Third-party data integration components

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Third-party data integration components

    The third-party data integration components in ServiceNow enable seamless integration with external APIs, specifically tailored for the Agent Workspace in Customer Service Management (CSM). Configuration is required by system administrators to facilitate these integrations using OAuth 2.0 with JWT Bearer grant type for secure server-to-server interactions.

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    Key Features

    • OAuth 2.0 – JWT Bearer Grant Type: Supports API interactions without user intervention by using the third-party application admin as the subject claim for token generation.
    • Credentials and Connections: IntegrationHub utilizes aliases to streamline connection management, allowing for a single credential configuration across multiple environments.
    • Remote Tables: Enables mapping of external data tables to ServiceNow with the capability to cache and display data efficiently, minimizing unnecessary connections and ensuring data relevance.
    • Remote Table Script Definitions: Allows for data retrieval and caching from external sources, storing essential parameters such as cache time-to-live (TTL) and domain information.

    Key Outcomes

    By implementing these components, ServiceNow customers can expect improved data integration with external systems, optimized data retrieval processes, and enhanced user experience in Agent Workspace for CSM. Proper configuration of caching intervals will ensure timely and accurate data presentation, avoiding potential issues with outdated information.

    These components require configuration by the system administrator to use third-party data integration with Agent Workspace for CSM.

    OAuth 2.0 –JWT Bearer grant type

    JWT Bearer is the OAuth 2.0 grant type supported for the third-party data integration feature. It allows server-to-server API interactions between the ServiceNow instance and external API providers without requiring any user intervention.

    The third-party application admin is used as the subject claim of the JWT that the ServiceNow instance creates and passes to the third-party application instance. This is done to get the access token which is used to make the REST API call to fetch records from the third-party application table.

    Credentials and connections

    IntegrationHub takes advantage of aliases to manage connection information and credentials when integrating with external systems. Using an alias eliminates the need to configure multiple credentials and connection information profiles when using multiple environments. IntegrationHub only requires an alias, which then resolves to use the correct credentials and connection information during runtime.

    Remote tables

    The Tables (sys_db_object) table contains a record for each table in the database, including remote tables. For remote table records, the Remote Table flag is checked on the record form.

    The columns in a remote table are mapped to the columns in a third-party application table from which the data is being pulled. The remote table script definition stores this information. Table definitions for remote tables reside on the ServiceNow AI Platform. The table rows, or external records, are stored in memory while a user views the data in a list or form.

    For more information about remote tables, see Create a remote table.

    When creating a remote table for use with IntegrationHub, pay special attention to the caching interval and choose an interval based on your workflow and the volatility of the third-party data. If the caching interval is too short, this can result in unnecessary connections to the third-party application. If the caching interval is too long, this can result in out-of-date third-party data being presented in Agent Workspace for CSM.

    Remote table script definitions

    Use a script definition to retrieve and cache data for a remote table by running the script against an external data source. Remote table script definitions store the following information:
    • Name
    • Active
    • Table
    • Script
    • Cache TTL
    • Domain
    • Domain path

    For more information about script definitions, see Create a script definition for a remote table.