ServiceNow Integration with SharePoint On-demand Webinar with Q&A

ServiceNow integration with SharePoint is a popular topic in the ServiceNow communities. People and organizations want to utilize SharePoint for its strengths like document and content management. We conducted a survey at the end of the webinar with over 800 attendees and got some great feedback of what everyone wants when it comes to ServiceNow topics of interest. API and Enterprise integrations for ServiceNow was the standout most wanted topic, second was documentation management, and third CMDB or Configuration Management Database.

This webinar covers integrations with ServiceNow, specifially SharePoint and some of the great things you can do with your ServiceNow content like documentation and content management via SharePoint. Bi-directional integration fucntionality was also demonstrated along with “My Stuff” dashboards.

 

Play the MP4 Version (opens and plays in a new tab/window).

Download the PDF slides used in the webinar.

ServiceNow/SharePoint Integration Questions and Answers

(Q) Can I build a knowledgebase from existing SharePoint pages / lists?
(A) Building KB from existing SharePoint pages can be done directly through SharePoint utilizing SharePoint search.

(Q) Can SharePoint Knowledge documents be synchronized with SN Knowledgebase?
(A) Currently the documents must be stored in one location for the search to be holistic across both tools. What can be done is the SharePoint data can be visualized through ServiceNow.

(Q) I would like to use ServiceNow to automate access to SharePoint?
(A) This is OOB functionality of ecBoss for ServiceNow.

(Q) Presentation of ServiceNow data in SharePoint for easy access by the entire organization?
(A) This is OOB functionality of ecBoss for ServiceNow.

(Q) Is there Document management for Project Management, Charters, Meeting Minutes, etc.?
(A) This is OOB functionality of ecBoss for ServiceNow.

(Q) Does the integration solutions work with both SharePoint on premise and SharePoint online?
(A) Yes, absolutely.

(Q) I want to leverage workflow and collaboration in SharePoint with status from ServiceNow Requests? For example, we AA’s that have a SharePoint site that has links for initiating the New Hire process. They want to know the status of the forms they fill out on they same site.
(A) This is OOB functionality of ecBoss for ServiceNow by copying some of the fields from ServiceNow into a SharePoint list. This allows end users to kick off a workflow from those fields.

(Q) Can you compare the core benefits of ecBoss over a service like QlikView?
(A) I do not know what QlikView is. But here is a reference to the documentation of the ecBoss for your reference. http://kb.itroisolutions.com/display/SNOW/ECBOSS+FOR+SERVICENOW

(Q)  Is the ServiceNow PPM integration also bi-directional?
(A) Yes it is bi-directional integration between ServiceNow and SharePoint.

(Q) Does this integration allow for data to pass to PowerBI so reports can be created there?
(A) In the current release we do not pass data feeds to Power BI but that is due in a future release.

(Q) Is the SAP SharePoint connector also bi-directional?
(A) In the current release it is not, but it is in the roadmap.

(Q) Performance Analytics from ServiceNow to SharePont?
(A) This can be accomplished with ecBoss for ServiceNow OOB functionality.

(Q) We also would like to see ServiceNow knowledge base pulled from SharePoint
(A) This can only occur if the KB is stored in SharePoint.

(Q) Can we use SharePoint as a Definitive Media Library?
(A) This is OOB functionality.

(Q) Are communications bi-directional between ServiceNow and SharePoint?
(A) Yes all communications are bi-directional.

(Q) Can I Display Request Items and Incident tickets on a SharePoint Team Site?
(A) This is OOB functionality.

(Q) ServiceNow integration with SharePoint libraries?
(A) This is OOB functionality.

(Q) Does this integration make PPM (from SharePoint) less clunky to use than it is directly in ServiceNow?
(A) I think we can do a more in depth demo to see which are the pain points that this interface needs to help resolve for your organization. You can schedule a demo and contact me here: https://www.itroisolutions.com/schedule-demo-ecboss-sharepoint-integration-with-servicenow

(Q) Can you connect resourcing in a Microsoft Project Plan in SharePoint with task & resourcing in a project in ServiceNow?
(A) That is in the roadmap for future releases

(Q) Does the integration support ServiceNow’s “just in time” security framework?
(A) The security can be configured depending on the client’s needs.  There are lots of different options and approaches that can be taken for the security.

(Q) Can I have tasks in SharePoint project pages create tasks in ServiceNoe; have SharePoint build a project status dashboard based on project task status in ServiceNow?
(A) Tasks can be created bi-directionally from SP to SNOW.  And you can use the SP as a display engine for any of the SNOW objects including project status fields.

(Q) Can I display my ServiceNow Catalog in SharePoint?
(A) Yes, all objects are available to display in SP.

(Q) Does the SharePoint user have to have the adequate ServiceNow licenses to view this data in SharePoint?
(A) The integration utilizes one user to connect SharePoint to SNOW regardless of the number of SP users.

(Q) Does this work with all versions of SP? On-prem? O365? Hybrid?
(A) Yes it works with all MS supported versions.

(Q) Are documents uploaded to ServiceNow or SharePoint?
(A) The recommendation and the way we showed the demo is that all document artifacts are stored in SP.

(Q) Are the items in the dashboard “mystuff” security trimmed?
(A) In the demo data, we did not use security as a trim, instead we used fields in the objects such as (assigned, owner, … etc).  But they could definitely be security trimmed if necessary.

(Q) Would you be able to run reports in ServiceNow on the SharePoint data?
(A) No. SharePoint is used as a display engine of ServiceNow data.  If you want to see SP documentation in SNOW, yes it is possible by embedding SP inside of SNOW.

(Q) Can ServiceNow library objects (documents) also have metadata associated with it?
(A) Yes, this uses SharePoint OOB functionality for all documentation. So all functionality that you can normally do in SP, you can do through this tool as well.

(Q) Do you have any clients using ecBoss to display ServiceNow Discovery data and ServiceNow CMDB data via SharePont?
(A) Yes we do. You can use SharePoint to display CMDB data.

(Q) Service requests are initiated through ServiceNow, but once approved tracked through a list in SharePoint (with workflows)…will this handle “loading” the request from ServiceNow into the SharePoint list automatically upon approval as well as allow us to feed status info back to ServiceNow from SharePoint?
(A) Yes you can use any field as a parameter to make your data display in SP.  For example you can have your data feed say only bring me the objects that have this criteria.

(Q) Can granting access to a SharePoint site be done from ServiceNow?
(A) Yes this is OOB functionality.

(Q) I have a customer with ServiceNow and SAP as Enterprise applications, so can I create a bi-directional portal in SharePoint with your tool?
(A) Yes you can.

(Q) Can we brand the ECBoss SharePoint webparts?
(A) Yes absolutely. All web parts can be branded by the end users.

(Q) Could you have the Number auto generate via ServiceNow? INC0000###
(A) Yes, auto numbering for the bi-directional interfaces is absolutely supported.

(Q) Why are Numbers (like INC and PRJ numbers) allowing you to enter them in ServiceNOW instead of being set by ServiceNow?
(A) We did this for demo purposes and really depends on how your SNOW is set up.

(Q) Are the ecBoss webparts out of the box? or do we have to build them?
(A) The webparts you saw are OOB, and we have a large library that come with the tool, but it is very common for clients to build additional ones as well.

(Q) Can you have column headings?
(A) Yes absolutely. Column headers are supported.

(Q) What technology does ecBoss use to extract data from ServiceNow? API/Web service? ODBC connector? Etc.
(A) This uses the API to extract and insert the data to SNOW.

(Q) Is ecBoss a SAAS offering?
(A) It is available in SAAS as well as perpetual license.  Please see our pricing page for more details.

(Q) If the ServiceNow and SharePoint data is flowing both ways, which is the golden source?
(A) ServiceNow is always the source system.  SharePoint is only used as a display engine therefore all data originates and goes back into ServiceNow.

(Q) How do we get ecBoss web parts to install?
(A) Please contact sales@itroisolutions.com for implementation options.

(Q) Based on what you have shown so far, is this content integration platform, OR, aggregation platform?
(A) This would be considered more of a content integration platform.

(Q) Can we connect specific REQs, INC, RITM, TASK, CHG, etc. to a specific existing SharePoint site?
(A) Yes absolutely, all ServiceNow objects can be displayed in any site that is part of the site collection where the application is installed.

(Q) Can you address security? Encryption?
(A) This uses the API to extract and insert the data to ServiceNow through HTTPS protocol.

(Q) Does it need to be enabled on the Serverfarm?
(A) Yes it needs to be enabled at the Serverfarm.

(Q) Does it use a single generic login or does it use the user’s network credentials?
(A) Yes it uses a generic login to connect between the two tools.

(Q) Do you offer trial periods to do a POC in our environment before we buy?
(A) Please contact sales@itroisolutions.com for POC options.

(Q) How does SharePoint document version control work if users drop files in ServiceNow? Is it enforced?
(A) If they put the documents directly in SNOW then the integration does not get involved and SNOW logic must be implemented.

(Q) When you click on the “site” link for each different type of data, does ECBOSS create a new SharePoint site for each data or can multiple data be integrated into one SharePoint site?
(A) This depends on how it is configured. But in short, yes it can create a new site for each object or not.

(Q) How about pulling a graph or widget from ServiceNow into SharePoint?
(A) SNOW graphs are not displayed in SP unless they were converted to PDF and stored as a document.  The user must have the graph built with the provided libraries.

(Q) Once webparts, etc. are set up, can we manage adding this to whatever SharePoint site we want on our own or does this need to be done by you guys?
(A) Yes, end users can absolutely do this on their own.

(Q) Can you view SharEPoint knowledge from within ServiceNow?
(A) Yes.

(Q) Is the basic value proposition that it allows you to augment the ServiceNow GUI in cases where you feel it falls short and perhaps companies that have a strong SharePoint presence?
(A) That would be one of the value propositions for sure.

(Q) Is it easy to configure? Can we do that on our own or do we need your help?
(A) You can absolutely do  it on your own

(Q) How is authorization passed to SharePoint? Are roles respected in SharePoint? Do these systems need to share the same login system?
(A) This depends on how your security is configured. But yes you can pass ServiceNow security parameters to SharePoint if requested.

(Q) Do I have to own the ticket in ServiceNow in order to see it in SharePoint? Or can I see any ticket from ServiceNow, regardless of who it it assigned to or requested by?
(A) This depends on how your security is configured. But yes you can pass SNOW security parameters to SP if requested.

(Q)  Instead of having it create a new SharePoint site, can we link different types of tickets in ServiceNow to existing SharePoint sites?
(A) Yes.

(Q)  As it not an App, that would mean it needs to be configured on the server level. Right?
(A) It depends. On 365 it gets installed as an app from the app catalog.

(Q) What is the level of effort from both ServiceNow admins and SharePoint Admins to get EC Boss implemented?
(A) Installation is fairly straight forward, and it really depends on how many modules and webparts you require.

(Q) What would be recommendation for ServiceNow contract management- store docs in ServiceNow or SharePoint?
(A) We recommend SharePoint for all document storage.

If you would like to see how this integration can help overcome some your organization’s busines chalenges and discover just how quick the ROI will be, please contact us.
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