CSA Study Sheet Night #2 Flashcards
How can the system act based on email messages from users?
The system can send notifications (like email or text messages) to users or make system-level changes based on the content of the email, such as creating or updating an incident or change request.
What are the (2) types of actions the system can take in response to a user’s message?
1) Make changes to a system table.
2) Send the user an email message in reply.
When creating a new incident from a received message, what information is pulled from the message and populated into the new Incident?
The sender’s Name populates the “Caller” field, and the subject line becomes the “Short Description”.
Navigation: How do you access Email Notifications?
System Notification -> Email -> Notification
What does the “When to Send” tab indicate in the notification settings?
It shows the conditions that trigger the notification.
What can you determine from the “Who will receive” tab in the notification settings?
It displays who will receive the notification, allowing selection of individual users or groups.
What if you don’t want to specify receipients in the “Who will receive” tab in the notification settings?
You can make the notification “Subscribable” in the “Who will receive” tab.
Half Navigation: How can users manage their own notification settings and channels?
User Menu -> Preferences -> Notifications
Allows them to set subscription preferences, create different channels (like email and text), and categorize notifications.
What information is displayed in the “What will it contain” tab regarding notifications?
It presents the content of the notification itself.
What is the purpose of the “Select Variables” pane in the “What will it contain” tab regarding notifications?
It allows you to choose field values from the record to be included within the notification message.
Navigation: How do you create a new report?
Reports -> Create New
List the (4) main fields involved in creating reports.
Data > Type > Configure > Style
What do you define in the “Data Tab” when creating a report?
You define the Report Name, Source Type (either Data Source or Table), conditions for table data, and a report source which is a standard set of conditions for querying a table.
What do you define in the “Type Tab” when creating a report?
The visual format of the report (i.e., Bar Chart, Pie, Donut, Time Series, Multidimensional, Scores, etc.)
What configurations are available in the “Configure Tab” when creating a report?
It contains options for Group by, Stack by, Aggregation, and Max number of groups.
What does the “Style Tab” allow you to adjust when creating a report?
It contains formatting options such as: -General format
-Title
-Axis
-chat colors
-display/hide data labels
-chart size
-drilldown views
-decimal precision
What are the methods of Report sharing?
Direct sharing to specific users, via a schedule, adding to a dashboard, exporting to PDF, and publishing.
What permissions are required to use the Share and Publish options for reports?
The “report_admin” role is required to use the Share Option.
Both “report_publisher” and “report_admin” roles are required to publish a report.
What is the preferred method of sharing a report?
Direct Sharing
What is the purpose of “Performance Analytics” in ServiceNow?
They allow users to create dashboards with widgets to visualize data over time in order to identify areas of improvement.
How are “Performance Analytics (PA)” different from a regular report in ServiceNow?
Unlike a regular report, PA is an ongoing, iterative process that visualizes data over time using dashboards and widgets.
It helps users identify metrics, monitor them, and improve decision-making.
Define “Widget” in the context of Performance Analytics.
A saved view of an indicator or breakdown.
Define “Tables” in the context of Performance Analytics.
An indicator source that calculates scores.
Define “Data Collector” in the context of Performance Analytics.
Recurring jobs taking data snapshots.
Define “Dashboard” in the context of Performance Analytics.
A custom arrangement of widgets.
Navigation: After creating a report, where can it be found in ServiceNow?
All -> Reports -> View/Run -> Select “My Reports”
What is the foundational element upon which ServiceNow is built?
A relational database accessible through the Now Platform Next Experience.
In the ServiceNow infrastructure, how do tables, records, and fields relate?
Tables contain records, which correspond to rows in a table. Fields are individual pieces of data in a record, corresponding to columns in a table.
What do applications in ServiceNow use to manage data and processes?
Applications use tables and records to manage data and processes, such as Incident, Problem, and CMDB.
How can tables relate to each other in ServiceNow?
Tables can extend other tables, leading to Parent and Child table relationships.
Describe the purpose of the Schema Map in ServiceNow.
It provides a graphical representation of the relationships between tables.
What is the unique identifier for records in ServiceNow?
A 32-character, globally unique ID called a “sys_id”.
What are the (3) attributes of a field?
-Field Name
-Field Label
-Field Values
Describe what a “Field Name” is.
A system-friendly, unique term that the system uses to identify the field.
Describe what a “Field Label” is.
A user-friendly name which allows people to identify the field in the UI.
Describe what a “Field Value” is.
Actual data contained in the field.
Describe what a Reference Field does.
It takes information from one table (target table) to display on another table (source table).
It allows a user to select a record on a table defined by the reference field.
What are the (3) types of One-to-Many table relationships in ServiceNow?
-Reference Fields
-Glide List
-Document ID fields
Describe what a “Glide List” does.
Allows a user to select multiple records on a table defined by the glide list.
Describe what “Document ID Fields” do.
Allow a user to select a record on any table in the instance.
What is the Many-to-Many (M2M) relationship?
Two or more tables related in a bi-directional way, making related records visible from both tables in a related list.
What is the purpose of Database Views in ServiceNow?
It defines table joins for reporting purposes and can join multiple tables for a combined view.
Ex: A database View can join the Incident table to the Metric Definition and Metric Instance tables. This view can be used to report on incident metrics and may include fields from any of these (3) tables.
What happens when a table is extended in ServiceNow?
The extended table includes unique fields plus all of the fields and properties from the parent table.
What is a “Core” table?
A table that exists in the ServiceNow Base System.
Ex: Task, Incident, User.
What is a “Base” table?
A table that serves as a “base” from which other tables may extend. Base tables cannot be an extension of another table.
Ex: Task table
What is a “Parent” table?
A table that has children (extended by another table).
Ex: Task table is extended by Incident and Problem tables.
What are the (4) general functions an end user can perform on the ServiceNow platform?
CRUD
-Create
-Read
-Update
-Delete
What does User Authentication / Login refer to?
-Users
-Groups
-Roles
How is access to Application and Modules controlled in ServiceNow?
It’s controlled by roles configured at the Application and Module level.
What controls access to tables, their records, and fields in ServiceNow?
Globally defined system properties and table & field level access controls.
What is the default type of access on ServiceNow?
Deny Access.
Navigation: Name the (3) security modules in ServiceNow and how to access them.
All -> System Properties -> Security
All -> System Security -> Access Control (ACL)
All -> System Security -> High Security Settings
What is “Access Control”?
A security rule that restricts user’s permissions to view and interact with data. It can also limit specific operations on tables and fields.
What does the “Access Control (ACL)” contain?
It contains all of an instance’s Access Control rules and is managed by users with the security_admin role.
Can users with the “admin” role impersonate a “security_admin”?
No, users with the admin role cannot impersonate a “security_admin”.
Can non-admin users impersonate users with the admin role?
No, non-admin users cannot impersonate users with the admin role.
What challenges are associated with consolidating and maintain the CMDB?
-Capturing unknown CIs
-Inconsistent data quality
-ill-defined relationships
What management processes rely on the CMDB?
-Service Management
-Asset Management
-Operations Management
-etc.
The CMDB ITSELF is managed by the configuration management process.
Why do IT professionals use the ServiceNow CMDB?
To bring visibility to their IT landscape, make fact-based decisions, and provide business-critical IT services.
Define “Configuration Item (CI)”.
Any component that needs to be managed in order to deliver services. They include services and their underlying components like business applications and hardware.
Define “CI Record”.
It contains attribute data and ownership info.
What is the CMDB?
Its a logical model that identifies, controls, maintains, and verifies the configuration items that exist.
Which roles are required for access to CMDB tables?
-“asset”
-“itil”
-“itil_admin”
-“cmdb_read”
Identify the key system tables related to CMDB.
-cmdb
-cmdb_ci
-cmdb_rel_ci
What is the origin of CMDB?
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).
What is the function of the “CI Relationship Editor”?
It allows updating of Configuration Item Relationships.
Describe the “Discovery” tool in ServiceNow.
It scans the network to inventory devices and applications, then updates the CMDB with results for each unique hardware and software type.
What is “Service Mapping”?
A top-down discovery that augments the CMDB with IT relationships and dependencies between CIs to model the IT components that comprise a Service.
Define “CSDM”.
Common Service Data Model (CSDM).
A set of terms and definitions used with all ServiceNow products on the Now Platform.
What comprises the CSDM?
-Common Service
-Data Model
Define “Common Service” in terms of CSDM.
A standard set of shared service-related definitions across the products/platform enabling true service-level reporting.
Define “Data Model” in terms of CSDM.
A CMDB framework across our products and platform that will enable and support multiple configuration strategies.
What are the (5) benefits of the CSDM?
1) Demonstrating specific activities.
2) Listing in-scope and out-of-scope activities.
3) Detailing tables and configuration items (CIs) associated with use cases.
4) Describing use case benefits.
5) Tracking assets through their life-cycle transitions.
What is an Import Set?
A tool used to import data from various data sources and map that data into ServiceNow tables.
Navigation: How do you load an Import Set?
All -> System Import Sets -> Load Data
What roles can manage all aspects of Import Sets?
Users with the “admin” OR “import_admin” roles.
What are “Data Sources” in the context of Import Sets?
Records in ServiceNow containing information about an Import Set data source.
They can import data from the following:
-XML
-CSV
-Excel
-Git repo
-LDAP
-JDBC
What does “JDBC” stand for?
Java Database Connectivity (JDBC).
What is the purpose of an Import Set Table?
It acts as a staging area for records imported from a data source.
What are “Transform Maps”?
They guide the movement of data from Import Set tables to “Target” tables using Field Mapping.
What is “Field Mapping” in the context of Transform Maps?
Field Mapping provides direct field-to-field data moves.
Define “Target Table”.
An existing table where the imported data will be placed after transformation.
Name (3) best practices for Import Sets.
1) Understand the incoming data and its destination
2) Allocate time for data verification before import.
3) Remove obsolete data and correct inaccurate data.
What is the “Automatic Mapping Utility”?
The simplest mapping method, where all field names of the Import Set match the field names on the Target Table.
How do you access the Automatic Mapping Utility?
Simply click “Auto Map Matching Fields” in the related links in the Table Transform Maps form and confirm proper matching.
Describe the “Mapping Assist Utility”.
Provides a visually intuitive environment to specify mapping between Import Set fields and Target Table fields.
What does “Coalesce” mean in the context of Import Sets?
Coalescing a field makes it a unique key during imports. Matching records get updated, while non-matching ones result in new records.
Explain “No-Coalesce”.
All imported rows are treated as new records, leading to duplicates if the import is repeated.
What is “Single-field vs. “Multiple-field” Coalesce?
Single-field updates an existing record in one field, while Multiple-field updates an existing record in several fields.
Describe “Conditional Coalesce”.
It uses a script to determine if an import table row should coalesce into a target record.
Explain “Cleanup” in the context of Import Sets.
After the import, the import records are deleted, but not the transform map.
