Aarburg, 23.10.2013

Aarburg, 23.10.2013

SERVICE NOW EMAILS

© Franke, www.franke.com2

WHY TO WORK ON EMAILS


Why to work on emails

- User View - Emails are quick and easy to use- Emails are a known medium (people rely and trust on mails)

- IT Support view- Fast way to get necessary information (user know how to use it)- Mails are sent directly to users- Asynchronous communication possible

=> Work on inbound and outbound


INBOUND MAIL CONCEPT


Inbound Mail concept

- 3 stages system to receive and integrate inbound mails

1. Alias based inbound mail action based on address2. Body parsing action based on key:value pairs3. Default support group based on sender

- Catchall rule for tickets without support groups

- Goal is to assign all inbound mails to the right support group


Alias Based Inbound Action

- Bases on email address aliases- concepted for systems, creating emails which are supposed

to create tickets- for systems, where the mailbody was not available for

changes (UPS etc.)- Uses the Business Services naming convention


Alias Based Inbound Action

- Concept uses the basic naming convention- Utilizes the Business Service name- Gives a fix impact- Gives a fix urgency- Basic business rule in the system for assignment based on

service name- Example services:

• CIS-SC-029 CIS Service Desk Service

- Example addresses:

• [email protected]• [email protected]


Body Parsing Inbound Action

- Utilizes key:value pairs- Scripted in the inbound action- Concepted for systems, mailing to ServiceNow

if ((email.body.ci != undefined) && (email.body.u_service_name == undefined) && (email.body.u_business_service == undefined)) { var ci = new GlideRecord('cmdb_ci'); ci.addQuery('name', email.body.ci); ci.query();

// if a CI is defined if (ci.next()) { current.cmdb_ci = ci.sys_id; // if there is no service name already if (ci.u_business_service != undefined) { // ASP: Changed from u_service_name to u_business_service current.u_business_service = ci.u_business_service; // ASP: changed u_service_name to u_business_service } }


Default support group

- Applies Tickets, which are not assigned- Caller identification- .walk for site of the caller

- _<site>-H-Support as default support group


OUTBOUND MAIL CONCEPT


Notification strategy

How many notifications?- Different intents when it comes to notifications- To many notifications vs. Not enough information- Tool capabilities vs. Pure mail interface work

- Notifications for single persons- Notifications for groups

Content- Enough information depending on purpose


Group notifications

- Request for configurable notification for tickets, coming to “My Groups Work”

- «Watchlist» type field has been created to have specific people added to a group notification

- Simple business rule to trigger notification event on ticket assignment


HTML Mails

Why?- ServiceNow Mails are text based and not pretty- Do not provide structured information on the first sight- Get deleted in most cases

- Goal: - Provide additional value- Enhance usability and look of all notifications


How to make HTML notifications

- HTML code can be put directly into the mail body

- All HTML codes recognised- Simple HTML mails are no problem


Challenges with HTML mails

- <div>-tags are put into the mail body by ServiceNow

- <div>-tags may distort complex structures and designs- The only solution: do not use line breaks


Challenges with HTML mails

- Complex and long code in one line

- Multiline fields contain line breaks<mail_script>cleanDescription(); function cleanDescription() {

var sid = current.sys_id;var record = new GlideRecord('change_request');record.addQuery('sys_id','=',sid);record.query();while(record.next()) { var description = record.description.getDisplayValue(); description = description.replace(/\r\n/gi,'<br />'); template.print(description); } }</mail_script>


HTML Emails


Questions

Aarburg, 23.10.2013

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