ServiceNow Administration and Configuration – Users, Roles, ACLs, Forms, and Lists

Learn ServiceNow administration and configuration essentials. Manage users, groups, roles, ACLs, and customize forms and lists using UI Policies, Client Scripts, and Business Rules with hands-on practice

User, Group, and Role Management

Users vs Groups

Users

Users represent individuals who log in to ServiceNow.

User records store:

  1. Name
  2. Email
  3. Department
  4. Manager
  5. Roles

Groups

Groups represent teams that work on tasks.

Examples:

  1. Service Desk
  2. Network Team
  3. Linux Support Team
  4. HR Support

Groups are commonly used for:

  1. Assignment
  2. Approvals
  3. Workload distribution

Role Hierarchy

Roles define what a user can access.

Key concepts:

  1. Roles can inherit other roles
  2. Higher roles include permissions of lower roles
  3. Example: admin includes itil permissions

Role hierarchy helps simplify access management.

ACL Basics (Access Control Lists)

ACLs control security at the record and field level.

ACLs define:

  1. Who can read, write, create, or delete records
  2. Access based on roles, conditions, and scripts

Examples:

  1. Only ITIL users can update incidents
  2. Only admins can delete records

Hands-On: Create Users and Roles

  1. Navigate to User Administration → Users
  2. Click New
  3. Create a user record
  4. Navigate to User Administration → Roles
  5. Create a custom role
  6. Assign the role to the user

Hands-On: Assign Access Permissions

  1. Open the user record
  2. Add roles in the Roles related list
  3. Save the record
  4. Test access by logging in as the user

Form and List Customization

Dictionary Entries

Dictionary entries define the structure of table fields.

Dictionary controls:

  1. Field type
  2. Default value
  3. Mandatory behavior
  4. Read-only behavior
  5. Field length

Changes in dictionary affect all forms using that field.

UI Policies

UI Policies control form behavior dynamically without scripting.

UI Policies can:

  1. Make fields mandatory
  2. Hide or show fields
  3. Make fields read-only

UI Policies work on the client side.

Client Scripts (Introduction)

Client Scripts are JavaScript that run in the browser.

Common types:

  1. onLoad
  2. onChange
  3. onSubmit

Client Scripts are used when UI Policies are not sufficient.

Business Rules (Introduction)

Business Rules are server-side scripts.

Business Rules run:

  1. Before
  2. After
  3. Async
  4. Display

They enforce data integrity and business logic.

Hands-On Configuration

Hands-On: Make Fields Mandatory

Using UI Policy:

  1. Navigate to System UI → UI Policies
  2. Create a new UI Policy for Incident
  3. Add condition (for example: Category is Network)
  4. Set a field as mandatory
  5. Save and test

Hands-On: Auto-Populate Fields

Using Client Script:

  1. Navigate to System UI → Client Scripts
  2. Create an onChange client script
  3. Define condition and script logic
  4. Auto-fill another field
  5. Save and test

Using Business Rule:

  1. Navigate to System Definition → Business Rules
  2. Create a new business rule
  3. Set when to run
  4. Write logic to populate field
  5. Save and test

Completion Outcome

After completing this chapter, you will be able to:

  1. Manage users, groups, and roles
  2. Understand role hierarchy and access control
  3. Apply ACL concepts
  4. Customize forms and lists
  5. Use dictionary entries effectively
  6. Implement UI Policies
  7. Understand client scripts and business rules
  8. Perform basic ServiceNow administration tasks