Domain separation and On-Call Scheduling

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Domain separation and On-Call Scheduling

    Domain separation is supported in the On-Call Scheduling application, enabling ServiceNow customers to segment data, processes, and administrative tasks into distinct logical groupings called domains. This separation controls user access and visibility, ensuring that support teams can efficiently manage on-call shifts within their respective domains. The application maintains full functionality with domain separation enabled, allowing for consistent creation and management of on-call shifts.

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    Key Features

    • Domain-aware Application Properties: On-Call Scheduling properties adapt to domain contexts as required.
    • Domain-based Record Creation: When using the Create New Schedule wizard, schedules and all related records are automatically assigned to the appropriate domain, enforced via domain fields and the domainmaster attribute.
    • Domain-separated Tables: Core tables such as Shift, Rotation Escalation, On-Call Group Preferences, and various escalation-related tables are domain-segregated to maintain data isolation.
    • Domainmaster Attribute Usage: Certain tables like Roster and Rota Member derive their domain from parent records to ensure consistent domain assignment throughout related records.
    • Support Level: Standard support includes all aspects of Basic support with additional domain-aware capabilities tailored to multi-tenant service provider environments.

    Practical Use and Outcomes

    • Administrators can configure domain-specific business logic and data parameters, enabling tailored processes per tenant or customer.
    • End users with roles such as itil or rotaadmin see only the on-call shifts, calendars, schedules, and reports relevant to their domain, ensuring data privacy and operational clarity.
    • On-Call Scheduling integrates seamlessly with the Advanced Schedules Support plugin to define active shift periods while respecting domain boundaries.
    • Use cases include differentiated administrative actions, such as requiring specific comments on record closure for one tenant but not others.

    Domain separation is supported in On-Call Scheduling. The On-Call Scheduling application helps you to ensure that dedicated support team members are available to resolve issues as they arise. Domain separation enables you to separate data, processes, and administrative tasks into logical groupings called domains. You can control several aspects of this separation, including which users can see and access data.

    Support level: Standard

    • Includes all aspects of Basic level support.
    • Application properties are domain-aware as needed.
    • Business logic: The service provider (SP) creates or modifies processes per customer. The use cases reflect proper use of the application by multiple SP customers in a single instance.
    • The instance owner must configure the minimum viable product (MVP) business logic and data parameters per tenant as expected for the specific application.

    Sample use case: An admin must be able to make comments required when a record closes for one tenant, but not for another.

    For more information on support levels, see Application support for domain separation.

    On-Call Scheduling domain separation overview

    • On-Call Scheduling behaves the same with domain support as it does without domain support. Customers have the same ability to create and maintain on-call shifts.

    • A shift includes a selection of users from a group. It uses the base-system Advanced Schedules Support plugin to specify when the shift is active.

    How domain separation works in On-Call Scheduling

    With domain separation enabled, a user with the rota_admin role uses the Create New Schedule wizard to generate schedules in the group's domain. All generated related records for the new schedule are created with a matching domain.

    This setup is enforced with a combination of the domain field and the domain_master attribute. The attribute is used to derive the domain of the record from the master record. For the roster table, it derives the domain from the associated shift record.

    Domain-separated tables

    • Shift [cmn_rota]
    • Rotation Escalation [cmn_rota_escalation]
    • Shift Escalation Set [cmn_rota_escalation_set]
    • Shift Escalation Step Definition [cmn_rota_esc_step_def]
    • On-Call Group Preference [on_call_group_preference]
    • On-Call Contact Source [sys_on_call_contact_source]
    • On-Call Group Template [sys_on_call_group_template]
    • On-Call Shift Template [sys_on_call_shift_template]
    • On-Call Template Contact Attempt [on_call_template_contact_attempt]
    • On-Call Template Contact Preference [on_call_template_contact_preference]
    • On-Call Template Escalation Policy [on_call_template_escalation_policy]
    • On-Call Template Escalation Step [on_call_template_escalation_step]
    • On-Call Escalation [on_call_escalation]
    • On-Call Escalation Level [on_call_escalation_level]
    • On-Call Escalation Contact Attempt [on_call_escalation_con_attempt]
    • On-Call Escalation Notification [on_call_escalation_comm]

    Tables that use the domain_master attribute

    • Roster [cmn_rota_roster]: domain_master=rota
    • Rota Member [cmn_rota_member]: domain_master=roster
    • Roster Schedule Span [roster_schedule_span]: domain_master=schedule
    • Shift Escalation Set [cmn_rota_escalation_set]: domain_master=cmn_rota
    • Shift Escalation Step Definition [cmn_rota_esc_step_def]: domain_master=cmn_rota_escalation_set
    • On-Call Escalation Level [on_call_escalation_level]: domain_master=escalation
    • On-Call Escalation Contact Attempt [on_call_escalation_con_attempt]: domain_master=escalation_level
    • On-Call Escalation Notification [on_call_escalation_comm]: domain_master=contact_attempt

    To learn more, see Domain support for schedules

    Use cases

    For the following On-Call Scheduling features, domain separation ensures that end users (whether they possess the itil or rota_admin role) are able to see only shifts accessible via their domain:
    • On-Call calendars
    • On-Call schedules
    • My Schedule reports
    • Schedule reports
    • Escalations