Request experience in Now Mobile

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Request Experience in Now Mobile

    The Now Mobile app enables users to request items or services, track request progress, and approve requests directly from their mobile devices. This enhances convenience and responsiveness for end users and approvers alike by bringing Service Catalog functionality into a mobile context.

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    To enable this capability, administrators with the admin role must activate the ServiceNow Mobile Request Native Application Screens and Applet Launcher plugin (com.glide.mobile-employee), which comes with Service Catalog features enabled by default.

    Key Features

    • For Me tab: Access to personalized views such as My To-Dos for approval tasks and My Requests filtered specifically for mobile use (e.g., Incident and Service Catalog filters). It is recommended to configure filters to show only open requests for clarity.
    • Services tab: Users can browse and submit requests through three main sections:
      • Recent Services: Displays the 10 most recent items or services requested by the user in the past 12 months.
      • Popular Services: Shows the 10 most requested items/services visible to the user in the last year.
      • Browse Services: Allows exploration of service categories and subcategories; items within categories appear under "Others" if categories have mixed content.
    • Catalog Hierarchy Browsing: Users can browse catalog items not only by category but also via the catalog hierarchy for better context and navigation.
    • Variable and UI Support: Certain variable types and UI elements are unsupported or limited in the mobile app, such as:
      • Unsupported item types: Content items, Wizard, Standard change templates, HTML Customizations, Multi-row variable sets.
      • Support for non-scripted on-load catalog UI policies that control variable visibility, including container variables and checkbox groups.
      • Barcode scanning using the mobile camera for Single Line Text variables with a barcode attribute.
    • Quick Actions: Administrators can create quick actions to provide users immediate access to frequently requested catalog items directly from the mobile interface.
    • Siri Shortcuts (iOS): Users can invoke Siri shortcuts to quickly open pages such as browsing items or viewing their requests.
    • Customizations via Now Mobile Properties: Configure catalog behavior, including sorting categories, item availability (e.g., desktop-only items), exclusion of item types, and theming options such as button colors.
    • Cart Functionality: Optionally enable a cart to allow users to add or edit multiple items before submitting requests.
    • Submit Button Label: Customize the label of the Submit button for record producers to tailor the submission experience.
    • Push Notifications: Enable push notifications on mobile devices to alert users to updates on their requests.

    Practical Benefits and Outcomes

    • Empowers users to manage service requests anytime and anywhere through their mobile devices, increasing efficiency and user satisfaction.
    • Streamlines approval workflows by providing approvers with mobile access to pending tasks.
    • Improves request visibility with custom filtering and personalized views, ensuring users focus on relevant requests.
    • Enhances request submission with barcode scanning and quick access to popular or recent services.
    • Allows admins to tailor the mobile experience through configurable properties to align with organizational policies and branding.

    Considerations for Configuration

    • Admin role is required to activate the necessary plugin and configure Now Mobile properties.
    • Users without appropriate roles may not see certain catalog categories or items; ensure ACLs permit access as needed.
    • Some item types and variable sets are not supported in the mobile app and will be hidden or display informational messages.
    • Filters should be configured to optimize request lists for mobile usability, focusing on active/open requests.

    You can enable users to request for an item or service, and track or approve requests on mobile using the Now® Mobile app.

    Activation of Now Mobile for Service Catalog

    If you have the admin role, activate the ServiceNow Mobile Request Native Application Screens and Applet Launcher plugin (com.glide.mobile-employee). See Now Mobile app. This plugin enables the Service Catalog functionality by default.

    For Me tab

    When you log into Now Mobile, the following functionality related to Service Catalog is available:
    • My To-Dos: Displays approval records of requests and requested items assigned or delegated to the user.
    • My Requests: Displays requests based on the filters defined for mobile in the My Requests Filter. By default, the Incident Mobile and Service Catalog Request Mobile filters are available. For information about configuring filters, see Define filters for My Requests and Configure My Requests.
      Note:
      It is recommended to include only open requests.

    Services tab

    You can submit or track requests.
    • Recent Services: Displays the items and services (10 items and services in the last 12 months) that were requested recently by the logged-in user.
    • Popular Services: Displays the most requested items and services (10 items and services in the last 12 months) that are visible to the user. Displays the 10 recent items and services in the last 12 months.
    • Browse Services: Displays the categories of items and services that you can browse through and order.
      Note:
      • If a category contains both items and sub-categories, the items specific to the category are displayed under Others.
      • The category listings do not display the catalog information for users who do not have the roles that have permissions to read the records in the sc_category table. For such users, an ACL can be added to provide read permission for the Title field of the sc_catalog table.
    Note:
    • You cannot request these item types in the mobile app.
      • Content items
      • Wizard
      • Standard change template
    • All items hidden in Service Portal are also hidden in the mobile app.
    • In the RITM and record view, these variable types are not supported.
      • HTML
      • Custom
      • Custom with Label
      • UI Page
    • In the RITM and request view, a multi-row variable set is not supported. A message is displayed in this view that this variable set is not viewable.
    • On-load catalog UI policies (non-scripted) are supported for variables in record views, for example, requested item and incident.
      • Only the visibility condition is considered.
      • A variable with no value is not displayed.
      • These policies are also applicable for container variables and a group of check boxes.
      • Since the multi-row variable set is displayed with a message that it is not viewable, these policies can be used to display or hide that message.
    From Now Mobile, you can also perform the following tasks:

    Quick actions

    You can provide easy access to a catalog item by creating a quick action. For information on creating a quick action in Now Mobile, see Create a quick action.

    Siri shortcuts

    iOS users can use Siri shortcuts to open the following pages in the mobile app.
    • Browse items and services.
    • Open my requests

    See Siri shortcuts.

    Now Mobile properties

    You can define the following behavior for various catalog entities by configuring the Now Mobile properties. For information about configuring these properties, see Configure Now Mobile properties.

    • Sort categories by the Order field.
    • Define the availability of a catalog item in one of the following ways:
      • Include the catalog item with Availability set to Desktop only in Now Mobile.
      • Specify catalog item types to exclude in Now Mobile.
    • Define the non-availability behavior of a catalog item by making it discoverable but not viewable, or not available at all.
    • Specify colors for buttons to match your mobile theme.