ServiceNow

Use the IBM® App Connect Enterprise Toolkit to configure message flow nodes that are converted from the IBM App Connect Professional ServiceNow activities.

About this task

When you import an orchestration that contains ServiceNow activities, the conversion utility creates a message flow with the ServiceNow Request node. See Table 1, for information on which nodes are used for each of the activities.

Table 1. IBM App Connect Professional Service now activities and the corresponding IBM App Connect Enterprise message flow nodes
IBM App Connect Professional activity IBM App Connect Enterprise node
Create incident

ServiceNow Request node
Retrieve incident

ServiceNow Request node
Update incident

ServiceNow Request node
Delete incident

ServiceNow Request node

ServiceNow is a cloud platform that helps manage services across different departments. In IBM App Connect Professional, the activities Create, Update, Retrieve, and Delete are used to interact with ServiceNow. In IBM App Connect Enterprise, the same functions can be achieved through the ServiceNow Request node.

Connecting the ServiceNow Connector

About this task

In the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, follow these steps to configure a ServiceNow Request node:

Procedure

  1. Create a flow and add a ServiceNow Request node.
  2. Select the ServiceNow Request node to display its properties in the editor.
  3. Go to the basic tab and click Launch connector discovery to configure the connection.
    Screenshot of interface with launch connector discovery button visible
  4. The Launch connector discovery window opens. In the Policy project field, specify the policy project that is used to store the policies that are created during connector discovery. Alternatively, you can create a new policy project by clicking New.
    Screenshot of interface for creating a policy project
    1. Specify the Policy project name and click Finish.
      Interface for setting project name. ServiceNowPolicyProject has been entered into the input box
    2. You can now select the policy project that you created from drop-down.
      Screenshot of drop-down list of options for policy project
  5. In the Vault key field, enter the vault key that is used to access the credentials stored in the vault. Credentials that are used during connector discovery are stored in an external directory vault location. for example TEST_EXT_DIR_VAULT.
    Interface for setting up policy project with Vault key input box filled in
  6. Click Launch discovery to start the connector discovery wizard for the ServiceNow connector to open.
    When the connector discovery window is displayed, the status of the ServiceNow connector is shown as not connected.
  7. Enter the ServiceNow connector endpoint details based on authorization type. If you select, Basic then provide the endpoint URL, username, and password and click Connect.
    Interface showing the connect discovery window with endpoint details specified
    1. If you select OAuth 2.0, then provide the endpoint URL, username, password, client ID, and client secret and click Connect.
      Interface with endpoint details for OAuth 2.0 completed

      The credential is then stored in the vault, and the other connection details are saved in the policy project.

  8. Once it is successfully connected, you are redirected to a page, which contains Actions. Based on the action you select, provide any required details, then click Save. Then, close the pop-up window.
    Screenshot of drop-down list of actions to choose from. The incidents category is highlighted and has been expanded.
  9. You can now see that the Action, Object, and Schema base name fields have been generated.
    Interface for specifying Service Now Request node properties with input boxes filled

ServiceNow Request node for create incident activity

Procedure

  1. Select the Create incident action in Incident.
  2. In controls, select Define mappings below when asked how you want to populate the target fields in ServiceNow. With this option, you are able to define the values explicitly for the fields.
  3. Complete the values for the fields you want to create.
  4. Click Save.
    Connector discovery window for specifying connection details.

Example

Note: When you are creating an incident, it is required to complete the target field Short description. Other target fields can be provided based on your requirements.
  • In this example, an empty message sends in the flow exerciser.
  • The global unique ID is created as a response to the incident.
A screenshot of an example message flow with progress information displayed in a smaller window.
In Mapping Node, the value is assigned the short description, 
New ServcieNow Incident created from an IBM App Connect Enterprise msg flow
and then saves.
Screenshot of Recorded Message Assembly with short description displayed

A successful message flow looks like this:

Screenshot of the App Connect Enterprise toolkit with a message flow including the Mapping node and the ServiceNow Request node

ServiceNow Request node for retrieve incident activity

Procedure

  1. Select the Retrieve incidents action in Incident.
  2. Add the condition by selecting the field name from the drop-down.
  3. Provide the number of items that you want to retrieve.
  4. Select any of the options to determine how to proceed in case your number is more than the limit of the items retrieved. The maximum limit is 20.
  5. Click Save.
    Connector discovery window for specifying connection details. The fields have been completed.

ServiceNow Request node for update incident activity

Procedure

  1. Select the Update incidents action in Incident.
  2. In controls, select Define mappings below when asked how you want to populate the target fields in ServiceNow. With this option, you are able to define the values explicitly for the fields.
  3. Give the Sys ID of the incident that you want to update.
  4. Complete the values for the fields you want to update.
  5. Click Save.
    Connector discovery window for specifying connection details. The fields have been completed.

ServiceNow Request node for delete incident activity

Procedure

  1. Select the Delete incidents action in Incident.
  2. Give the Sys ID of the incident that you want to delete.
  3. Click Save.
    Connector discovery window for specifying connection details. The fields have been completed.

Retrieving data from a previous node and using it in the ServiceNow Request node

Procedure

  1. In the ServiceNow Request node, navigate to Properties > Request Tab. Click Add and select the input name, input location, and schema location.
    By default, the node contains generic input message data along with structured parts of the local environment tree.
  2. Add an entry to the Map Inputs table to specify where the message data is located within the message assembly, as described by an associated JSON schema. If a preceding node in the message flow already defined the structure of a JSON message, the schema is automatically detected and suggested for use.
    This can ensure that data from previous nodes is properly mapped to the ServiceNow Request node for processing. Screenshot of App Connect Enterprise toolkit with Add Map inputs entry window open.

What to do next

Refer to the following link for more details about the ServiceNow Request node: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/app-connect/13.0?topic=nodes-servicenow-request-node