Lists in ServiceNow can be equated strongly to tables in databases. For the most part, this would be an accurate comparison. Viewing a list, is viewing a representation of a subset of records within a table on ServiceNow's database servers. The columns of that list correspond to fields within the table, and often fields which would show on the form (if configured to do so).

Each table in ServiceNow has a label (a friendly name), and a name. The label is defined in the table dictionary (something we'll discuss later in this chapter), and can contain spaces and other characters that are not allowed in the table's name. The name is often more difficult to remember, but more specific. For example, the label Task may refer to the base task table, problem tasks, catalog tasks, or a multitude of system or custom tables which contain some sort of task. However, the name sc_task is more specific, as a table's name is unique (but its label is not).