Setting Up the ServiceChannel Application for ServiceNow

Owned by Joseph Yarborough (Unlicensed)
Last updated: May 17, 2021 by Anastasiya Dashuk (Unlicensed)
6 min read

Before You Start

To use the ServiceChannel-ServiceNow integration, your company needs to have Service Automation and an instance of ServiceNow where you can install the ServiceChannel Facilities Management app. This app serves as a connector between the ServiceChannel and ServiceNow platforms and can be downloaded from the ServiceNow store.

A ServiceNow administrator from your company with the ServiceNow HI access needs to request and configure the app for installation on the ServiceNow store. Once the app is linked to your instance, the ServiceChannel Facilities Management application is listed in the ServiceNow Application Manager. An administrator can install and upgrade the ServiceChannel Facilities Management app from the Application Manager.

The Application Manager in ServiceNow

For the ServiceChannel-ServiceNow integration, there are two roles available — user role and admin role.

 Click here to find out more about the roles.
RoleDescriptionAvailable Sections

User role

[x_serch_scc.user]

ServiceNow users with the application user role. They can create work orders in ServiceNow and view ServiceChannel work orders, but only for locations associated with their connection.
  • Work Orders
  • Connection > My Connection

Admin role

[x_serch_scc.admin]

ServiceNow users with the application admin role who have full access to all functionality.
  • Work Orders
  • Connection
  • Data
  • Administration
  • Configuration
  • Support

Setting Up the Integration

There are several steps that you should take to connect the two platforms together:

  1. Obtain the client ID and client secret.
  2. Configure system properties in ServiceNow.
  3. Set up a service account.
  4. Import the data.
  5. Configure the status types.
  6. Import users.
  7. Import work orders.

Obtain the Client ID and Client Secret

For the ServiceNow application to talk to Service Automation, you need to provide ServiceNow with a system identifier and password required for security and authentication. These are known as the client ID and client secret.

⦿ How to Get the Client ID and Client Secret
  1. In Service Automation, navigate to Admin > Permissions > API Integration.
  2. Find the required client ID and client secret. If they are not present, click Add new client. Fill out all the required fields in the overlay to receive the client ID and client secret. Learn more about registering an API application on the developer portal.

A ServiceNow-ServiceChannel Connection is required for users to submit work orders in ServiceNow. To allow creating user Connections automatically via the single sign-on service (SSO), do the following:

  1. In Service Automation, specify a Callback URI for your API client. The URI should look like this: https://{host}.service-now.com/api/x_serch_scc/sc_auth/token, where {host} is the host of the ServiceNow instance.
  2. In ServiceNow, configure the below settings in Administration > System Properties:
    1. Enable SSO Support for the current client by selecting Yes.
    2. Enter the Cobrander ID (cid) for the current client. Contact ServiceChannel to get your Cobrander ID.

With this configuration in place, when a user first opens the page for creating a work order, a Connection for the ServiceChannel app is automatically created for them.

Configure System Properties

Now it’s time to adjust system properties in ServiceNow.

⦿ How to Configure System Properties
  1. In ServiceNow, navigate to Administration > System Properties, and specify the following:
    1. Enter the Subscriber ID for the current client, which is the identifier of your company in ServiceChannel.
    2. Add the obtained client ID and client secret to the Default Client ID and Default Client Secret fields. These client ID and client secret are used as default values when creating Connections.
    3. In the System URL list, select the ServiceChannel environment you are connecting to: either one of the Sandbox environments or Production.
      Configuring system properties in ServiceNow

Set Up a Service Account

Once you have adjusted system properties, you need to add a service account.

A service account is a user account in Service Automation that is used to download all the data and pull work order updates into ServiceNow. It should be able to read all data in Service Automation. Your user within the ServiceChannel platform should have the following:

  • All permissions turned on
  • Access to all trades
  • Super Admin secondary role enabled
  • Be assigned a Dashboard

Learn more about configuring permissions and granting Dashboard access to a ServiceChannel user.

⦿ How to Create a Service Account
  1. Navigate to Connection > Create New, and select the Service account checkbox.
  2. In the User list, select a ServiceNow user for whom you want to create a service account, and then enter their ServiceChannel user ID and password.
  3. Click Connect.

Creating a service account

Once the user account is connected, you see a notice that the data sync is in progress. After a few seconds, the connection status changes to OK if everything has worked correctly. You may need to refresh the page.

We recommend creating a user account in ServiceNow specifically for the service account. This account is used for importing data. It is impossible to have more than one service account.

Import the Data

Once the system properties and service account are set up, and the service account is connected with the OK status, the data from Service Automation should be imported to ServiceNow.

The data load can take anywhere from several minutes up to a few hours and is best handled by a ServiceNow administrator or with the assistance of a ServiceChannel implementation manager.

⦿ How to Start the Import
  1. Navigate to Connection > Service Account, and click Import All Data under Related Links.

Importing data from ServiceChannel

A series of scheduled jobs is used to import the following data:

  • Statuses
  • Categories
  • Priorities
  • Trades

An administrator can see these requests in the Administration > HTTP Requests module. When no more TradePoller requests are being created, the import is complete.

Configure the Status Types

Once the status records have been imported, you should choose which statuses are default, which act as canceled, and which ones should require feedback.

⦿ How to Set Up the Status Types
  1. As a system administrator or application administrator, navigate to Data > Status.
  2. Edit the status records that have been created:
    1. Choose the status that should be used when a new work order is created, for example, Open. Open the record, and change the Type to Default.
    2. Choose the status that should be used when a work order has been canceled, for example, Completed/Canceled. Open the record, and change its Type to Canceled.
    3. Choose the status or statuses that should allow the feedback to be given, for example, Completed / Pending Confirmation. Open the record, and select the Show feedback checkbox.

Import Users

Now that all configurations are in place, you can start importing users.

Connections required for users to create work orders in ServiceNow are automatically created upon import. A Connection is set up for users who have the same user ID or email in both ServiceChannel and ServiceNow. A user can view their Connection in Connection > My Connection.

⦿ How to Import Users
  1. Navigate to Configuration > Pollers, and click the SC - Import Users from SC poller.
  2. On the poller page, click Execute Now.
    Executing the Import Users poller
  3. The import process can take some time. You can see UserPoller and LocationPoller requests in the Administration > HTTP Requests module. When no more requests are being created, the user import is complete.
  4. (Recommended) To allow ServiceNow to automatically fetch new users from ServiceChannel and create relevant Connections, activate the user import poller to run at the specified frequency. To do this:
    1. On the poller page, select the Active checkbox.
    2. In the Run list, select how often the poller should run. The recommended frequency is Daily. It is best practice to have the poller run outside of business hours, such as at midnight — when employees are not actively using the application.
    3. Specify the Time when the request should be executed, for example, at midnight.
    4. Click Update to save the changes.

You can run the user import poller at any time to retrieve newly created users.

Import Work Orders

The final step is importing work orders from ServiceChannel.

⦿ How to Import Work Orders
  1. Navigate to Configuration > Pollers, and click the SC - Import Work Orders poller.
  2. On the poller page, click Execute Now.
    Executing the Import Work Orders poller    The import process can take some time. You can see WorkOrderPoller and NotePoller requests in the Administration > HTTP Requests module. When no more requests are being created, the work order import is complete.
  3. To allow ServiceNow to automatically fetch new work orders from ServiceChannel, activate the work order import poller. To do this:
    1. On the poller page, select the Active checkbox.
    2. In the Run list, select Periodically.
    3. Set up the poller to run every 3 minutes by specifying the number of minutes next to Repeat Interval. 3 minutes is the recommended frequency, but you can change it to the value you need.
    4. Click Update to save the changes.
      Setting up the Import Work Orders poller to run every 3 minutes

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