Universal Request

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Universal Request

    The Universal Request feature in ServiceNow Source-to-Pay Operations (SLO) enables supplier contacts to submit issues that do not fit predefined case types or require involvement from multiple departments. It provides a structured workflow for routing, handling, and resolving these diverse queries effectively.

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    Activation requires installation of the Universal Request for Source-to-Pay Operations plugin (snfscurcommon).

    Key Stakeholders

    • Supplier contacts: Submit Universal Requests through the Supplier Collaboration portal.
    • Routing agents: Tier-1 agents managing Universal Requests and supplier cases. They have both the Universal Request role and the [snslm.agent] role, enabling them to view, update, transfer, close Universal Requests, and create supplier or invoice cases.

    Routing agents are assigned by adding users to the Source Operations Universal Request Group, which contains the necessary roles.

    Universal Request Workflow

    Submission

    Supplier contacts submit requests via the Supplier Collaboration portal. They can mark requests as sensitive by selecting the “Issue contains sensitive or confidential information” checkbox.

    Assignment

    • Sensitive requests: Suppliers select the department on submission, and the request is automatically assigned to the relevant group.
    • Non-sensitive requests: Routing agents review and manually route requests to appropriate assignment groups based on description details.

    Primary Ticket Creation

    • Sensitive requests: A primary ticket of type supplier case is created automatically.
    • Non-sensitive requests: Routing agents must create a supplier case or, if permitted, an invoice case from the Universal Request to initiate resolution.

    Resolution

    • If the routing agent accepts the resolution in the primary ticket, the Universal Request is closed.
    • If rejected, the supplier case is dissociated, and a new primary ticket is created for further resolution.
    • Primary tickets can be transferred between departments to support cross-departmental resolution.
    • For requests requiring multiple departments’ involvement, associated tickets can be created to allow simultaneous work on the resolution.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Streamlines handling of complex supplier queries that don’t fit standard case categories.
    • Enables clear routing based on sensitivity and departmental responsibility, improving resolution efficiency.
    • Supports collaboration across multiple departments through associated tickets.
    • Allows routing agents to manage and escalate issues flexibly by creating supplier or invoice cases.

    The Universal Request feature enables supplier contacts to raise issues that do not fit into predefined case types or involve multiple departments. It provides a structured workflow for routing and resolution of queries.

    You must install the Universal Request for Source-to-Pay Operations plugin [sn_fsc_ur_common] to enable the Universal Request feature in SLO. For more information on installing the plugin, see Install Universal Request for SLO.

    Key Stakeholders

    The Universal Request workflow involves the following stakeholders:
    • Supplier contacts: Supplier contacts submit their queries by raising Universal requests.
    • Routing agents: Routing agents are tier-1 agents who manage both Universal requests and supplier cases. These agents have both the Universal Request role and the [sn_slm.agent] role. Routing agents can perform the following operations:
      • View, update, transfer, and close Universal requests
      • Create supplier cases from Universal requests
    Note:
    You can create Routing agents by adding users to the Source Operations Universal Request Group. This group is a default assignment group that contains Universal request roles and supplier agent roles. For more information on assigning roles, see Assign roles to UR users.

    For more information on roles in Universal requests, see Universal Request roles and groups.

    Universal Request workflow

    1. Submission of a Universal request

      The supplier contact submits a Universal request from the Supplier Collaboration portal. For more information on raising a Universal request, see Create a Universal Request from the Supplier Collaboration Portal.

    2. Assignment of the Universal request
      • For requests that are marked as sensitive, suppliers select the department at the time of request submission. The request is assigned automatically to the corresponding assignment group.
        Note:
        Suppliers can mark a Universal request as sensitive by selecting the Issue contains sensitive or confidential information check box while submitting the request form. For more information, see Create a Universal Request from the Supplier Collaboration Portal.
      • For requests that aren’t marked as sensitive, routing agents review the request and route them to an appropriate assignment group based on the information provided in the description and short description by the supplier.
    3. Primary ticket creation
      • For requests that are marked as sensitive, a primary ticket of the type supplier case is created automatically.
      • For requests that aren’t marked as sensitive, routing agents must create a supplier case for resolution. For more information, see Create supplier case from Universal Request.
        Note:
        Routing agents can also create an invoice case instead of a supplier case from a Universal request if they have the required permissions.
    4. Resolution of the Universal request
      • If the routing agent accepts the resolution provided in the primary ticket, the Universal request is marked as complete and closed.
      • If the resolution is rejected, the supplier case is dissociated from the Universal request. The routing agent then creates a new primary ticket from the Universal request for resolution.

    Primary tickets can also be transferred to other departments when resolving a Universal request requires cross-departmental support or must be reassigned to a different department. For more information on transferring primary tickets, see Transfer a primary ticket.

    When a Universal request needs support from multiple departments, you can create Associated tickets in addition to the primary ticket. Associated tickets enable multiple departments to work on the resolution of the Universal request simultaneously. For more information see, Create associated ticket for primary ticket of UR.