Service provider connector

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Service provider connector

    The Service provider connector is a reference design application in ServiceNow that enables service providers (vendors, suppliers, partners) to create standardized integrations for their customers. It accelerates customer on-boarding and streamlines integration with the provider’s systems, eliminating the need for costly custom integrations. This connector enhances productivity, visibility, and partner program benefits within the ServiceNow ecosystem.

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    Key Features

    • User Interface: Includes essential UI components such as pre-defined reports and dashboards for visibility, descriptive menu items for easy access, and role-based access control with user and admin roles.
    • On-boarding: Designed for rapid customer on-boarding through playbooks, guided setups, or catalog items, allowing customers to go live without requiring professional services.
    • Configuration: Built-in configurable data points to accommodate typical customer process needs, minimizing the need for professional services.
    • Documentation and Support: Provides thorough documentation and easy access to support or contact information for issue resolution and inquiries.
    • Tasks and Workflows: Predefined task integrations (incidents, cases, changes, problems) created with Workflow Studio and Integration Hub to ensure high resiliency and performance.
    • CMDB Synchronization: Synchronizes core configuration item (CI) data between customer and provider instances to support ITIL processes.
    • Catalog Integration: Includes provider catalog items that customers can request, with eBonded workflows keeping requests synchronized and updated across instances.
    • Customer Processes: Supports synchronization of customer request processes before forwarding to the provider, including approval workflows that interact between instances.
    • Integration Architecture: Uses Workflow Studio and Integration Hub for building resilient, high-performance integrations.

    Service Connector Components

    The application can leverage various components depending on the integration goal:

    • Instance Data Replication (IDR): Suitable for replicating data across instances, useful for process integration though may be rigid for complex logic.
    • IntegrationHub: Ideal for process integration that requires conditional or complex logic within workflows.
    • Global Work Queue (Virtual): Enables task federation without external data storage, allowing agents to view open work across multiple instances.
    • Remote Tables: Provides read-only access to external or third-party data without storing it locally, supporting data grouping, sorting, and filtering.
    • Flow Designer: Allows process automation using a no-code environment for approvals, tasks, notifications, and record operations.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    By adopting the Service provider connector, customers benefit from faster on-boarding, reduced integration costs, and seamless synchronization of workflows and data with their providers. This leads to improved operational efficiency, better visibility into integrated processes, and streamlined collaboration between customer and provider instances.

    The service provider connector application is a reference design for creating a ServiceNow Store application for your customers to use to integrate with your systems. Service provider applications help you speed on-boarding and create standardized integrations.

    Service Connector Apps

    Benefits of service connectors

    When service providers (vendors, suppliers, partners) publish connectors, customer on-boarding is faster, which means faster billing. Integrated instances increase productivity, greater visibility in the ServiceNow ecosystem, and partner program benefits. Specific benefits are:

    • Eliminates custom integrations, including the cost of services required to deliver and maintain them.
    • Services are provider-defined within their ServiceNow instances and remove the need for the complexity and cost of custom integrations.
    • Workflows and catalog requests can be synchronized, with the customer’s processes and approvals preceding the provider’s processes, so customers can follow their own processes.
    • Any data created or modified (e.g. CIs) for the customer on the provider’s instance can be synchronized back into the customer’s instance for their visibility and use in processes.
    Service connector customer instances

    Key features

    Feature Description
    User Interface

    A service connector should include the following UI components at a minimum:

    • Reports/Dashboards – Reports and dashboards pre-defined by persona help with visibility.
    • Menu and modules – The customer should be able to find the application via descriptive Menu Provider XYZ Services.
    • Roles – Every connector requires user and admin roles to ensure access can be controlled by the customer. For example, “x_snc_xyz_user” or “x_snc_xyz_admin”.
    • On-boarding – Rapid on-boarding is essential to a good customer experience and should be included via playbook, guided setup, or catalog item in such a way that no professional services are required for the customer to go live. (Professional services are available, but on-boarding can be achieved without it).
    • Configuration – Data points should be built into processes to account for most of the normal process configuration a customer needs to achieve. This eliminates professional services as much as possible.
    • Documentation – Thorough documentation increases customer satisfaction and ease of use.
    • Support integration or contact info – The customer needs an easy way to stay in contact with the service provider for any issues, questions, or requests.
    Tasks Use the application for tasks, such as incidents, case, changes, problems, and so on, should be predefined in the connector. These integrations are built using Workflow Studio and Integration Hub to ensure the highest level of resiliency and performance.
    CMDB Core data synchronize such as the CIs required for proper ITIL processes should be kept in sync between provider and customer instances.
    Workflows All workflows should be designed in Workflow Studio to ensure resiliency and performance.
    Catalogs The provider’s catalog that the customer requests from should be included in the application as a record-producing catalog. The request generated by the item in the customer’s instance should be eBonded with the provider’s instances. The provider’s workflows keep the request updated and synchronize back to the customer’s instance.
    Customer Processes Any mechanisms for syncing requests with the provider’s instance should allow for customer processes to interact with the requests before they are sent to the provider’s instance. During provider processing, approvals can be sent to the customer’s instance as needed.
    Integration Integrations should be built using Workflow Studio and Integration Hub to ensure the highest level of resiliency and performance.

    Possible components you can include in a Service Connector

    Component Description
    Instance data replication (IDR) When replication is the goal:
    • Can be used for process integration, but can be too rigid depending on the complexity integration logic based on state transition
    • To learn more, see Instance Data Replication
    IntegrationHub When process integration is the goal:
    • Easier to inject in the middle of a process, as part of complex or conditional step in the middle of a flow
    • To learn more, see IntegrationHub
    Global Work Queue (Virtual) When task federation is the goal, and storing data externally is not acceptable:
    • Used where agents are working across multiple ServiceNow instances and need to see all open work assigned to them
    • Rows returned should be limited to less than 1000
    • To learn more, see Global work queue
    Remote Tables When external data usage without storage is the goal:
    • Used to connect an instance to third-party sources, or to another instance, to retrieve external data and optionally cache it in the memory. The data is treated as a table in the instance for read-only purposes such as group, sort, aggregate, and filter.
    • To learn more, see Retrieving external data using remote tables and scripts
    Flow Designer When process design is the goal
    • Used for automating processes in a single design environment. Process owners can use natural language to automate approvals, tasks, notifications, and record operations without coding.
    • To learn more, see Flow Designer

    Learn more about the Service Connector proof of concept on the ServiceNow Knowledge site.