How to add a ServiceNow provider

What are Integrations?

SquaredUp DS Integrations allow you to create your own providers. Each Integration has its own form to help you input the information required for different providers.

What is a provider?

Providers contain the connection details to external platforms. A provider only needs to be set up once and can then be used when creating tiles on a dashboard.

There are two types of integrations and therefore providers:

• generic Web API providers that can connect to any REST API

• dedicated providers that connect to a specific external platform or database (SQL, ServiceNow, Azure Active App Insights, Elasticsearch, etc.)

About ServiceNow providers

A ServiceNow provider is a dedicated provider that contains the connection details to your ServiceNow instance. You need to create a ServiceNow provider before you can use ServiceNow tiles..

Requirements for ServiceNow providers

• SquaredUp DS 4.4 or above.
• The SquaredUp server must have access to your ServiceNow instance on port 443 (HTTPS), since it is the server that connects to ServiceNow, and not your users' browser.
• If you use a proxy server you may need to configure the proxy How to configure SquaredUp DS to use a proxy.
• A ServiceNow account. It depends on the roles of the ServiceNow account you use for the ServiceNow provider what functions are available in the ServiceNow tile.

How the ServiceNow account affects the ServiceNow tile
The permissions of the ServiceNow account you are using for your ServiceNow provider affect what you can see and do in the ServiceNow tile.

We recommend using a service account, which means you create an account specifically to use with the ServiceNow provider. You have different options for setting up this service account:

• ServiceNow admin account

  Give the ServiceNow account the admin role. This will give you full functionality in the ServiceNow tile.

• ServiceNow non-admin account with ACLs

  If you don't want to use the admin role due to security concerns, give the ServiceNow account only the rest_api_explorer role and use ACLs to give the account more rights. This will limit the functionality of the ServiceNow tile a little bit (see table below).

  How to add the necessary ACLs to your ServiceNow account

  When you are using a non-admin ServiceNow account for a provider, the functionality of the ServiceNow tile is limited:

  • You'll see an error when you used a scope for your tile

  • In the View dropdown, only the non-admin default view is available (contains a default set of columns)

  • Under Filter, default filters are not available, only user-created ones are visible

  You can reinstate some of the functionality of non-admin ServiceNow accounts by using ACLs.

  ACLs can be added in two ways:

  • Adding them directly to a user account, meaning you are adding the ACLs to the service account you are using for the ServiceNow provider.

  • Adding them to a role. We recommend that you create a new role specifically just for adding the ACLs to it. Then you need to assign the role to the service account you are using for the ServiceNow provider.

    A benefit of adding the ACLs to a role is that it makes them easier to manage and you can assign the role to different users (in this case, service accounts) if you want to use different service accounts for different ServiceNow providers.

  You need to add the following ACLs:

  • sys_filter

  • sys_dictionary.*

  • sys_dictionary

  • sys_db_object

  • sys_ui_list

  • sys_db_object.*

  • sys_ui_list.*

  What tile functions do those ACLs add when I use a non-admin ServiceNow account? 

  • The tile can be scoped

  • Under Filter, all default filters are visible

  • The ACLs don't affect the views. The View dropdown still shows only the non-admin default view. You need to use an admin Service account to see all the views.

• ServiceNow non-admin account without ACLs

  If you don't want to create ACLs and use only roles, give the ServiceNow account the roles rest_api_explorer and web_service_admin. This will limit the functionality of the ServiceNow tile a little bit (see table below).

Where can I use ServiceNow providers?

The ServiceNow provider can be used with either the dedicated ServiceNow tile or the Web API tile (when you are using the Web API tile for ServiceNow).

Should you use the Web API tile or the dedicated ServiceNow tile?

The ServiceNow tile is available in SquaredUp DS v4.4, which offers easier configuration than the Web API tile. You can display incidents and change request with the ServiceNow tile. If you want to use any other data from ServiceNow, you need to use the Web API tile.

The Web API tile can display other data in addition to incidents and change requests, it gives you more flexibility and advanced configurations.

Adding a ServiceNow provider

1. In SquaredUp DS navigate to the right-hand menu ☰ > system > Integrations

2. Under Integrations click on ServiceNow and type in a suitable name, e.g. ServiceNow.

   

3. instance url:

   The instance URL should look something like
   https://instancename.service-now.com/api/now/ where instancename is your instance. If /api/now/ is not included as part of the instance URL then it will be automatically appended to this URL when the provider is created. If ServiceNow is installed on-premises, this may be something different.

   Note: This URL is prepended to every request URL.

4. client id and secret:

   To get a client ID and secret from ServiceNow, you need to create an OAuth API endpoint for external clients in your ServiceNow account.

   Note: If you already are using ServiceNow in SquaredUp DS, you can re-use the client ID and secret you previously created. In this case, you can skip this step.

   How to get a client ID and secret from your ServiceNow account

   1. In your ServiceNow account in the Application Navigator (left-hand menu) go to System OAuth and click Application Registry.
   2. Click Create an OAuth API endpoint for external clients.
   3. Give it an easy to remember name like SquaredUp DS and leave the other default settings as they are.
   4. Once you've created the endpoint, open the entry to view the client ID and client secret. Click the padlock next to the client secret to see it.
   5. Copy client ID and client secret into a notepad for use later.

5. username and password of the ServiceNow account you want to use.

   Prerequisites for the ServiceNow account

   How the ServiceNow account affects the ServiceNow tile
   The permissions of the ServiceNow account you are using for your ServiceNow provider affect what you can see and do in the ServiceNow tile.

   We recommend using a service account, which means you create an account specifically to use with the ServiceNow provider. You have different options for setting up this service account:

   • ServiceNow admin account

     Give the ServiceNow account the admin role. This will give you full functionality in the ServiceNow tile.

   • ServiceNow non-admin account with ACLs

     If you don't want to use the admin role due to security concerns, give the ServiceNow account only the rest_api_explorer role and use ACLs to give the account more rights. This will limit the functionality of the ServiceNow tile a little bit (see table below).

     How to add the necessary ACLs to your ServiceNow account

     When you are using a non-admin ServiceNow account for a provider, the functionality of the ServiceNow tile is limited:

     • You'll see an error when you used a scope for your tile

     • In the View dropdown, only the non-admin default view is available (contains a default set of columns)

     • Under Filter, default filters are not available, only user-created ones are visible

     You can reinstate some of the functionality of non-admin ServiceNow accounts by using ACLs.

     ACLs can be added in two ways:

     • Adding them directly to a user account, meaning you are adding the ACLs to the service account you are using for the ServiceNow provider.

     • Adding them to a role. We recommend that you create a new role specifically just for adding the ACLs to it. Then you need to assign the role to the service account you are using for the ServiceNow provider.

       A benefit of adding the ACLs to a role is that it makes them easier to manage and you can assign the role to different users (in this case, service accounts) if you want to use different service accounts for different ServiceNow providers.

     You need to add the following ACLs:

     • sys_filter

     • sys_dictionary.*

     • sys_dictionary

     • sys_db_object

     • sys_ui_list

     • sys_db_object.*

     • sys_ui_list.*

     What tile functions do those ACLs add when I use a non-admin ServiceNow account? 

     • The tile can be scoped

     • Under Filter, all default filters are visible

     • The ACLs don't affect the views. The View dropdown still shows only the non-admin default view. You need to use an admin Service account to see all the views.

   • ServiceNow non-admin account without ACLs

     If you don't want to create ACLs and use only roles, give the ServiceNow account the roles rest_api_explorer and web_service_admin. This will limit the functionality of the ServiceNow tile a little bit (see table below).

   	ServiceNow admin account	ServiceNow non-admin account with ACLs	ServiceNow non-admin account without ACLs
   Being able to scope the tile	yes	yes (due to the ACLs)	yes (due to the web_service_admin role)
   Being able to see all views in the View dropdown, not only the default view	yes	no	no
   Being able to see all default filters, not only user-made ones	yes	yes (due to the ACLs)	no

6. Click Save.

If the configuration is correct you will see a green tick.

If the provider is not authorized it could be that some of the provider configuration is incorrect (for example the username, password, secret etc), or if you use a proxy it could be that the proxy is not configured. See How to configure SquaredUp DS to use a proxy.