Standard import set tables

Release version: Yokohama

Updated January 30, 2025

7 minutes to read

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Summary of Standard import set tables

ServiceNow provides several default Import Set tables designed to facilitate the integration and transformation of external data into core platform records. These tables serve as standardized interfaces for importing notifications, computers, users, and locations, with built-in transform maps and coalescing logic to efficiently update or create records in ServiceNow.

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Key Features

Notification Table (impnotification): Captures external notifications such as alarms or alerts. Key fields include uuid (used for coalescing), message (mapped to incident short description), category, assignmentgroup, severity, and state. The default transform map creates or updates Incident records, coalescing on the UUID to prevent duplicates.
Computer Table (impcomputer): Represents computers or servers with fields like serialnumber (coalesce key), cpucount, cpuspeed, manufacturer, operatingsystem, and ram. The transform map updates or creates Computer (cmdbcicomputer) or specific server CI records based on the operating system.
User Table (impuser): Standard interface for importing users with fields such as email (coalesce key), firstname, lastname, department, and userid. The transform map sets the username based on userid or constructs it from first and last names.
Location Table (implocation): Used to import location data with key fields including name, street, city, state, zip, and country. These fields are used in coalescing to find or create location records.

Practical Use for ServiceNow Customers

These standard import set tables simplify the ingestion of external data by providing predefined field mappings and coalescing strategies that help maintain data integrity and reduce duplicates. Customers can leverage these tables and their associated transform maps to automate updates to Incidents, CMDB records, user directories, and location information, ensuring synchronized and accurate system data.

Understanding the fields and default mappings allows customers to customize or extend the import processes to match their specific integration needs, such as adjusting field formats or adding additional logic in transform scripts.

What to Expect

Reliable creation and updating of Incident, CMDB, User, and Location records from external data feeds.
Use of unique identifiers like UUID for notifications and serial numbers for computers to prevent duplicate records.
Out-of-the-box handling of common data points with the option to map additional fields as required.
Support for categorizing and assigning incidents and specifying device types based on operating system values.

Several Import Set tables are available by default.

Notification

A standard object for describing an external interface for a notification in the system, such as alarms and alerts from monitoring systems. The default transform map for this object will create or update an incident record. The incoming notifications are coalesced into incidents based on the UUID field.

Table 1. imp_notification
Field	Description	Data type
uuid	The universally unique identification number or string that uniquely identifies this notification. It is marked as the coalescing value in the default transform map for the corresponding Incident and is mapped to the correlation_id field of Incident.	Character (40)
corrective_message	A free form string value that indicates the corrective or followup steps to be taken to address the issue identified in this notification. This field is not mapped by default.	Character (40)
duration	A string value representing the time value duration affecting the issue reported in this notification. Out of box, the duration field is not mapped. The format of the time is up to the calling program and must be mapped accordingly in the default map to be used.	Character (40)
expires_on	A string value representing the datetime value that the issue reported in this notification will expire. Out of box, the expires_on field is not mapped. The format of the time is up to the calling program and must be mapped accordingly in the default map to be used.	Character (40)
message	A string value describing the nature of the issue related to this notification. It should be a concise description and is mapped to the short_description field of the Incident.	Character (80)
comments	A string value containing additional comments related to this notification. The value is mapped to the comments field of the Incident.	Character (4000)
category	A string value categorising the nature of this notification. The value is mapped to the category field of the Incident, and therefore should be one of its valid values. If an existing value does not exist, the default behavior is to create a new category.	Character (40)
assignment_group	A string value of the assignment group for this notification. The value is mapped to the assignment_group field of the Incident, and therefore should be one of its valid values. If an existing value does not exist, the default behavior is to create a new assignment group and set it for the resulting incident.	Character (40)
severity	A string representation of a numeric value that indicates the severity of the issue being reported in this notification. This field is mapped to the severity field on Incident. The out of box numeric values and their meanings are: 1 - High 2 - Medium 3 - Low	Character (40)
state	A string that indicates the state of the issue being reported in this notification. This field is mapped to the incident_state field on Incident. The out of box values are: New Active Resolved Closed	Character (40)
source	A string value to indicate the source of the issue or the configuration item (by unique identifier eg IP address, host name etc) related to the issue in this notification. It s mapped to the cmdb_ci field of Incident.	Character (40)
timestamp	A string value representing the datetime value that marks the beginning of the issue reported in this notification. Out of box, the timestamp field is not mapped. The format of the time is up to the calling program and must be mapped accordingly in the default map to be used.	Character (40)
type	A string value categorizing the type of issue related to this notification. Out of box, this field is not mapped to any field on Incident. Integrations using this Notification message may use this field to identify its source and trigger additional scripts.	Character (40)

Computer

A standard object for describing an external interface for a computer in the system. The default transform map will create/update a Computer (cmdb_ci_computer) or Server (cmdb_ci_server, cmdb_ci_win_server, cmdb_aix_server etc ..) based on the operating_system field value. The incoming computers are coalesced based on the serial_number field. Additionally, the transform script of the map will map to various extensions of the Computer (cmdb_ci_computer) based on the operating_system value being entered.

UNIX Server (cmdb_ci_unix_server)
- AIX
- HP/UX
- Solaris
- AIX
Windows Server (cmdb_ci_win_server)
- Windows 2000 Server
- Windows 2003 Server
- Windows NT 4.0
Server (cmdb_ci_server)
Any operating system that contains the word "Linux".

Table 2. imp_computer
Field	Description	Data type
serial_number	The unique identifier for this computer. It is marked as the coalescing value in the default transform map for the correcponding Computer and is mapped to the serial_number field of Computer (cmdb_ci_computer).	Character (40)
cpu_count	The number of CPUs that this computer has. It is mapped to the cpu_count field of the Computer (cmdb_ci_computer) table.	Character (40)
cpu_speed	The clock speed of the CPU in MHz. This field is mapped to the cpu_speed field of Computer (cmdb_ci_computer)	Character (40)
cpu_type	Free form text describing the type of CPU. Example values are "GenuineIntel", "IBM", or "Pentium 4". This field is mapped to the cpu_type field of Computer (cmdb_ci_computer)	Character (40)
disk_space	A numeric value describing the total disk space available to the computer in GB. This field is mapped to the disk_space field of Computer (cmdb_ci_computer)	Character (40)
manufacturer	A string name for the manufacturer of the computer. This field is mapped to the manufacturer field of Computer (cmdb_ci_computer) which is a reference to Company (core_company)	Character (40)
model_id	A string name for the model of the computer. This field is mapped to the model_id field of Computer (cmdb_ci_computer) which is a reference to Model Name (cmdb_model)	Character (40)
name	A string value representing the name of the Computer, usually a host name or IP/MAC address. It is mapped to the name field of Computer (cmdb_ci_computer)	Character (40)
operating_system	A string value for the main operating system running on the computer. It is mapped to the os field of Computer (cmdb_ci_computer). Out of box values are: AIX GNU/Linux HP/UX Linux Fedora Linux Red Hat Linux SuSE macOS OS 10 (OS/X) macOS OS 8 macOS OS 9 macOS OS/X OS/400 Solaris SunOS Windows Windows 2000 Windows 2000 Advanced Server Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Windows 2000 Professional Windows 2000 Server Windows 2003 Datacenter Windows 2003 Enterprise Windows 2003 Standard Windows 2003 Web Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows ME Windows NT 4.0 Windows XP Windows XP Home Windows XP Professional Windows 2000 Server Windows 2003 Enterprise	Character (40)
ram	A numeric value for the total number of memory installed on this computer in MB. This value is mapped to the ram field of Computer (cmdb_ci_computer)	Character (40)

User

A standard object for describing an external interface for a user in the system. The default transform map script sets the user_name field value to first_name.last_name if the web service's user_id field value is not supplied, otherwise, the user_id value is mapped directly to the user_name field in the User (sys_user) table.

Table 3. imp_user
Field	Description	Data type
email	A string value containing the user's email address. This value is mapped to the email field in User (sys_user) and is set as the coalesce value for the transform.	Character (40)
department	The department the user is in. This field is mapped to the department field in User (sys_user) which is a reference to the Department (cmn_department) table.	Character (40)
first_name	The first name of the user, mapped to the first_name field of the User (sys_user) table.	Character (40)
last_name	The last name of the user, mapped to the last_name field of the User (sys_user) table.	Character (40)
location	The location the user is in, mapped to the location field of the User (sys_user) table which is a reference field to Location (cmn_location)	Character (40)
phone	The phone number of the user, mapped to the phone (Business Phone) field of the User (sys_user) table.	Character (40)
user_id	This is the user identification, usually a login name, that maps to the user_name (User ID) field of the User (sys_user) table.	Character (40)

Location

A standard object for describing an external interface for a location in the system. The web service will create or modify records in the Location (cmn_location) table.

Table 4. imp_location
Field	Description	Data type
name	The name of the location, for example "Headquarters", "Sales office" etc. This field is mapped to the name field of Location (cmn_location) and is part of the coalesce to search for an existing location.	Character (40)
street	The street address of the location, for example "1234 ServiceNow way" etc. This field is mapped to the street field of Location (cmn_location) and is part of the coalesce to search for an existing location.	Character (40)
city	The city of the location, for example "San Diego", "Madrid" etc. This field is mapped to the city field of Location (cmn_location) and is part of the coalesce to search for an existing location.	Character (40)
state	The state of the location, for example "California", "Connecticut" etc. This field is mapped to the city field of Location (cmn_location) and is part of the coalesce to search for an existing location.	Character (40)
zip	The zip code for the location, for example "92130", "10001" etc. This field is mapped to the zip field of Location (cmn_location) and is part of the coalesce to search for an existing location.	Character (40)
country	The country for the location, for example "USA", "United Kingdom" etc. This field is mapped to the country field of Location (cmn_location).	Character (40)