Usage

The ServiceNow for Launch plugin integrates with ServiceNow using the ServiceNow REST API version 1. The user account used to authenicate with teh ServiceNow server must have access to the REST API and relevant tables.

Step palette

To access this plugin in the palette, click ITSM Process > ServiceNow.

Configuring Service Now to Trigger Deployments

ServiceNow can be configured so that making a change to a Change Request, Incident, or any other table can kick off a deployment in HCL Launch automatically. This can be done by the following steps:

1. Under System Web Services -> Outbound -> REST Message, Create a new REST Message for calling your UCD Application Process.
2. Name the message, and set up the Endpoint field to direct to your HCL Launch server, using the proper path for requesting an Application Process. This can also be used with any other HCL Launch REST Endpoint if desired.
3. Create a New HTTP Method. Define the parameters based on the Command-line client (CLI) reference for your rest call. For this case of requesting an application process, the HTTP Method looks something like this using the requestApplicationProcess template.
4. Now that we have our Outbound REST Message, we need to configure a Business Rule. In the side panel, under System Definition -> Business Rules. Here we can configure a table that we want to trigger the REST Call from, as well as the conditions to do so. This depends on user preferences. For this case, the following parameters are set to trigger a deployment when a Change Request table has its approval status set to Approved.
5. To reference the REST Message within the Business Rule, ensure that the Advanced box is checked. Now, under the Advanced tab, a Script box can be seen. To retrieve the script required to call our REST Message, we must return to our Http Method, scroll down to Related Links, and select Preview Script Usage. From here, we copy and paste the script as is, and paste it over the // Add your code here text.

The settings are now complete. We can go into a Change Request item, change its approval status to Approved using the proper roles, and we can see that our REST call was made and our Deployment started in HCL Launch.

Component and Agent Configuration

Defining the ServiceNow plugin as a separate component to interface your ServiceNow environment allows you to reuse the ServiceNow steps in other processes. You can map components to an agent or agent pool that has access to the ServiceNow environment.

• Agent pools distribute work among all pool members and reduce congestion that can occur when using a single agent.
• Agent pools are also used to limit access to specific agents. For example, agents that are associated with a different owner or agents used for production deployment.

Additional information on agent pools can be found on the Creating and managing agent pools topic in the Knowledge Center.

Steps

The following process steps are available in the ServiceNow plugin.

• Check Change Request Approval
• Check Change Request State
• Check Change Requests Child Tasks States
• Check Deployment Window
• Check Records
• Create Records
• Delete Multiple Table Records with Query
• Delete Records
• Run Encoded Query
• Set Change Request State
• Set Task Status
• Update Records

Check Change Request Approval

Check that the Approval field of a record.

Check Change Request State

Check that the State field of a change record.

Check Change Requests Child Tasks States

Check the states of the tasks related to a given Change Request.

Check Deployment Window

Check that the current time falls within the start and end date of the change request.

Check Records

Check records in a specified table against specified field values.

Input properties for the Check Records step

Name	Type	Description	Required
Check Fields	String	Newline seperated list of field value pairs. You may use the Name, what you see in the XML export, of the field. The record(s) will be checked to ensure that the values of the inputed field match and that the fields exist. For example: description=This is a high valued task.	Yes
HTTP Proxy Host	String	Provide the hostname of the HTTP proxy to use to connect to ServiceNow. Eg proxy.domain.com	No
HTTP Proxy Password	Password	Provide the password to authenticate with HTTP proxy.	No
HTTP Proxy Port	String	Provide the port number of the HTTP proxy to use to connect to ServiceNow.	No
HTTP Proxy User name	String	Provide the user name to authenticate with HTTP proxy.	No
Password	Password	The password to be used to connect to the ServiceNow server.	Yes
Record Number	String	Newline separated list of unique IDs of record to check. Represents the record number, for example: CHG0040001.	Yes
Server URL	String	The URL of your ServiceNow portal. Example: https://myaccount.service-now.com	Yes
Table Name	String	The Name, what you see in the XML export, of the table to be updated. Example: change_request.	Yes
Trust All Certificates	Boolean	Select to trust all unsecure certificates.	No
User Name	String	The user name to be used to connect to the ServiceNow server.	Yes

Create Records

Creates records by table name and specified fields.

Delete Multiple Table Records with Query

Deprecated. Please use the Run Encoded Query and Delete Records step instead.

Delete Records

Deletes records by table name and record number.

Run Encoded Query

Run an encoded query and receive a newline list of record system IDs to pass to subsequent steps.

Set Change Request State

Set the status field of a change request.

Set Task Status

Update the state of a task item.

Update Records

Update records by specifying field values.