servicenow assignment rule vs business rule

• ServiceNow Consulting Services
• ServiceNow IT Workflows
• ServiceNow Customer Workflows
• ServiceNow Employee Workflows
• Hyperautomation
• ServiceNow Implementation Services
• ServiceNow Integration Services
• ServiceNow Managed Services
• ServiceNow for Manufacturing Industry
• Digital Transformation In Banking
• Digital Transformation In Insurance
• Digital Transformation in Wealth & Asset Management
• Digital Transformation in Life Sciences
• Digital Transformation in Hospitals
• Digital Transformation for Payers
• Data Migration Utility
• 360 Degree Business Assessment
• ServiceNow Dx Support
• Service Automate
• Rome Release
• Case Studies
• News Events
• Infographic
• Thought Leadership

Handling Assignment Rules in ServiceNow

In ServiceNow, if one is looking for automatic assignments then he can rely on the instance’s ability to assign the tasks automatically to different users and groups depending on the specified conditions. In order to achieve this, ServiceNow has the following modules:

• Assignment Lookup Rules
• Assignment Rules

Assignment Lookup Rules:

This module appears under the ‘System Policy application’ menu. This table is basically generated out of the box as its definition is provided in the ‘Data Lookup Definition’ table in the instance, specifically for field assignments in the incident table. Assignment lookup rules mainly provide the functionality of changing any field value and not just the assignment fields.

Assignment Rules:

This module appears under the ‘System Policy application’ menu. It helps to automatically assign the tasks to a particular user or a particular group using the assigned_to and assignment_group fields respectively, depending on the specified set of conditions. One can define these assignment rules readily for their desired table.

Following are the steps for defining the assignment rule:

• Navigate to System Policy -> Assignment -> New

• From the above figure, one can see that the dot-walking can also be done in the condition builder field. Just select the ‘Show Related Fields’ option in the condition and then select the appropriate attribute.
• Further, in the ‘Assign To’ tab, select the appropriate user and group to whom the task is to be assigned.

If two assignment rules conflict, then the assignment rule with the lowest execution order runs first. The lower the execution order, the higher is the precedence.

Distinguishing Factors between the Data Lookup Rules and Assignment Rules:

Precedence among the assignment rule and business rule:.

In certain circumstances, the business rules gain precedence over the assignment rules.

The business rules and assignments rules run in the following order:

• All the ‘before record insert’ business rules having order less than 1000.
• First and foremost, assignment rule with lowest execution order and matching condition.
• All the ‘before record insert’ business rules having order more than 1000.
• All the ‘after record insert’ business rules.

We are pretty sure that this blog must have given an overview of dealing with Assignment Rules in ServiceNow.

Any comments\suggestions are most welcome. We have posted further blogs as well on other topics and will frequently come back with something innovative.

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

Advance Your Career

What Is A Business Rule In ServiceNow?

Welcome to the complete guide for business rules in ServiceNow! Whether you're new to ServiceNow development or looking to brush up on your knowledge, we've got you covered in the guide below.

Introduction to Business Rules

As a ServiceNow developer, it is important to understand how to create and utilize business rules. You may be given a requirement to automatically close child tasks when a parent record is cancelled, or to create an event that triggers an email notification when a record moves to a certain state. Business rules are one of the tools used to accomplish these things. Business rules allow you to define what happens within ServiceNow when some database action occurs to a record. The use cases for business rules are seemingly endless, which is why it is critical for developers to understand how they work. In this article we will dive into what a business rule is, how to use them, and other helpful tips to help developers unleash the power of the business rule.

What is a Business Rule

Business rules are server-side code that execute in ServiceNow when a specific action is performed on a record. A business rule can be configured to run for one or more of the following database operations: Insert , Update , Query , and Delete . Basically, they are a way for developers to automate what happens to a record when one of the above actions occurs. Business rules don’t necessarily need scripting, however in most cases you will find that scripting is required in order to get the desired results. Business rules have access to many server-side APIs, including the GlideSystem , GlideDateTime , and GlideRecord classes. For developers to use business rules to their full potential, it would be wise to familiarize yourself with these APIs.

NOTES: Insert links to the cheat sheets for GlideSystem, GlideDateTime, GlideRecord is we have them.

“When” to run a Business Rule

A business rule can be configured to run at different “times” in relation to the action performed on the record. This can be achieved using the When field.

The When field is a select box that contains 4 different options: Before , After , Async , and Display . Each business rule is configured with only one of these options. Let’s discuss further what each of these options actually means.

Before business rules will execute after a record is saved/submitted/updated and before a database operation is performed.

‍ After business rules will execute after a record is saved/submitted/updated and after a database operation is performed.

‍ Async business rules work in a similar way to After , however Async rules will execute asynchronously (hence the name) meaning that they will not run immediately after the record is submitted. Rather, ServiceNow will create a scheduled job which will run when the system has bandwidth. Most of the time users will not be able to notice the difference between After and Async, but there are some performance implications to be aware of where sometimes using Async is the better option.

Finally, Display business rules execute before a record is displayed to an end user. Display business rules can be used along with the g_scratchpad object to send data from the server to the client. You could then utilize that g_scratchpad object in a client script (typically an onLoad) to access data that normally would not be available client-side.

The When field works along with the database operations discussed in the previous section to specify exactly when a business rule will execute. One example of this is a business rule can run after a record is inserted or updated. Another example is a business rule that runs before a record is queried . As we can see, there can be only one value for When but you can have multiple database operations selected. Being aware of this will allow you to get the most out of your business rules.

There is one more thing to mention about When. The Advanced checkbox must be selected on the business rule form in order for the When field to be visible. Then you will be able to make changes to the field. If the value for this field is not changed, then the business rule will be a before business rule by default.

Configuring a Business Rule

Now let’s take a look at the business rule form and discuss how to configure it. The following screenshot is a business rule form without the Advanced checkbox selected. 

Notice that the When field is not visible, and that there are two tabs available ( When to run and Actions ). The next screenshot shows the form with the Advanced checkbox selected.

With the Advanced checkbox selected there are more options available to configure on the form. On the When to run tab there are two new fields visible: When and Order . There is also a new tab on the form labeled Advanced.  

Let’s point out some important fields on the business rule form. Besides Advanced , in the top section we see several fields including Name and Table . It is always a good idea to give your business rule (or anything really in ServiceNow) a name that will indicate what the functionality of the rule is. The Table field defines which table the business rule will execute on. 

On the When to run tab we have several key fields for business rules. The majority of these we discussed in detail previously. Here we see the When field which contains the four options of Before , After , Async , and Display .

This business rule is populated with the default value of before. On the right-hand side we see four checkboxes where we can specify the database operations Insert , Update , Query , and/or Delete . As previously mentioned, you can select one or more of these options. Filter Conditions allow you to add more granular conditions to specify when the business rule will run. If you are using a filter condition, it must evaluate to true for the business rule to execute.

The Actions tab has a few useful fields as well, especially if you want to create a business rule that doesn’t use scripting. Set field values allows you to set as many field values as you wish without the use of scripting.

If the Add message checkbox is selected, another field will appear which will allow you to enter a message that will be displayed to the user at the top of the screen when the business rule executes.

The Abort action checkbox is useful if you wish to abort the database operation when the conditions of the business rule are met. This field can be used along with a message to cancel an operation and let the user know why the action was aborted.

The final tab on the business rule form is the Advanced tab. This is where all the scripting for a business rule takes place. In the Condition field you can use JavaScript to define a more complex filter condition for the business rule. Just like the Filter Condition field, the Advanced Condition must evaluate to true for the business rule to execute. This field can also be used along with the Filter Condition field mentioned earlier.

It is important to note that the Filter Condition will be evaluate before the Advanced Condition , and if you are using both, both must evaluate to true for the business rule to run .

‍ The Script field is where you can write code using JavaScript to define the functionality of the business rule. The Script field has access to the current and previous objects. Developers will need to use scripting for any functionality that cannot be achieved using the available fields on the business rule form. We will look at an example of this next.

Business Rule Example

Let’s say we are given the requirement that when a requested item is moved to a state of Closed Incomplete, all the open catalog tasks associated with that requested item should also be closed with a state of Closed Incomplete, and a work note is added to the task stating it was automatically closed. The following example shows how to accomplish this using a business rule.

Business Rule form configuration

The above screenshot shows the conditions for which this business rule will run. As we can see this business rule had been configured to run on the Requested item table with the Advanced checkbox selected. This business rule will execute after a record is inserted or updated. We’ve also added a filter condition where this rule only executes when state the changes to Close incomplete.   

Script Field

This screenshot shows the contents of the script field. The script contains a GlideRecord query where we look up all active child catalog tasks for the current requested item that triggered this business rule. Next, we loop through the matching records, set the state of the catalog task to Closed incomplete, and add a message in the work notes.

It is important to take note of the line that contains grTask.update() . The update() method is needed whenever you are updating records that are NOT the record that fired the business rule. If you forget to do this, the intended updates to the other records will not happen.

Some Business Rule Best Practices

There are several best practices around business rules. One best practice to keep in mind is to avoid using Before business rules when updating records on a different table. In the example above, our script was updating catalog task records when a change occurred on the requested item table. If this was a Before business rule, ServiceNow would have updated the child records (catalog task) before the parent (requested item) was submitted to the database. Sometimes this can cause issues. Once the current (requested item) record is updated, there may be other rules triggered that effect the same child (catalog tasks) records. This can yield unexpected (and confusing) results such as looking like your code never executed when it actually did but was overridden by some other rule. It’s always a good idea to use an After business rule when making changes to records a table besides the current one.

Another best practice is do NOT use current.update() in a business rule script. This should be avoided as it is not necessary and can cause issues in the system. A scenario where developers typically think they need this is in a Before business rule to commit the updates to the current record in a script. However, the current record will be updated automatically when the business rule executes, making current.update() redundant. Additionally, depending on the type of business rule configured, using current.update() could create an infinite loop, generate errors in the system, and cause other sorts of performance issues. Simply do not use current.update() in any business rule and you’ll be fine.

One last thing to note - if you notice that your business rule isn't triggering, this may be due to a script using setWorkflow . If there is another script using setWorkflow(false), then it could be preventing your business rule from running.

Configuring business rules is an essential skill for a ServiceNow developer. This article touched upon the basics in order to get you started. There are countless use cases and topics for business rules to add to your developer toolkit. As always, we encourage you to continue learning and expand your knowledge. Happy coding!

Looking for something else? Check out our other posts below!

• GlideRecord Cheat Sheet
• Release / Version Cheat Sheet
• Exam Study Guides
• How To Export Your Favorites (before a clone)

How To Script In Flow Designer

• How To Call A Script Include From A UI Action
• How To Call A Script Include From A Business Rule
• What Is A Client Script In ServiceNow?

Interested in making more money as a ServiceNow developer? We're here to help. We're launching a set of courses, 1:1 mentorship and a community to help you increase your earnings.

To learn more, sign up here: make more money as a servicenow developer.

How To Get Certified In ServiceNow

How To Move Updates Between Update Sets In ServiceNow

How To Add A Hyperlink To A Notification In ServiceNow

How To Dot-Walk Inside of a Client Script in ServiceNow

What Is A UI Policy In ServiceNow

© Snowycode 2022. All rights reserved.

Routing and assigning customer service cases

The case routing feature uses matching rules and\n assignment rules to identify customer service cases that meet certain conditions and then route\n those cases to customer service agents.

Create one or more matching rules that establish specific conditions that a\n case must meet before it can be routed to an agent. Then use an assignment rule to route\n those cases to agents based on product knowledge and availability. You can also invoke the\n MatchingRuleProcessor API to execute the matching rules and return a list of users\n (sys_ids).

Matching Rules

Matching rules are based on two defined sets of conditions, one that\n identifies specific case attributes and another that identifies the agent resources best\n suited to handle cases with these attributes. Matching rules are created using the Matching\n Rule form.

To identify case attributes, select a table that stores the task type (for example, the\n Case table) and then use a condition builder to create one or more conditions that a case\n must meet before being routed. For example, you can build conditions for a specific account\n and product or for a specific product and priority level.

• Simple : select the resource name from a list of users.
• Advanced : build conditions that filter the available agent\n resources. These conditions can be based on user role, agent group, specific skills,\n work load, or agent availability.
• Scripted : create a customized script to identify agent\n resources.

Assignment Rules

• The table for the task type and the conditions that must be met before the task is\n assigned.
• The user or the group to which the task is assigned.
• Invoke the MatchingRuleProcessor API \nAfter you create one or more matching rules, you can invoke the MatchingRuleProcessor API and run the rules.
• Reverse matching \nReverse matching uses the same matching rules to match tasks to a resource rather than resources to a task.
• Assignment rules module

• Integrations
• ServiceNow Basics
• Service Mapping
• Scripting In ServiceNow

business rules in servicenow

Table of Contents

Business Rule overview

What is business rule?

A business rule is a server-side script that runs when a record is displayed, inserted, updated, or deleted, or when a table is queried.

When business rules run

Business rules run based on two sets of criteria:

• The time that the business rule is configured to run relative to a record being modified or accessed.
• The database operation that the system takes on the record.

How to navigate to business rule in ServiceNow

• Go to System Definitions > Business Rules .
• Click  New .
• Fill in the fields, as appropriate.

Let’s have a closer look on the business rule form and see the purpose of each field.

Note – Delete and Query operations are available only when advanced checkbox is true.

Thanks for reading this article, i hope you liked it, if that so, do like and subscribe my YouTube channel. You can also join our telegram channel to clear your technical doubt.

YouTube Channel

Telegram Group

Facebook Group

Linked-In Group

Types of business rules in ServiceNow

We have four different type of business rules present in our system.

Let’s understand each one of them in detail

Before business rule

Before BR as name itself justify works Before a record is saved to the database. Business rules execute after form submission and before the record update in the database. It runs before the database operation, so no extra operations are required.

As shown in the figure above the user provides an input before BR is executed and then only changes are made to the database.

Scenario – We need to copy the short description from variable present on RITM to the short description of catalog task.

We will start by creating a new Before BR filling all the required fields.

Here is the script to achieve the above-mentioned scenario.

After business rule

After a record is saved to the database. Business Rules execute after form submission and after the record update in the database.

Scenario – We need to close the task if the respective RITM moves to Closed incomplete.

We will start by creating a new After BR filling all the required fields.

Async business rule

Async Business Rules run after records are inserted/modified/queried. Async and after works similar the only difference is async run asynchronously as Scheduled Jobs. Async BR are queued by the scheduler to run as soon as they can be fit in. This allows the current transaction to finish without waiting for the rule and give the control back to user to continue working.

Tip – Use async Business Rules instead of after Business Rules whenever possible.

Scenario : Attachment add to a particular variable in a certain catalog item should get attach to the record as well.

We all are aware that attachment made to a variable in any catalog item is not attached to the record itself and make it somehow difficult to send the same attachment via notification for the respective record. So, to achieve the same we are using Async Business Rule. Now, why async not after BR the answer is attachment might take time to get attach to the record so to make this smooth and without blocking user experience, we will be using this.

We will start by creating a new Async BR filling all the required fields, here we want this BR for a particular catalog item, so we are mentioning the same under filter conditions.

Display business rule

Display Business Rules run after the data is read from the database and before the form is presented back to the user. Display Business Rules execute when a user requests a record form.

Scenario – We need to set certain values on incident form if the logged in user is member of a particular group.

To achieve this use case, we first need to create a Display BR and then call the same in our client script. Please refer to the below attached screenshots.

Here is the BR to fulfil our work at server side.

Now, moving onto the client-side scripting to see how this g_scratchpad is called, and our requirement is achieved.

Before Query Business rule

Other than the four above mentioned rules we have Before Query rule. It is a type of business rule in ServiceNow that we can use to limit that what all records users can access from a given table. In other words, we can also say that it is used for data segregation on an instance. To understand this more clearly see the scenario mentioned below.

Scenario – We need to restrict the visibility of incident on our instance in such as way that user should only be able to view them if he is a part of the assignment group to which that incident is being assigned or is the caller for that incident.

We will start by creating a new Before BR and selecting the query operation then filling all the required fields.

Here is the script to achieve the above-mentioned scenario. In this you can see we have used the condition under advanced section to disable this rule if the user is ‘admin’.

Why should we use Before Query instead of ACL?

With the concept of before query first question which comes to our mind is that why we actual need this when we have ACL for restricting any kind of record in system. The answer is when Query BR restrict the access than user will not see any message at the bottom of page related to access restriction but if the same record is restricted from ACL than message such as “Numbers of rows removed from the list by Security constraints: 20” displayed to user.

So, for smoothening the user experience query BR is preferred over ACL.

Order of execution of different Business Rules

The above image show use how database is being updated once something is entered by user. We can clearly see the execution order of the different business rule and how they work one by one based on the conditions and operation selected.

QUERY > DISPLAY > BEFORE > AFTER

This is in simple words to make you understand the flow. First, the query rule runs to restrict the access of the data being presented to the user. Then the display rule is executed. After that Scripts are configured to execute before the database operation works. And finally, async and after is carried out. 

Best practices for a Business Rule

• Prevent recursive business rules – We should avoid using update() in a business rule script. The update() method triggers business rules to run on the same table for insert and update operations, leading to a business rule calling itself over and over.
• Enclose your script in functions – We should always enclose our script in functions because when a code is not enclosed inn functions it is available to all server side scripts.
• Write specific business rule – Always avoid writing complex rules as they will be difficult to debug.
• Know when to run business rule – There should be clarity about when to use Business Rule and specify the same in conditions for running your BR.

Advantage vs disadvantage

• Performance. When running code on the server, it often has a faster load time and   processing time than a client script.
• Can perform complex database lookups.
• Can dot-walk many levels, however three levels is often a recommend maximum.

Disadvantage

• They are not as user friendly as client scripts.

What is async business rule in servicenow?

What is before business rule in servicenow?

What is after business rule in servicenow?

What is display business rule in servicenow?

What is before query business rule in servicenow?

Get latest update from runjay patel.

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

You’ve been successfully subscribed to our newsletter!

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

Barcode or qr codes generation in servicenow, how to become a certified system administrator (csa), servicenow versions / release, leave a reply cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

EDITOR PICKS

Popular posts, access control list – acl, software asset management servicenow – sam-pro, customer service management (csm), popular category.

• ServiceNow Basics 22
• Scripting In ServiceNow 20
• Integrations 4
• Service Mapping 2
• Terms & Conditions

Location Set your Location

Popular Cities

Learn ServiceNow Training from the Best Tutors

Book a Free Demo

What is a business rule in ServiceNow?

Asked by Nandhini 23/09/2023 Last Modified   18 Jan

Learn ServiceNow Training

Please enter your answer

In ServiceNow, a business rule is a set of automated instructions that are executed when a record is displayed, inserted, updated, or deleted. Business rules in ServiceNow allow you to define custom logic and behavior to automate various processes within the platform. They are written using JavaScript and can be applied to a specific table or globally to multiple tables.

Here are key aspects and use cases for business rules in ServiceNow:

Trigger Events:

• Business rules are triggered by specific events on records, such as when a record is inserted (before or after), updated (before or after), deleted, or displayed.

Conditions and Actions:

• Business rules consist of conditions and corresponding actions. Conditions determine when the rule should be executed, and actions define what should happen when the condition is met.
• Business rules can be scoped to a specific table, making them applicable only to records in that table, or they can be defined globally, affecting multiple tables. This allows for flexibility in applying rules based on business requirements.

Server-Side Execution:

• Business rules execute on the server side, ensuring that the logic is enforced consistently and securely. They are written in JavaScript and have access to the Glide API (Application Programming Interface) provided by ServiceNow.
• Field Validation: Checking and validating data entered into specific fields.
• Auto-population of Fields: Automatically filling in field values based on certain conditions.
• Security Checks: Enforcing security measures based on user roles or conditions.
• Workflow Automation: Triggering workflows or other actions based on record changes.
• Data Transformation: Modifying data before it is stored or displayed.

Client Scripts vs. Business Rules:

• While client scripts are used for client-side (browser) actions, business rules operate on the server side. Business rules are typically used for more critical and secure operations, while client scripts may be used for user interface interactions.

Here's a simple example of a business rule in pseudocode:

Business rules play a crucial role in customizing and automating processes within ServiceNow, allowing organizations to tailor the platform to their specific needs.

Now ask question in any of the 1000+ Categories, and get Answers from Tutors and Trainers on UrbanPro.com

Related Lessons

Rajalakshmi

Recommended Articles

What is Applications Engineering all about?

Applications engineering is a hot trend in the current IT market.  An applications engineer is responsible for designing and application of technology products relating to various aspects of computing. To accomplish this, he/she has to work collaboratively with the company’s manufacturing, marketing, sales, and customer...

Read full article >

Top 5 Skills Every Software Developer Must have

Software Development has been one of the most popular career trends since years. The reason behind this is the fact that software are being used almost everywhere today.  In all of our lives, from the morning’s alarm clock to the coffee maker, car, mobile phone, computer, ATM and in almost everything we use in our daily...

8 Hottest IT Careers of 2014!

Whether it was the Internet Era of 90s or the Big Data Era of today, Information Technology (IT) has given birth to several lucrative career options for many. Though there will not be a “significant" increase in demand for IT professionals in 2014 as compared to 2013, a “steady” demand for IT professionals is rest assured...

Learn Hadoop and Big Data

Hadoop is a framework which has been developed for organizing and analysing big chunks of data for a business. Suppose you have a file larger than your system’s storage capacity and you can’t store it. Hadoop helps in storing bigger files than what could be stored on one particular server. You can therefore store very,...

Looking for ServiceNow Training ?

Learn from the Best Tutors on UrbanPro

Are you a Tutor or Training Institute?

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy .

Already a member?

Looking for ServiceNow Training Classes?

The best tutors for ServiceNow Training Classes are on UrbanPro

• Select the best Tutor
• Book & Attend a Free Demo
• Pay and start Learning

Learn ServiceNow Training with the Best Tutors

The best Tutors for ServiceNow Training Classes are on UrbanPro

This website uses cookies

We use cookies to improve user experience. Choose what cookies you allow us to use. You can read more about our Cookie Policy in our Privacy Policy

• About UrbanPro.com
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy

UrbanPro.com is India's largest network of most trusted tutors and institutes. Over 55 lakh students rely on UrbanPro.com, to fulfill their learning requirements across 1,000+ categories. Using UrbanPro.com, parents, and students can compare multiple Tutors and Institutes and choose the one that best suits their requirements. More than 7.5 lakh verified Tutors and Institutes are helping millions of students every day and growing their tutoring business on UrbanPro.com. Whether you are looking for a tutor to learn mathematics, a German language trainer to brush up your German language skills or an institute to upgrade your IT skills, we have got the best selection of Tutors and Training Institutes for you. Read more

Tokyo Now Platform Administration

Define assignment rules, table of contents.

• Adoption blueprints
• Select your adoption blueprint
• Install applications for an adoption blueprint
• Activate a plugin on a personal developer instance
• Request a plugin
• List of plugins (Tokyo)
• Find components installed with an application
• Add a system property
• Create a system properties module
• Handle HTTP 500 errors
• Query join and complexity size limits
• NTLM authentication
• Proxy servers for SOAP clients
• Bypass the proxy server
• Table extension and classes
• Global default fields
• Tables module
• Delete a custom table
• Delete all records from a table
• Roll back patch upgrades or plugin activations
• Use the Deleted Records module to restore a deleted record
• Use the Delete Recovery module to restore a deleted record
• Use the Script Execution History module to roll back a Scripts-Background execution
• Create a table index
• Create a task
• Assignment lookup rules example
• Assignment rules module
• Condition editor example
• Data lookup rules
• Precedence between data lookup, assignment, and business rules
• Workflow assignments
• Baseline assignment rules example
• Create an assignment rule
• Important Task table fields
• Journal fields
• Create a planned task
• Create a baseline
• Measure time and effort
• Important planned task table fields
• Planned task scripts
• Planned task hierarchy
• Configure rollup for planned task fields
• Reminder table
• Task table modifications
• Tasks workflow
• Activate Time Card Management
• Create a time sheet policy
• Set a time sheet policy as default policy
• Assign a time sheet policy to a user
• Create a rate type
• Create time cards and log time through Time Sheet Portal
• Submit time sheet through Time Sheet Portal
• Log time and submit time sheets of your resources
• Create a time sheet
• Submit a time sheet
• Approve or reject a time sheet
• Copy time cards from a previous time sheet
• Auto-generate time cards
• Submit a time card
• Approve or reject a time card
• Record time worked
• Manage costs
• Domain separation and Time Card
• Tools for driving tasks
• Request many to many task relations
• Plugin manifest
• Define a relationship type
• Define a task relationship allowed from the task relationship type record
• Modify the displayed field
• Mark as Solution button
• Define task relationships with UI actions
• Define a dictionary override
• Dictionary entry form
• Dictionary attributes
• Modify the Glide durations format
• Generate a schema map
• View the schema map
• Reference default many-to-many relationships
• Create a database view
• Add a table to the database view
• Example left join in creating a database view
• Specify a field to return
• Relabel a column
• Specify the number of records to return
• Test the database view
• Create a function field to perform a database function
• Display function results in a database view
• Use disjunctions in complex queries
• Database views in the base system
• Configure the list layout
• Configure list calculations
• Omit record count in a list
• Configure list controls
• Advanced list control with scripts
• Controlling the sort sequence used to display lists
• Configure list editor properties
• Configure list control settings for the list editor
• Example - Restrict a table
• Example - Restrict a field
• Example - Restrict a field with a script
• Example - Restrict a field with a condition
• User preferences for list editing
• Enable or disable personal lists
• Control which roles can personalize lists
• Manage personal lists
• Administer detail rows
• Suppress filters and breadcrumbs with list controls
• Use script includes to suppress filters and breadcrumbs
• Increase the allowed number of breadcrumb entries
• Use list controls in hierarchical lists
• Activate context ranking
• Create a ranking definition
• Apply a new sort order to a list
• Rank stories in a related list
• Action script for list context menus
• Dynamic actions script for list context menus
• onShow script for list context menus
• Using the form designer
• Configuring the form layout
• Administering form personalization
• Administering form annotations
• Configure attachment system properties
• Disable attachments on a table
• Index attachments on a table
• Hide the attachment [view] link
• Configure attachment icons
• Create a UI macro for a formatter
• Create a formatter and add it to a form
• Activity formatter
• Process flow formatter
• Parent breadcrumbs formatter
• Approval summarizer formatter
• Override a formatter with macros
• Limit the number of activity stream entries
• Create a template using the Template form
• Create templates for related task records
• Create a template by saving a form
• Create records based on a template
• Create a module for a template
• Template bar
• Toggle the template bar
• Scripted templates
• Create a UI action
• Override a UI action for an extended table
• UI policies
• Advanced form configuration
• Choice list security
• Values to associate with choice labels for scripting
• Integer values for default choice lists
• Configure state field choice values
• View choice list definitions
• Add the condition count to a condition field
• Update a conditions field to use condition builder v2
• Database field type
• Dictionary entry data types
• Document ID field
• Function field
• Configure TinyMCE to allow deprecated tags
• Configure TinyMCE to allow JavaScript in URLs
• Formatting icons for the HTML field editors
• Extended functions
• Table functions in TinyMCE
• Customize TinyMCE attributes
• Highlight text in TinyMCE
• Insert a line break in the HTML editor
• Add a table to the HTML field
• Embed images in HTML fields
• Link to a website in HTML fields
• Embed videos in HTML fields
• Define video file types for HTML fields
• Disable user access to the image library
• Paste content into the HTML editor
• Image field type
• IP address field type
• Restrict the CODE tag in journal fields
• Validate HTML in journal fields
• Journal field display limits
• Enable the text field character counter
• Name-value pairs field type
• Target threshold colors attribute
• Territories assigned
• Dependent fields
• E.164 phone number field configuration
• Configure a territory phone display rule
• Enable dynamic creation for reference fields
• Configure cascade delete rules
• Define the reference key
• Display a reference field as a choice list
• Select a field as the table display value
• Tree picker lookup
• Reference field icon
• Configure the related incidents icon
• Configure the show workflow icon
• Constrain the assigned to field by role
• Constrain the assignment group field
• The INSTANCEOF operator in reference qualifiers
• Auto-complete for reference fields
• Recent selections
• Configure suggested text for string fields
• Configure suggested text for journal fields
• Supported wiki tags
• Create a Wikitext field
• Extend the functionality of a Wikitext field
• Make a field mandatory
• Change the field label or hint
• Delete a field from a table
• Hide email addresses in a watch list
• Configure order buttons on the watch list slushbucket
• Highlight list fields
• Modify string field length
• Specify a default field value
• Make a field dependent
• Require unique values for a field
• Define field styles
• Add auto-numbering records in a table
• Configure left padding of a system number in a table
• Prevent numbering gaps
• Enforcing unique numbering
• Installed with field normalization
• Enable a field type for normalization or transformation
• Create a raw field
• Run a single data job
• Run multiple data jobs
• Rollback a data job
• Create the normalization record
• Create a normal value
• Create aliases
• Apply aliases
• Create rules
• Coalesce records on a normal value
• Transform a field
• Create a transform definition
• Create a transform variable for a transform definition
• Create a script for a transform definition
• Create a transform category
• Pattern matching
• Domain separation and Field Normalization
• Installed with data policy
• Data policy fields
• Convert a UI policy to a data policy
• Convert a data policy to a UI policy
• Data policy debugging
• Create custom data lookups
• Add a state model and transitions
• Implement process flow and UI actions with a state model
• Installed with State Model
• Locale settings
• Session and reference currency
• Single-currency mode
• Price fields
• Default currency values in forms
• Default currency values in reports
• Default currency values in lists
• Default currency values in import and export
• Default currency values in scripts
• Schedule the rate update job
• Use your own currency-conversion rates
• Control default currency field configuration and use in an instance
• Change default currency decimal places
• Configure default currency fields in audit records
• Configure the currency optimizer
• Updating the Currency Instance record
• Understanding how FX Currency field conversions work
• Life cycle of records containing FX Currency fields
• Dot-walkable Currency Instance fields
• Understanding FX Currency values in lists and reports
• Add conversion rates using a custom rate table
• Configuring FX Currency global settings
• Add an FX Currency field to a table
• Identify the FX Currency field and its display parameters
• Set the reference currency
• Specify the rate table and date source for currency conversions
• Select the rate and target table fields used for filtering
• FX Currency values in import and export
• Define locales
• Activate a language
• Set the default language for an instance
• Set a fallback language
• Configure a language as reading from right to left
• Map languages and regions with the language selector widget
• User specific language
• Languages table
• Translated Name / Field table
• Message table
• Field Label table
• Choices table
• Translated text table
• Debug translations
• Localize price fields
• Set up locations
• System localization properties
• List non-translated items
• Create a new choice record
• Create a new language record
• Translate a client script message
• Translate a field label
• Translate a field value
• Translating text fields
• Translate a related list name
• Import a translation from an Excel spreadsheet
• Translate to an unsupported language
• Translating the knowledge base
• Translating Service Catalog cart labels
• Activate Localization Framework
• Components installed with Localization Framework
• Localization Framework support for Service Catalog items
• Virtual Agent Designer integration with Localization Framework
• Localization Framework support for Natural Language Understanding models
• Localization Framework support for Surveys
• Localization Framework support for Knowledge Base
• Localization Framework support for email notifications
• Localization Framework support for HR Service Delivery
• Create and configure a custom artifact
• Create a processor script
• Processor script functions
• Create a UI action for the custom artifact
• Read script helper functions for LFDocumentContentBuilder
• Create a custom email subflow
• RWS Translation Management System spoke
• Configure RWS TMS in the Localization Framework
• XTM Translation Management System spoke
• Configure XTM TMS in the Localization Framework
• Integrate with a translation management system
• Create a custom translation management system
• Configure the Localization Framework preferences
• Localization Framework Roles
• Workflows in the Localization Framework
• Creating Localization Project
• Adding localization request items to a project
• Request translations for Service Catalog items
• Request adhoc translation for Service Catalog items
• States of localization projects and tasks
• Translation modes
• Fulfill a localization task
• Approve a localization task
• Error messages in the Localization Framework
• Request translations from Insights Dashboard
• Activate Dynamic Translation
• Dynamic Translation properties
• DynamicTranslation API
• Create a credential for the MicrosoftTranslation alias
• Create a connection for the MicrosoftTranslation alias
• Activate the Microsoft translator configuration
• Create a credential for the IBMTranslation alias
• Create a connection for the IBMTranslation alias
• Activate the IBM translator configuration
• Create a Java KeyStore certificate
• Attach a Java KeyStore certificate to Google Cloud Translator Service spoke
• Create a JWT signing key for Google Cloud Translator Service spoke
• Create a JWT provider for Google Cloud Translator Service spoke
• Configure the credential for the GoogleTranslation alias
• Configure the connection attributes for the GoogleTranslation alias
• Access Dynamic Translation spoke actions from the Flow Designer
• Actions in Dynamic Translation spoke
• Language Detection spoke
• Create a translator configuration
• Create a language code mapping
• Migrate to version v3 of a translator configuration
• Limitations in Dynamic Translation
• Enable dynamic translation for a field
• Error messages in Dynamic Translation
• Translate a knowledge article from a translation task
• Dynamic Translation for Agent Chat overview
• Request for domain separation in Dynamic Translation
• Personalize the system date format
• Personalize the system time format
• Configure the date picker for the list editor
• Time worked
• Display resolve time as a duration
• Export date and time formats
• Default schedules
• Create a holiday schedule for multiple regions
• Parent and child schedules
• Schedule fields
• Schedule entry fields
• Schedule for the fifth instance of a week date
• Repeat a monthly schedule
• Invoke the Schedule page and view a calendar
• Schedule calendar
• Domain support and schedules
• Automate generation and distribution of a report
• Automatically generate something from a template
• Automatically run a script of your choosing
• Special cases in job schedules
• View a schedule item
• Event registry
• Register an event
• Escalation intervals and pause conditions
• Create a business calendar
• Create a business calendar group
• Define business calendar entries
• Define business calendar filtering options
• Pair business calendars with packages
• Activate Fiscal Calendar plugin
• Generate a fiscal calendar
• View, modify, and validate fiscal periods
• Set a system time zone
• Change the time zone choice list
• Change a time zone in a scheduled report
• Change a time zone in a scheduled data import
• Define a relative duration
• Use a relative duration
• Metric definitions
• Time configuration SLAs
• Time worked fields
• Create a timeline page
• Customize the timeline page span style
• Timeline sub item
• Display a metric as a timeline
• Make a timeline visible to a selected user
• Range calculator scripts
• Changes in perspective
• Managing spans
• Components installed with Client Transaction Timings
• Timing values
• Predictive Intelligence for Contextual Search
• Features of Search administration
• Exploring Search Suggestions
• Schedule the Build Search Suggestions script
• Schedule suggestion pruning
• Set maximum age for searches used in suggestion generation
• Test regular expression patterns in Search Suggestion Exclusion List Rule entries
• Analyze search relevancy
• Use the GraphQL REST API to view suggestions created from external user searches
• Search Suggestions tables
• Domain separation and Search Suggestions
• Search signal tables
• Features of Zing text indexing and search engine
• Global search displays a page of matching results
• Default display fields for global search tables
• Search settings filter and group global search results by table
• Global search displays exact matching records
• Global search displays your most recent search queries and results in Next Experience UI
• Configure parallel processing of search groups
• Revert to the legacy global search UI
• Set the preview limit for global or workspace search in Next Experience UI
• Hide per-table search result counts in Next Experience UI
• Add a workspace application to the Unified Navigation search context menu
• Update a type-ahead suggestion
• Configure "Did you mean?" suggestions
• List search finds records from the current table
• Boolean operators allow conditional search results
• Quotation marks allow exact phrase searches
• Wildcard characters allow searching for patterns and variations
• Enable or disable the Zing junk filter
• Zing generates search results in four phases
• Zing filters search results with access controls
• Score search terms by inverse document frequency (IDF)
• Set the relative weight of a field
• Zing indexes punctuation as part of some words
• Zing indexes some HTML elements
• Configure a table for indexing and searching
• Configure a text index group to search across multiple tables
• Zing index and search dictionary attributes
• Reindex a table without impacting text search results
• Regenerate the text index for a single record
• Remove an index
• Remove an index for a specific field
• Remove the text index for a child table
• Change the query mode of an indexed table
• Text indexing statistics and status
• Configure tables to use the Japanese tokenizer
• Configure a global stop word
• Configure a table-specific stop word
• Enable automatic stop words for a table
• Disable a stop word in Zing
• Zing matches derived words with stemming
• Enable search synonyms
• Create synonym dictionaries
• Select synonym dictionaries for a table
• Disable synonyms for a table
• Debug synonym searches
• Enable and disable Search Suggestions in Zing
• Set the maximum number of suggestions Zing displays
• Installed with Zing
• Exploring AI Search
• Assign roles to AI Search administrators and users
• Create an indexed source
• Indexed source retention policies and filter conditions
• Indexed source attributes
• Field settings
• Perform a full table index or reindex for a single indexed source
• Perform a full table index or reindex for multiple indexed sources
• Create a search source
• Preview matching records for a search source
• Create a search profile
• Link a search source to a search profile
• Publish a search profile
• Create a synonym dictionary linked to a search profile
• Create synonyms
• Clone a synonym dictionary
• Link a synonym dictionary to a search profile
• Unlink a synonym dictionary from a search profile
• Delete a synonym dictionary
• Create a stop word dictionary linked to a search profile
• Create stop words
• Clone a stop word dictionary
• Link a stop word dictionary to a search profile
• Unlink a stop word dictionary from a search profile
• Delete a stop word dictionary
• Modify settings for a typo handling dictionary
• Exclude a term from a typo handling dictionary
• Default Genius Result configurations
• Activate Q&A Genius Results
• Activate People Genius Results
• Link a Genius Result configuration to a search profile
• Set the evaluation order for Genius Result configurations in a search profile
• Create a Genius Result configuration
• Link an NLU model and intents to a Genius Result configuration
• Create a result improvement rule
• Boost search results using a result improvement rule
• Block search results and Genius Results using a result improvement rule
• Promote search results using a result improvement rule
• Create a search application configuration for AI Search
• Create a facet in an AI Search application configuration
• Configure navigation tabs in an AI Search application configuration
• Auto-complete suggestions in AI Search applications
• Using search scripted post-processors in AI Search application configurations
• Search result sort options in AI Search application configurations
• Enabling and configuring AI Search in Now Platform applications
• Enable automatic domain updates for a referenced table
• Request the External Content for AI Search plugin
• Create an external content schema table
• Defining access permissions for external documents
• Mapping external users and groups to Now Platform users
• Components installed with External Content for AI Search
• Configure AI Search Assist for a record producer
• AI Search Assist admin role
• AI Search Assist properties
• Domain separation and AI Search Assist
• Using AI Search
• Lemma and Unicode normalization
• Internationalization support for AI Search
• Machine learning relevancy in AI Search
• Content security in AI Search
• Encrypted fields in AI Search
• View AI Search ingestion log messages
• View all AI Search log messages
• Review ingestion history for an indexed source
• Enable session debugging for AI Search
• Diagnose search result access issues using the Search Preview UI
• Debug search source and content security filters
• Debug external content security filters for a Now Platform user
• Review record counts for indexed sources
• Plugins installed with AI Search
• Components installed with AI Search
• AI Search system properties
• Now Platform tables excluded from AI Search indexing
• Variable types supported by AI Search indexing
• AI Search index fields
• AI Search External Search User Mapping Table Data Source Relationship form
• AI Search Genius Result Configuration form
• AI Search Genius Result Configuration NLU Model Mapping form
• AI Search Results Improvement Rule form
• Child Table form
• Dictionary and AI Search Dictionary forms
• Dictionary Term form
• Field Setting form
• Indexed Source form
• Indexed Source Attribute form
• Indexed Source History form
• Navigation Tab form
• Record Producer Configuration form
• Rule - Action Mapping form
• Search Application Configuration form
• Search Profile form
• Search Profile - Dictionary Mapping form
• Search Profile - Genius Result Mapping form
• Search Profile - Search Source Mapping form
• Search Scripted Post-processors form
• Search Source form
• Sort Option form
• Suggestion Reader Group form
• Activate the Performance Analytics and Reporting Solution for Advanced AI Search Management Tools
• AI Search Profile dashboard
• AI Search dashboard
• Create a cross-scope access privilege for the AI Search dashboards
• Customize the banner logo for the AI Search Analytics dashboard
• Configure Service Portal to send analytics data
• Search Preview UI for AI Search
• Advanced AI Search Management Tools reference
• Install AI Search for Next Experience
• Verify that your instance meets the prerequisites for AI Search for Next Experience
• Migrate Zing search application configurations to AI Search
• Enable AI Search for Next Experience
• Add a new Unified Navigation workspace search configuration to AI Search for Next Experience
• Revert to Zing as the Unified Navigation search engine
• Repair AI Search for Next Experience after activating a new Now Platform language
• Enable search-based auto-complete suggestions in AI Search for Next Experience
• Using AI Search for Next Experience
• AI Search for Next Experience reference
• Components installed with Contextual Search
• Contextual search concepts
• Contextual search components diagram
• Contextual search properties
• Define a search context
• Configure table for a contextual search
• Create a filter configuration using mapping
• Create a filter configuration using scripts
• Configure search resource context properties
• Set a search context as default
• Set the default source for search context
• View a searcher
• Show the related search box in a form
• Add multiple search fields for contextual search
• Add additional resources to the source selector of a form
• Edit search resource display field record
• Specify fields for the Cxs_popup view
• Modify or disable search actions available for contextual search
• Enable viewing of search results for the current and another selected user
• Define contextual search for record producer
• Provide knowledge in incident email notification
• Edit an email notification for the search results
• Specify field for attached Knowledge article links
• Run a report on contextual search usage
• Domain separation and Contextual Search
• Intelligent Search for CMDB
• Event states
• The incident events business rule
• Sample scripts from the change events business rule
• Script actions
• Global events
• Create an event
• Reprocess an event
• Pass event parameters from a workflow to a notification
• Unique record identifier (sys_id)
• Create an archive rule
• Create a destroy rule
• Archive rule and destroy rule properties
• Manage archived data
• Data archive table size limits
• Data migration process for archiving table data from non-reference fields to reference fields
• Export limits
• Form export
• Determining which list fields are exported
• Use a URL query to filter a list result
• Query parameters for display value and header
• Export Set fields for display value and header
• System properties for display value and header
• Field types affected by export controls
• Default values for column headers and column values
• Exporting currency fields to Excel
• Call URL export programmatically
• Break up a large export
• Enable export debug logging
• Import an XML file
• Create an export set from a list
• Create an export definition
• Export set supported file types
• Schedule an export
• Cancel an export set
• Export Set properties
• Import sets key concepts
• Concurrent imports
• Processing custom CSV files
• Importing JSON files
• FTP data source extended properties
• JDBC type data source
• LDAP type data source
• Data Stream (Integration Hub) data source
• Custom (Load by Script) type data source
• Create a File type data source
• Create a JDBC type data source
• Create an LDAP type data source
• Create an OIDC type data source
• Define action properties
• Create a Data Stream (Integration Hub) type data source
• Create a Custom (Load by Script) type data source
• Data source fields
• Transformation script variables
• Map with explicit transform map scripts
• Map with transformation event scripts
• Create a robust import set transformer
• Robust import set transformer properties
• Create robust transform definitions
• Temporary entity model
• Define ETL entities
• Define ETL entity mappings
• Create ETL entity field definitions
• Define Robust Transform Engine operations
• Import run details
• Updating records using coalesce
• Standard import set tables
• Import sets maximum row size
• Create a transform map
• Mapping options
• Create a field map
• Field map script variables
• Run an import
• Importing date/time values
• Review the import set
• Viewing the import log
• Import run history
• Scheduled data import scripting options
• Monitor scheduled data import executions
• Monitor concurrent import sets
• Monitor concurrent import set jobs
• Posting a CSV file - Perl and Java examples
• Delete import sets
• Delete import set tables
• Import sets properties
• Creating an import set web service
• Web service import set mode
• Inserting multiple records using insertMultiple
• Web service import sets security requirements
• Download an import template
• Add a record in the template
• Update a record in the template
• Import a record from the template
• Show reference fields as lists in Excel templates
• Easy import template validation
• Easy import properties
• Troubleshoot import set performance
• XML records from lists
• Create an XML data source to another instance
• Add onBefore scripts to the transform map
• Retrieving data from a CSV formatted file
• Create a clone target
• Exclude a table from cloning
• Data preservation on cloning target instances
• Clone profiles for clone requests
• Cancel a clone
• Schedule cloning
• Modify cloning schedules
• View clone status
• View clone history
• Roll back a clone
• Post-clone cleanup scripts
• Activate database rotation
• Activate table cleanup
• Mark records for deletion
• Preview affected records for deletion
• Schedule or execute a job to delete records
• Rollback a delete job
• Mark records for updating
• Schedule or execute a job to update records
• Rollback an update job
• Domain separation and Data Management
• Set up Google Maps API
• Activate a supported Microsoft SCCM plugin
• SCCM data import process and source tables
• Configure the SCCM integration and schedule an import
• Activate SCCM Asset Intelligence scheduled imports
• Upgrade the SCCM integration version
• Migrate the Verizon eBonding Integration to a Production System
• Request Google custom search integration
• Legacy Import set data for Altiris
• Legacy: Web services import set tables for Altiris
• Computer Telephony Integration
• Integrating ServiceNow with your Intranet
• Direct JDBC Probe
• JDBC Probes via Data Source
• Select * JDBC Probe short cut
• Using the Work Element
• Build a search provider for your instance
• Syslog probe
• Domain separation in third-party application and data source integration
• Deactivate the validation script during user creation
• User self-registration
• User preferences
• Create a user group
• Configure group types for assignment groups
• Hide groups
• Special administrative roles
• Read-only role
• Create a role
• Add a role to an existing role
• Assign a role to a group
• Assign a role to a user
• Define role delegators and delegate roles
• Prevent a role from being delegated
• User administration system properties
• Audit user roles
• Security jump start - ACL rules
• Impersonate a user
• Manage user sessions
• Non-interactive sessions
• Add a new company
• Add a department
• Application Usage Overview dashboard
• ServiceNow Store Usage Overview dashboard
• Implementing Normalization Data Services using guided setup
• Normalized Company Names table
• Normalized Mappings table
• Normalization Properties
• Change a normalized company name
• Define a metric
• Sample field value duration script
• Metric instance
• Response time on forms
• Network response times
• Browser settings and performance
• Slow mutex locks record detail
• Slow events log record detail
• Slow scripts log record detail
• Slow interactions log record detail
• Slow transactions log record detail
• Use a slow query log
• Generate an index suggestion for a slow query
• Review index suggestions for slow queries
• Export an index suggestion to a non-production instance
• Schedule an index suggestion for creation
• Test index performance
• Schedule an index to be dropped
• Create a transaction call chain register
• Review a transaction call chain
• View and kill active transaction
• Canceled-transaction logging to a table
• Import set performance
• Thread performance monitoring
• ServiceNow Performance dashboards
• Asynchronous Message Bus (AMB)
• Instance View
• MySQL Global Status
• ServiceNow Servlet
• Slow Pattern
• Application Insights overview graphs and metrics
• Application Insights detail graphs and metrics
• Monitoring users and transaction performance through Application Insights
• Monitoring semaphore queue efficiency through Application Insights
• Monitoring database performance through Application Insights
• Monitoring event queue efficiency through Application Insights
• Monitoring MID server performance through Application Insights
• Troubleshoot a slow pattern
• Troubleshoot a scheduled job through Application Insights
• Application Insights p1 prediction model
• Configure Application Insights thresholds
• Configure Application Insights threshold triggers
• Components installed with Application Insights
• Application Insights properties
• Apply table rotation
• View a table hierarchy and the extension model
• Add a module to test connection speed
• Add variable information to the cancellation message
• Enable transaction quota debugging
• Configure a transaction quota rule
• Example system log messages
• Modify the transaction cancellation page
• Application-quota property
• Configure an application-quota rule
• Use table extension
• Create an operational toggle
• Create an operational toggle level to define thresholds
• Create run level toggle mapping
• Resolve a skipped update and set a resolution status
• Skipped Changes Reviewed related list
• Revert a customization
• Changes Applied related list
• Claim Outcomes to Review related list
• Upgrade Details related list
• Upgrade Monitor overview
• Factors affecting upgrade duration
• Upgrade Monitor
• Upgrade Progress
• Upgrade Summary Report
• System Upgrades form
• Upgrade Details form
• Resolve Conflicts form
• Enable and use debug upgrade
• Upgrade Preview module
• Upgrade Monitor schedule states
• Building your Upgrade Plan
• Refreshing your Upgrade Plan
• Installing your Upgrade Plan
• Preview Upgrade Plan
• Review skipped records with upgrade plan
• Upgrade History module
• View previewed upgrade
• Preview predicted changes
• View loaded files for a plugin
• System Upgrade form
• Upgrade details form
• Review skipped records using related lists
• Upgrade History Task form
• Update default labels in VTB view
• View import history
• Quick access to plugins and history records
• Explore upgrade history log
• Upgrade Center VTB Labels list
• Release version :  Tokyo Washington DC Vancouver Utah
• Updated Aug 4, 2022
• 1 minute read
• Table Administration

The instance can automatically assign a task to a user or group based on pre-defined conditions by using data lookup rules and assignment rules.

Best Practices - Business Rules

• Use Async Business Rules whenever possible
• Use Display Business Rules to pass data from the server-side to the client-side during a form load
• Write condition statements in the Condition field and not in the script so unnecessary scripts do not run
• Choose an appropiate debugging strategy for your situation
• Add the Description field to the Business Rule form to document for yourself and others what the rule does
• Comment your scripts!!!

results matching " "

No results matching " ".

Communication between UI Actions and Business Rules

This is a quick and dirty way to pass data from a UI action to a Business rule.

It’s just a proof of concept. Don’t use it. It might break at any point.

If you think you need to use this, you are probably dealing with a poor design. Review the process and why you want to do this.

I’ve used it only once in 10 years and I couldn’t sleep well until that script disappeared from the production instance.

The (weird) requirements

You have a UI action in the Problem form that updates its related incidents.

You have a Business rule in the Incident that adds a comment when the Incident is updated.

The comment will indicate if the update was either triggered by that UI Action or by something else.

In the UI Action (Problem)

Add a temporary property to the GlideRecord object.

Notice that there is no need to create a new field in the table.

You are modifying the object in runtime.

In the Business Rule (Incident)

Check the temporary property in your business rule and add a different comment depending on the trigger.

Updating the Incident using the UI Action in the Problem form

Updating the incident directly in the incident form, conclusions.

• This is a weird workaround and can be confusing for somebody else and even for your future self.
• Try other approaches if possible.
• If you ignore my warnings and implement it, at least comment the code and document it very clearly.

Related Posts

Sn, snow, sn, snow, servicesnow, open selected records in a new window.

The Snowball

A ServiceNow Blog & Newsletter

Restricting Access – ACL vs. Before Query Business Rule

How To Prohibit Access When most ServiceNow Admins think about granting or restricting access, the first thing that comes to mind is ACL (Access Control Rule) configuration. And usually, they would be correct. ACL’s are …

Written by: Team Snowball

Published on: August 11, 2021

Buy The 'ServiceNow Developer Manual' Here!

Buy The " ServiceNow Developer's Manual " Now

We've packed over a decade of ServiceNow Development advice, into a single e-book.

The Snowball will contribute 5% of your purchase to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere.

Table of Contents

How To Prohibit Access

When most ServiceNow Admins think about granting or restricting access, the first thing that comes to mind is ACL (Access Control Rule) configuration.

And usually, they would be correct. ACL’s are the preferred way to allow access to data in ServiceNow for in-memory caching and performance reasons.

Due to performance related issues that have been reported, we do not recommend using Before / Query business rules on large tables. Use them sparingly and use ACL’s whenever possible.

A Before / Query business rule is more infrequently used, but has a lot of power in the system. But due to the negative performance a poorly constructed Before / Query business rule can have on your environment, make sure you understand the performance implications before building out your own custom Before / Query business rules.

ACL’s are cached but business rules run each time a table is accessed.

The next time you’re debugging an ACL and cannot seem to find the answer there, check out the business rules that are executing before the query runs, and see if your access related issues lies there instead.

When learning new features in the ServiceNow platform, it can be super helpful to see what comes out of box. As you know it’s written by ServiceNow, the code will be clean and properly written.

Below, we’ll review an out of box business rule that runs before a table is queried by an end user.

Creating A Before Query Business Rule

restrictIncidents(); function restrictIncidents() { if (!gs.hasRole(“itil”) && !gs.hasRole(“sn_incident_read”) && gs.isInteractive()) { //Do NOT restrict Incidents if SPM premium plugin is active AND user has the service_viewer role. if (GlidePluginManager.isActive(‘com.snc.spm’) && gs.hasRole(‘service_viewer’)) return; var u = gs.getUserID(); current.addQuery(“caller_id”, u).addOrCondition(“opened_by”, u).addOrCondition(“watch_list”, “CONTAINS”, u); } }

The above business rule ships with every ServiceNow instance.

You can find it by searching for ‘incident query’ on the business rule table.

It prohibits access to only allow end users to see a limited set of incident records. I think that most customers still have this business rule activated, or they’ve had to modify it slightly.

Timing is everything in life AND in ServiceNow. Milliseconds matter and it’s crucial to understand exactly when different processes are triggered. It separates the good from the great.

A before query business rule, is executed, before the query runs whenever a user is attempting to access rows in a table (data).

Think about this Before / Query concept for a minute, if this is your first time seeing this.

A user is in ServiceNow and they select a list view to see incidents, for example. Before the user is able to see a single incident record, ServiceNow finds all of the Before / Query business rules, and executes them, from lowest order number to highest order number.

What is returned as true from this query, is shown or exposed to the end user who is trying to access the data.

This is done with by building a query and returning select records, and then showing these records.

The important line in this before business rule is:

current.addQuery(“caller_id”, u).addOrCondition(“opened_by”, u).addOrCondition(“watch_list”, “CONTAINS”, u);

This essentially states the following in English terms:

If the current user trying to access the record matches the Caller ID, Opened By or is on the Watch List, let them see the record. This can obviously be modified to your needs, especially if you have custom fields, etc.

For all other records, don’t allow them access.

So this before query business rule makes sense as an out of box configuration on the incident table.

For ITIL users, this business rule is skipped, as you can see on the previous lines. This is covered by skipping the query build in the IF Statement.

Performance

ACL’s are cached and Before / Query business rules are run each time data is attempted to be accessed.

When you create an ACL in ServiceNow, they can be cached and are stored in local memory for a faster retrieval.

However when you run a business rule, these can’t be stored in-memory, so they are executed constantly. Every time the table is attempted to be accessed – the query is run. This can cause a strain on your database if you have thousands of users attempting to access the same data repeatedly. This type of database strain is just unnecessary, especially when it can be accomplished with a much better design using in-memory caching (with ACL’s, which is out of box).

When considering performance in ServiceNow, don’t always do “what works” for one user. Make sure that you’re building out your solution so it scales for your organization size. 

When you do decide to use a Before / Query business rule, try to make it as simple as possible, and make sure that it’s used on a smaller table. 

Say that you have an incident table with a million records. You absolutely do not want to run a Before / Query business rule here, because each time you do so, you are putting tremendous and unneccessary strain on your database – further slowing the system down. 

Certain GlideRecord query operators have larger performance impacts on your database than others. The CONTAINS operator for example has a larger performance impact on your database query than just a simple matching query.

Troubleshooting access related issues increases with the more Before / Query business rules your organization decides to implement. And because scripts can call other scripts, it can become difficult quickly to understand how access is being prohibited. 

Use a Before / Query business rule, only when necessary – use ACL’s for access restriction instead.

ACL’s For Restricting Access – The Preferred Method

ACL’s should be your first “go to” solution when trying to restrict access to certain records in ServiceNow. 

ServiceNow has changed over the years, as initially, all data was open to all users. You then had to lock data down with an ACL. Now the opposite is true, and this has been the case for more than 10 years. All data is locked down and access is prohibited.

ServiceNow Admin’s have to open and grant access to records and fields with ACL’s.

The previously mentioned business rule can, instead, be attained by creating an ACL on the incident table. I’m honestly not 100% certain why one would choose a Before / Query business rule OVER an ACL at this point, for restricting access – if you can come up with a solid reason that is performant, do let us know below. Before / Query business rules can be used for other features than just restricting access, so that’s probably why ServiceNow still allows this functionality.

It’s unclear that if ServiceNow was to “redo” this business rule, if they’d instead just convert it to an ACL instead. This business rule was written in 2005 by Fred Luddy (Founder of ServiceNow). And as the platform has changed and matured over the years, so have the solutions that are implemented to acheive certain results. Many platform related performance issues have changed in the last 16 years. It is likely that Before / Query business rules would be removed and that all access related behavior would be managed entirely with ACL’s. 

While restricting access with a Before / Query business rule is not our first go to, give it a try and see what you’re able to accomplish with them.

Does your company use Before / Query business rules?

Let us know why or why not below.

What Do You Think About This Article?

Do you have any data to support your claim that query BR’s are less performant than read ACL’s? Thinking in terms of lists, which is where most people start, applying a ‘simple’ filter behind the scenes before fetching records seems far more efficient than pulling back everything then evaluating conditions for each record returned via ACL’s. Even the SN docs site mentions it; “Before Query business rules run before access control lists (ACLs) and perform better in general. This is true especially when you limit the returned results to those users in service provider (SP) environments who have access to several domains in the system.”

Around 2020, I was told by SN staff that Before Queries are better performing as they run on the DB and not on the app server.

About Team Snowball

How To View Who Is Logged Into Your ServiceNow Environment

How to create a user in servicenow.

Your browser or one of your plugins is not allowing JavaScript to be run. This is a bummer since the ServiceNow Developers Site is dynamic and depends on JavaScript to function. If you want to visit this site, please disable the plugin, activate this site for JavaScript or use another browser.

The Now Platform® Washington DC release is live. Watch now!

ServiceNow Community servicenow community

• English (US)
• English (UK)
• Portuguese (Brazilian)

• ServiceNow Community
• IT Service Management
• Incident Management forum
• Can't see the "When" field in the business rule fo...
• Subscribe to RSS Feed
• Mark Question as New
• Mark Question as Read
• Float this Question for Current User
• Printer Friendly Page

Can't see the "When" field in the business rule form

• Mark as New
• Report Inappropriate Content

‎07-31-2023 10:26 PM

Solved! Go to Solution.

‎07-31-2023 10:29 PM

View solution in original post

• All forum topics
• Previous Question
• Next Question

‎09-30-2023 08:34 AM

• UI Policy not working properly for values set by catalog client scripts in ITSM forum 26m ago
• Display contents of a HTML field from change form in email body in ITSM forum an hour ago
• Issue with the Business rule , how can I fix the code ? in ITSM forum yesterday
• Filed value updated through display Business Rule is not updated in list in ITSM forum yesterday
• reference qualifier taking a lot of time to show data in Incident Management forum yesterday