Generating reports using Document designer
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Summary of Generating reports using Document designer
Starting with BCM release 9.0.x, ServiceNow integrates the Document designer with Word application (sngrcdocdesign) into BCM, enabling customers to generate customized, audit-ready Microsoft Word reports for Business Impact Analyses (BIAs), Business Continuity Plans (BCPs), and events. This integration resolves previous issues such as improper page breaks and cut-off information found in PDF reports generated by older templates.
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The Document designer offers a low-code environment to configure Word document templates that align with your company’s branding and reporting requirements. Reports can be saved either within your ServiceNow instance or as cloud documents in Microsoft SharePoint.
Key Features
- Low-code template configuration: Easily customize or create your own Word templates to include specific fields, tables, and related lists from ServiceNow records without extensive technical expertise.
- Metadata and content blocks: Pull metadata from ServiceNow tables and add repeating content blocks for multiple records, enabling detailed and dynamic document generation.
- Integration with Microsoft Word: Use the Document designer add-in within Word to create and upload templates directly to your ServiceNow instance.
- Report generation and storage: Generate BIA, BCP, and event reports from the Business Continuity Workspace and save them locally in ServiceNow or to Microsoft Office 365 cloud storage.
- Predefined and custom templates: Utilize out-of-the-box templates or customize them to meet your organization’s specific guidelines and branding.
Implementation Workflow
To configure and manage report templates effectively, follow this sequence:
- Install the Document designer with Word application and dependent plugins; assign administrative (sngrcdocdesign.admin, snbcm.admin) and manager (snbcm.manager) roles.
- Set up template relationship registries and configure data relationships, content configurations, and scripted variables within templates.
- Install the Document designer add-in in Microsoft Word.
- Upload newly created or predefined Word templates into ServiceNow under Business Continuity > General Administration > Word Templates.
- Generate reports for BIAs, BCPs, and events via the Business Continuity Workspace and save them to the desired location.
Additional Considerations
- The Document designer with Word application is optional and must be manually downloaded from the ServiceNow Store.
- It depends on the Data registry (sndataregistry), Microsoft 365 for ServiceNow Reporting (snesgmsoffintg), and Microsoft Office add-in (snofficeaddin) applications.
- To ensure full functionality, your instance must be on the Xanadu release, patch 8 or later.
- There are some limitations on the number of columns and content blocks that can be configured, which may affect use with highly extensive data.
- Troubleshooting includes verifying the latest Word add-in version, correct instance URL and credentials, and necessary permissions to access the application.
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
- Verify you have the latest version of the add-in installed.
- Check your ServiceNow instance URL and credentials.
- Verify 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.