Configuring a ServiceNow Data Source

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Revision as of 21:38, 13 July 2015 by Gadiyedwab (talk | contribs)
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Overview

Explore Analytics is tightly integrated with ServiceNow to deliver superb data analysis, visualization, and reporting.

  • Application-Level Data Access - Explore Analytics connects to your ServiceNow instance using a Web Service (SOAP). Connecting through the application ensures that you see the familiar data that you know in ServiceNow and subject to the security access control rules that are defined in the application.
  • High Performance - Whenever you access data, Explore Analytics pushes all of the data filtering, grouping, and aggregation to the ServiceNow application. By performing these operations at the application, Explore Analytics eliminate the need to pull large amounts of data from your ServiceNow instance.
  • Friendly Table and Field Names - Explore Analytics shows the friendly labels that are assigned in ServiceNow so that you see names such as "Shopping Cart" and "Catalog Item" rather than "sc_cart" and "sc_cat_item" respectively.
  • Friendly Filter Choices - ServiceNow makes extensive use of choice lists and Explore Analytics fully supports them so that you can construct a filter that looks like "Incident State = Resolved" rather than "state = 6".
  • Reference Fields - Explore Analytics understands reference fields and uses them to relate tables and combine multiple tables in a view.
  • Duration - Explore Analytics fully supports duration fields. It can perform calculations on time duration such as average elapsed time and use it as a numeric scale in a chart.
  • Display Field - Explore Analytics understands the ServiceNow concept of display field and uses it in filters to allow you to naturally construct a filter such as "Caller = Beth Anglin" rather than "caller_id = 46d44a23a9fe19810012d100cca80666".
  • Default View - ServiceNow defines a default view for each table. This view organizes fields in a tabular list. When you create a new view in Explore Analytics, it creates a list view that reflects the fields selected in the ServiceNow default view.
  • Governance - Explore Analytics limits its load impact to your ServiceNow instance in two ways. Every data access request that it sends to ServiceNow includes a limit such that it never requests more than a few thousand rows, no matter the size of your ServiceNow tables. Additionally, the number of concurrent requests is limited to a configurable number.
  • Security - Explore Analytics connects to your ServiceNow instance using a ServiceNow user that you configure with (only) the necessary roles for data access. Explore Analytics respects access control to tables, fields, and records. Explore Analytics utilizes strictly read-only access and does not allow users to modify data. The data flows to the user's browser without being stored on the Explore Analytics server.
  • Direct Links - Clicking on the display name fields (e.g. a computer's name) or reference fields (e.g. the name of the computer's model) will link directly to the appropriate record in ServiceNow.

Incident by severity.png

Configuring the Data Source

Before configuring the data source in Explore Analytics, you'll need to setup Explore Analytics on your instance.

Setting Up Your Instance

You'll need to perform the following steps:

  1. Install the Update Set
  2. Define a user
  3. Check for the "Content Management" Plugin

Install the Update Set

The Explore Analytics app is delivered as an update set that you can import and commit. The update set contains the Explore Web Service. This web service performs data access requests. You can download the update set XML file from the "Create a ServiceNow Data Source" dialog (see image below). You can then import it to your "Retrieved Update Sets" in ServiceNow, preview and then commit it.

The update set also contains objects that facilitate Single Sign-On, allowing authorized ServiceNow users to automatically register and log in to Explore Analytics without having to go through the Explore Analytics registration or log in.

Using Explore Analytics with IP Range Based Authentication

If your instance limits access by IP address range, you'll need to add the IP address of the Explore Analytics service to your Instance IP access. Explore Analytics uses a single IP address: 23.21.99.225

Define a User

Explore Analytics connects to ServiceNow using a specified ServiceNow user. You can setup a user account for Explore Analytics and control data access using ServiceNow roles. You can think of this account as a service account that's only used by Explore Analytics. You can give this account any name and password. For added security we recommend that this user account have a strong password and be used for this integration only.

Define this user account and grant it the "soap_script" role to allow access to the Explore Web Service using this account. Give it the "content_admin" role to allow publishing reports to home pages. Finally, give it any roles needed to access data for reporting (e.g., "itil", "asset", "project_user", "project_portfolio_user")

Check for the "Content Management" Plugin

You most likely already have this plugin installed. If not, this plugin is required for publishing Explore Analytics reports to ServiceNow home pages (dashboards) and ServiceNow Content Management System (CMS) pages. If you don't have this plugin activated, you can still use Explore Analytics to generate reports, just not publish to those reports to ServiceNow dashboards.

Setting up the Data Source

In Explore Analytics, select "Add a new Data Source" from the Data menu, and then select "ServiceNow". In the dialog that appears, add a name and description for this data source. Specify the instance domain name, e.g., acme.service-now.com, and the user and password that you defined in the previous step. Click OK and the following things would happen:

  1. Explore Analytics will configure the data source with all the ServiceNow tables that are accessible to the specified user.
  2. Explore Analytics will configure the tables with all the fields that are accessible to this user. For each field it will configure its label, type, choice list, display field, and reference table if applicable.
  3. Explore Analytics will use the information about ServiceNow reference fields to define Explore Analytics reference fields.
  4. Explore Analytics will define default views for each table based on its default view in ServiceNow.

Create snc data source.png

This can take a few moments to complete. Once it's done you're ready to start exploring your data and building views of the data including lists, pivots, and charts (visualizations).

Time Zone

Select the time-zone that your ServiceNow instance uses to display dates.

Refreshing the ServiceNow Data Source

During the ServiceNow configuration process, Explore Analytics will map out the tables, fields, and their relationships. If changes are made to the data model within ServiceNow, the data source should be refreshed, which will rebuild those relationships without disturbing any user-created views.

Additionally, if new updates are added to the ServiceNow/Explore Analytics integration, refreshing the data source will update the data model with those enhancements.

To refresh the configuration:

  1. Navigate to the New Data > Browse Data Sources and Tables.
  2. Click the row for the data source you'd like to refresh.
  3. Select Refresh data source configuration.
    Refresh data source.png

This will take a similar amount of time as the initial set-up of the data source.

Refreshing a Single Table

If you added a field to a ServiceNow table and only wish to refresh that table, then from the list of tables click the row for the table you'd like to refresh and select "Refresh table configuration".

Publishing Explore Analytics Views to ServiceNow Home Pages

Explore Analytics views can be published using the File menu Publish option. If the view uses a ServiceNow data source, then the Publish dialog will have a checkbox labeled "Publish to ServiceNow". If you check this box, then in addition to publishing the view, a content block is created in ServiceNow. You can control the name, width, and height of this content block. Once published, this content block can be added to any home page by selecting "Add Content", under Gadgets selecting "Content Blocks" and then selecting the content block that you created.

Single Sign-On and User Authorization

Enabling

Single Sign-On and User Authorization is only implemented if the option "Automatically register and authorize ServiceNow users" is selected when the Data Source is created or later edited.

Sso1.png

Protocol

Single Sign-On and User Authorization uses the Google OAuth 2.0 protocol. When a ServiceNow user tries to access Explore Analytics (e.g., by viewing a home page that contains an Explore Analytics view) and they are not logged in, they are automatically logged on. If the user is new to Explore Analytics, a new user in Explore Analytics is automatically created for the user. The user is then logged on for the duration of the session (typically up to 30 minutes) or until they close their browser.

By default, users who are automatically registered to Explore Analytics using this Single Sign-On feature will have minimal privileges in Explore Analytics. Specifically, they will be defined as "Read-Only" users. They will not be able to create, modify, or publish views. To automatically grant Explore Analytics roles to ServiceNow user, use the following ServiceNow roles. Their presence at the time that the user is automatically registered to Explore Analytics, will grant them Explore Analytics roles.

  • admin - ServiceNow admin users are automatically granted the "explorer" and "scheduler" role.
  • ealyt_explorer - this role will grant the Explore Analytics "explorer" role. This role allows the user to create and modify views.
  • ealyt_publisher - this role will grant the Explore Analytics "publisher" role. This role allows the user to publish views.
  • ealyt_scheduler - this role will grant the Explore Analytics "scheduler" role. This role allows the user to schedule views.
  • explore_analytics - in addition to enabling the "Explore Analytics Application" (see next section), it also includes the "ealyt_explorer", "ealyt_publisher", and "ealyt_scheduler" roles.

As you can see from the above, you can grant any Explore Analytics role (except tenant_admin) by creating a corresponding ServiceNow role with the "ealyt_" prefix.

Note: granting roles in this manner may be restricted by the number of users in your subscription. If you reached the user limit of your subscription, then any additional users created using this Single Sign-On feature cannot be granted the "explorer" role. These users will be "Read-Only".

Testing

When testing Single Sign-On, remember to first log out of Explore Analytics. The Single Sign-On process kicks in when the user is not logged in.

Running Queries as the ServiceNow User

By default, queries that obtain data for Explore Analytics views run with the identity of the ServiceNow user that's specified in the Data Source configuration. It is possible to run queries under the identity of the logged-in user, this could allow you to implement a view that only shows users data for their ServiceNow group or region. To implement that, you need to follow these instructions:

  • In Explore Analytics Data menu, select "Browse Data Sources and Tables"
  • Click the row with the ServiceNow data source
  • Select "Edit data source"

This brings up the Data Source dialog for the ServiceNow data source. Near the bottom of the dialog, you'll see a checkbox labeled "Run Queries as the ServiceNow User". By checking this box, you enable this feature.

Along with this feature, Explore Analytics allows you to specify calls to ServiceNow functions in filters. This is identical to specifying JavaScript functions in ServiceNow filters and this only works with a ServiceNow data source. For example, the filter can specify "Sys Id" = "javascript:gs.getUserID()". This will invoke the built-in "getUserID" function in ServiceNow. You can also invoke JavaScript functions that you implement in ServiceNow. Please refer to ServiceNow documentation and test it in ServiceNow before using it with Explore Analytics.

The Explore Analytics Application (ServiceNow Application and Modules)

The Update Set includes an Application named "Explore Analytics". To see this application, users need the "explore_analytics" role (also defined by the Update Set).

Snc explore app.png

It includes two modules:

  1. Reports – takes the user to Explore Analytics and automatically logs them in (if so configured)
  2. Content Blocks – lists the content blocks that were published by Explore Analytics. These published reports can be placed on Home pages.

Configuring the Reports Module

Reports module.png

By default, the URL defined by the Reports module is "https://my.exploreanalytics.com/servicenow/". When this link is used, Explore Analytics will use the HTTP referer header (the misspelling of "referer" is part of the HTTP protocol) to identify your instance. This is not very reliable, and you should update this URL to a URL the specifically identifies the Explore Analytics data source that points to this instance. To obtain that URL, go to the list of Data Sources in Explore Analytics and select "Get ServiceNow Reports Module URL". From the dialog that appears, copy the URL and then go to ServiceNow, find the Explore Analytics application's Reports module, and update the Arguments field with this new URL.

Reports module url1.png

Grouping by Week

Note that when grouping data by week in pivot or chart views and when comparing fields ("is same") week of the year, Explore Analytics offers two choices -- week starting on Sunday and and week starting on Monday. With ServiceNow both options do the same -- they group by week -- and the first day of the week is determined by your ServiceNow instance.

The first day of the week on ServiceNow defaults to Monday. It can be changed using a global system property. You can find instructions on the ServiceNow Wiki

Troubleshooting

The following checklist can be used to cover the basics of the integration

  1. The integration Update Set is installed
  2. The ServiceNow instance is accessible via the public internet (otherwise, an Explore Analytics agent needs to be installed)
  3. A ServiceNow user (the integration user) is defined for use by the Explore Analytics data source
  4. The integration user has the "soap_script" role
  5. The integration user has the "content_admin" role (for publishing content blocks)
  6. The integration user has the roles necessary to access data for reporting
    1. If certain tables or fields are missing, you need to check your Access Control Lists in ServiceNow. Explore Analytics checks "canRead" on every table and field and does not show tables or fields for which access is not provided to the integration user by some Access Control entry
  7. The customer is registered to Explore Analytics and configured a data source that points to their ServiceNow instance
  8. The integration user id and password match the data source configuration in Explore Analytics
  9. For Automatic user authorization:
    1. The customer didn't disable any of the integration components (e.g., for security reasons)
    2. The Explore Analytics data source configuration has the checkbox "Automatically register and authorize ServiceNow users" checked
  10. Review any error messages in the Explore Analytics UI and in the ServiceNow instance error log
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