---
sourceDocument: Australia IT Service Management
sourceDocumentLink: https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/r/it-service-management

 Release :

    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia IT Service Management

ft:clusterId :

    - itsm

bundleId :

    - itsm

workflow :

    - Technology


---

# Terminology in Service Operations Workspace for ITSM

# Terminology in Service Operations Workspace for ITSM {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated March 12, 2026  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 1 minute to read  
Use this reference to understand the key terms and roles in Service Operations Workspace which includes agent types, request, structures and configuration concepts.
{#terminology-used-in-sow-for-itsm__table_msf_hgk_pdc__entry__2}

| SOW terms | Description |
|-|-|
| Agent | A person within your company's ecosystem (internal or external) who can view, work, and respond to your end-user's tickets. |
| Requester | An end-user (external or internal) who raises incidents or service requests in the IT Support Portal. |
| Configurable workspace | Workspace built using UI Builder components. |
| Tier 1 agent | An agent who belongs to a service desk group and handles first-level support requests such as incidents and catalog tasks from the Service Operations Workspace landing page. |
| Tier 2 agent | An agent who does not belong to a service desk group and handles complex or escalated work items such as problems, change requests, and incidents. |
| Universal request | A parent record that consolidates related primary tickets such as incidents and service requests --- under a single request, giving agents a complete view of an end-user issue. |
| Primary ticket | An individual ticket either an incident or catalog task that is linked to an universal request as a child record. |
| Service desk group | An assignment group designated as a service desk, which determines whether agents in that group are routed to the Tier 1 landing page experience. |
| SOW admin center | A centralized administration interface for configuring Service Operations Workspace settings, migration tools, and workspace components. |
[Table 1. SOW terms and descriptions]

{#terminology-used-in-sow-for-itsm__table_msf_hgk_pdc}
**Related reference**   

* [Additional roles for SOW admin](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/8cfQd3uFBZNGqjwA3FTYgw "You can add various user roles to Service Operations Workspace (SOW) Admin role to perform SOW configurations.")
* [Version compatibility between Service Operations Workspace for ITSM and Service Operations Workspace ITOM](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/VWfetkO2IrkQj4iUczPyqg "Look for the version compatibility between Service Operations Workspace for ITSM and Service Operations Workspace for ITOM applications.")
* [Service Operations Workspace for ITSM data model](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/eKtQEMOZLGDs0XjXZgQ_GQ "Learn about Service Operations Workspace (SOW) for ITSM by viewing the data model relationship diagram. This diagram shows the relationships between the tables within the application and provide an overall picture of how SOW operates.")
* [Components installed with Service Operations Workspace ITSM Applications](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/9OURE2wK9eFDAF_QvCGlqw "Several types of components are installed with the Service Operations Workspace ITSM Applications application (sn-sow-itsm-cont) installation, including user role, plugins, and ServiceNow Store applications.")