Generating reports using Document designer
Summarize
Summary of Generating reports using Document designer
Starting with BCM release 9.0.x on the Xanadu platform, the ServiceNow Document designer with Word application (sngrcdocdesign) is integrated with Business Continuity Management (BCM). This integration enables ServiceNow customers to generate customized, professional Microsoft Word reports for Business Impact Analyses (BIAs), Business Continuity Plans (BCPs), and events directly within their ServiceNow instance. It addresses previous issues with PDF reports such as improper page breaks and cut-off content.
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Key Features
- Low-code template configuration: Easily customize or create Word report templates without extensive technical skills, using prebuilt templates aligned with company branding.
- Rich data integration: Pull metadata like fields and related lists from ServiceNow tables and add repeating content blocks for multiple records.
- Flexible report storage: Save generated Word reports either inside ServiceNow or in Microsoft SharePoint cloud storage.
- Seamless Word Add-in integration: Use the Document designer add-in within Microsoft Word to design and upload templates.
Configuring and Using the Document Designer with BCM
To set up and generate reports, follow these practical steps:
- Install required applications and assign roles: Install the Document designer application and dependencies, assigning roles like sngrcdocdesign.admin and snbcm.admin for template management, and snbcm.manager for report generation.
- Set up template relationships and configurations: Define data relationships, content configurations, and scripted variables to control what data appears in the Word reports.
- Install the Microsoft Word Document designer add-in: This enables template editing and uploading from within Word.
- Upload or customize templates: Add newly created or predefined Word templates in the Business Continuity > General Administration > Word Templates module.
- Generate and save reports: Create BIA, BCP, and event reports from records in the Business Continuity Workspace, saving them locally in ServiceNow or in Microsoft Office 365 cloud storage.
Additional Information
- The Document designer application is optional; BCM functionality for PDF report generation remains available.
- The Document designer app must be manually downloaded from the ServiceNow Store and requires dependencies such as Data registry, Microsoft 365 for ServiceNow Reporting, and Microsoft Office add-in.
- Supported on Xanadu release patch 8 or later, with some limitations on columns and content blocks for extensive data sets.
- Troubleshooting tips include verifying add-in version, instance URL, credentials, and user permissions.
Starting with BCM release 9.0.x, the ServiceNow Document designer with Word application (sn_grc_doc_design) is integrated with BCM. It enables you to generate customized reports of the BIAs, BCPs, and events in Microsoft Word format. This integration addresses issues, such as improper page breaks and cut-off information that occasionally occurred in PDFs, generated by the previous template.
Using the ServiceNow Document designer with Word application
The ServiceNow Document designer with Word application offers a low-code solution, enabling you to configure different aspects of Microsoft Word documents without requiring extensive technical expertise. The templates offered by ServiceNow are designed to align with the company's brand guidelines, ensuring consistent and professional documentation.
Use the ServiceNow Document designer with Word application to generate intuitive and audit-ready Microsoft Word reports for business impact analysis (BIAs), business continuity plans (BCPs), and events directly from your ServiceNow instance. Configure the Microsoft Word templates in the application to include specific data from the records, such as tables and columns, into the reports. Options include using predefined templates, customizing them with low-code implementation, or creating your own templates to meet your company's specific guidelines.
You can save these reports either within your ServiceNow instance or as cloud documents in Microsoft SharePoint.
Benefits of using Document designer with BCM
The ServiceNow Document designer with Word application enables you pull metadata, such as fields and related lists, from ServiceNow tables. It also allows you to add content blocks that repeat for each record in a table, for example, 10 blocks for 10 issues. Apply the templates to specific records and create reports in Microsoft Word format.
Workflow for configuring and managing the report templates in BCM
To configure and manage the report templates in the BCM application, complete the following steps in the given sequence.
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| Install the applications and assign the roles |
Install the ServiceNow Document designer with Word (sn_grc_doc_design) application and its dependent plugins. See Install Document designer with Microsoft Word for more information. Administrative roles required to manage the templates are sn_grc_doc_design.admin and sn_bcm.admin. Managers with the sn_bcm.manager roles can generate the reports and save them in your ServiceNow instance or in the cloud (Microsoft Office 365). |
| Set up the template relationship registry. | See Set up the template configurations for more information. |
| Configure data relationships, content configurations, and scripted variables | Configure data relationships in the templates so that they are displayed in the Microsoft Word reports. See Configure the data relationships, Set up the content configurations, and Define the scripted variables for more information. |
| Install the ServiceNow Document designer add-in | Install the add-in into your Microsoft Word document. See Install the Document designer add-in for more information. |
| Upload the newly created Microsoft Word template | Upload the newly created Microsoft Word template in the . Alternately, use a predefined template provided in the BCM instance to generating the reports in Microsoft Word format. |
| Generate the BIA, BCP, and event reports of the records. | Generate the BIA, BCP, and event reports of the records in the Business Continuity Workspace and save them in your ServiceNow instance or in the cloud. See Generate reports for BIAs, BCPs, and events for more information. |
Downloading the Document designer as an optional application
The ServiceNow Document designer with Word application is optional. You can use the existing BCM functionality of generating the PDFs of BIAs, BCPs, and exercises or you can use the ServiceNow Document designer with Word application to generate Microsoft Word documents. You must manually download and install it from the ServiceNow Store.
- Data registry (sn_data_registry), 19.1.0
- Microsoft 365 for ServiceNow Reporting (sn_esg_msoff_intg), 20.0.1
- Microsoft Office add-in (sn_office_addin)
Recommended release version for using the Document designer
A few limitations on the number of columns and content blocks that can be configured may affect the usability with extensive data requirements. To use the ServiceNow Document designer with Word application, you must be on Xanadu release, patch 8 or later.
Troubleshooting information related to the Document designer
- Ensure you have the latest version of the add-in installed.
- Check your ServiceNow instance URL and credentials.
- Ensure you have the necessary permissions to access the Document designer application.
By following these steps, you can effectively use the ServiceNow Document designer with the Word Add-in to create and manage documents in your ServiceNow instance.