and user satisfaction.
    • Automated Data Handling: Automatic copying and mapping of fields between universal requests and incidents reduce manual data entry and errors.
    • Improved Requester Experience: Requesters have clear visibility and control over their universal requests and associated incidents via self-service portals.
    • Streamlined Incident Management: Incident creation, transfer, and resolution processes are integrated with universal requests, enabling more effective issue management across departments.
    • Enhanced Security and Notification Control: Sensitive incidents can be properly restricted, and notifications are tailored to avoid confusion when incidents are part of universal requests.

    Activation and Configuration

    To enable this integration, customers must request the Universal Request: Integration for Incident Management plugin through Now Support Customer Service. This plugin includes demo data and activates any dependent plugins. Activation of the “Create Universal Request for Incident” business rule allows automatic creation of universal request records from incidents created through various channels.

    Incident Management integrates with Universal Request to provide incident-related service as unified services to users. The integration helps users to have a single service desk.

    Install and configure the Universal Request Integration for the Incident Management plugin (com.snc.incident.universal_request). The integration provides the following configurations and functionalities:

    Features of the Incident Management integration with Universal Request

    The integration of Incident Management with Universal Request provides the following features:
    • The Universal Request form has the UI action to create an incident. The following fields are copied by default from the universal request record to the incident record when a new incident is created:
      • universal_request
      • short_description
      • description
      • caller_id
      • opened_by
      An incident manager can customize the fields using the system property sn_inc_uni_req.incident.universal_request.copy_fields.
    • The Universal Request field appears on the Incident form only when an incident is associated with a universal request record.
    • The Routing reason field appears on the incident form when an itil agent routes an incident back to the universal request.
    • On the record producer, if you select the Create Universal Request check box, a new incident created from that record producer automatically creates a universal request record. This universal request record is associated with the incident record.
    • You can activate the Create Universal Request for Incident business rule and create incidents using any channel, such as record producer, virtual agent support, email, and so on. When you do this, a universal request record is automatically created. This universal request record is associated with the incident record. The incident is added as a primary ticket to the universal request record. By default, this business rule works as follows:
      • The rule is inactive. To activate this business rule, navigate to System Defination > Business Rules > Create Universal Request for Incident, and then select Active check box to activate this business rule.
      • The rule is not applicable to child incidents for which the parent incident is associated as a primary ticket to the universal request record.
    • When a universal request record is automatically created based on the incident, Incident record information is copied from the incident record fields to the universal request record fields. An incident manager with admin role can customize and configure the fields using the Create UR Mappings and Create UR Information tabs in the Mapping Configuration form for incidents in Universal Request. For more information, see Mapping configuration.

    Visibility of Incidents to a requester

    The requesters cannot view the incidents that are associated with the Universal Request records. Instead, the requesters can only view the Universal Request record using the following ways:
    • On ServiceNow AI Platform, you can access the universal request records under Self-Service > Universal Requests.
    • On Service Portal, you can access the universal request records under Service Portal > Requests.

    Suppression of email notifications

    If any incident is a part of Universal Request, then the notifications sent to the caller from an Incident are suppressed. In all other incident email notifications, the universal request number is displayed instead of the incident number.

    Requester Actions on Service Portal

    For an Universal Request record that has an incident-related as its primary task, an Actions widget with the requester actions is displayed. The actions can be Resolve, Reopen, or Close depending on the state of the incident.