Book Image

Mastering ServiceNow - Second Edition

Book Image

Mastering ServiceNow - Second Edition

Overview of this book

ServiceNow is a SaaS application that provides workflow form-based applications. It is an ideal platform for creating enterprise-level applications giving requesters and fulfillers improved visibility and access to a process. ServiceNow-based applications often replace email by providing a better way to get work done. The book steps through the main aspects of the ServiceNow platform, from the ground up. It starts by exploring the core architecture of ServiceNow, including building the right data structure. To add business logic and control data, and interactivity to user interaction, you will be shown how to code on both server and the client. You will then learn more about the power of tasks, events and notifications. The book will then focus on using web services and other mechanisms to integrate ServiceNow with other systems. Furthermore, you will learn how to secure applications and data, and understand how ServiceNow performs logging and error reporting. You will then be shown how to package your applications and changes, so they can be installed elsewhere and ways to maintain them easily. If you wish to create an alternative simple interface, then explore ways to make ServiceNow beautiful using Service Portal. By the end of the book, you will know the fundamentals of the ServiceNow platform, helping you be a better ServiceNow System Administrator or developer.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Mastering ServiceNow Second Edition
Credits
Notice
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface

Chapter 5. Getting Things Done with Tasks

The first few chapters focused heavily on the underpinnings of the ServiceNow platform: how data is stored, manipulated, processed, and displayed. With these tools, you can create almost any forms-based application. But building from the foundations up each time would be time consuming and repetitive. To help with this, the ServiceNow platform provides baseline functionality that allows you to concentrate on the parts that matter.

If business rules, tables, Client Scripts, and fields are the foundations of ServiceNow, the Task table, approvals, and the service catalog are the readymade lintels, elevator shafts, and staircases-the essential, tried and tested components that make up the bulk of the building.

This chapter looks at the standard components behind many applications:

  • The Task table is probably the most frequently used and important table in a ServiceNow instance. The functionality it provides is explored in this chapter, and several gotchas...