ServiceNow

Overview

Service catalog integration

Set up the integration

    Configure ServiceNow

    Configure Blameless

Incident integration

Retrospective integration

Overview

The Blameless platform integrates with the ServiceNow workflow solution, allowing you to automatically do the following:

• Incidents

  • Create a ServiceNow incident ticket when a Blameless incident is created.

  • Create a Blameless incident when a ServiceNow incident is created (see below).

• Retrospectives
  • Create a ServiceNow problem ticket (linked to the associated ServiceNow incident) when a Blameless incident is created.

• Data mapping and usage

  • Bi-directionally synchronize data updates between Blameless and ServiceNow for selected mapped fields.

  • Map a service from the ServiceNow service catalog to a Blameless incident directly from the Blameless platform (i.e., web UI, bot in Slack, or bot in Teams) when starting a new incident.

  • Push text captured (highlights) from the incident channel in Slack or Teams to both the Blameless incident timeline, and as work notes in the ServiceNow incident ticket.

At any time, you can navigate between the incident channel in Slack or Teams, to the corresponding ServiceNow incident ticket and back to Blameless. In the ServiceNow incident ticket, look for a work note providing a link back to the incident in Blameless.

Set up the integration

Configure ServiceNow

1. Browse to the ServiceNow App store.

2. Search for and select the Blameless app.

3. Select Get to download the Blameless App and install it on your ServiceNow instance.

4. Download and follow the instructions provided in the Blameless Scoped Application Installation and Configuration Guide.

Configure Blameless

1. From the Blameless UI, in the left sidebar, select Settings.
2. Expand the Integrations section, and then select Ticketing.
3. On the Ticketing screen, In the ServiceNow row, click Manage.

4. In the Enable ServiceNow field, select the switch to enable.
5. In the Create ServiceNow Problem per Incident field, select the switch to enable (see Retrospective integration).
6. In the ServiceNow Instance URL field, enter the full URL of your ServiceNow instance (e.g., https://mycompany.service-now.com).
7. In the Authentication field, select either Basic Authentication or OAuth 2.0.
   1. Note: OAuth 2.0 authentication requires the generation of a Client ID and Client Secret in the ServiceNow admin console. OAuth 2.0 authentication is also required in order to leverage Blameless's auto-sync feature between ServiceNow problem fields and Blameless custom fields (see Custom Tab to learn more).
8. In the ServiceNow Username field, enter the ServiceNow username being used for this authentication.
9. In the ServiceNow Password field, enter the password associated with the integration account.
10. Click Check Connection to test the functionality of the integration.
11. When done, click Save.

Generate credentials for OAuth 2.0 (optional)

The Client ID and Client Secret are generated in your ServiceNow admin console:

1. Log in to your ServiceNow instance as an Administrator.
2. In the Application Navigator, search for Application Registry. Then, under the System OAuth header section, select Application Registry.
3. Select New and then click Create an OAuth API endpoint for external clients.
4. Enter a name and then click Submit.
5. Copy the generated Client ID and Client Secret.
   1. Note: In the Client Secret field in the ServiceNow console, remember to toggle the password lock to display the text. 
6. In Blameless UI's ServiceNow integration panel, ensure that OAuth 2.0 is selected in the Authentication field.
7. Paste the values in the ServiceNow Client ID and ServiceNow Client Secret fields, respectively.
8. Proceed with completing all fields, as described above.

Service catalog integration

Blameless is integrated with the ServiceNow service catalog CMDB such that a ServiceNow service can be selected directly from within Slack or Teams using the Blameless bot when starting a new incident. The selected ServiceNow service is added to the list of impacted services within the Blameless incident and within the ServiceNow incident ticket under the Service field. Changing the service in the ServiceNow incident ticket automatically updates the service in the Blameless incident (as part of the impacted services).

Incident integration

Incident ticket creation occurs bi-directionally; that is, a ServiceNow incident ticket is created when a Blameless incident is created, and a Blameless incident is created when a ServiceNow incident ticket is created.

As a reminder, when a new Blameless incident is created ⏤ either in the Blameless UI, Blameless App for Slack, or Blameless App for Teams ⏤ the following occurs (conveyed as numbers 1-5 in the Incident Details screen graphic below):

1. A dedicated Slack channel is created.
2. A video chat link is created.
3. A ServiceNow incident is created (if enabled, per step #4 above).
4. A Jira issue is created (if enabled).
5. A Blameless retrospective is created.

To automatically create a Blameless incident when a ServiceNow ticket is created, you will need to create a business rule in your ServiceNow instance. Each business rule can be highly customized to create a Blameless incident only under specific conditions, with the flexibility to specify the Blameless incident type other than the default incident type.

Incident data mapping

​Fields

Incident status

Incident severity (Blameless → ServiceNow)

Impact and urgency values in a ServiceNow incident ticket when starting an incident from Blameless.

Incident severity (ServiceNow → Blameless)

Incident severity value in a Blameless incident when starting a ticket from ServiceNow.

Retrospective integration

In addition to incident integration, Blameless supports the automatic creation of ServiceNow problem tickets when Blameless incidents are created. Each problem ticket is linked to its associated ServiceNow incident.

Enable automatic ServiceNow problem ticket creation (for Admins)

1. From the Blameless UI, in the left sidebar, select Settings.
2. Expand the Integrations section, and then select Ticketing.
3. On the Ticketing screen, in the ServiceNow row, click Manage.

4. Ensure that the Enable ServiceNow field is enabled.
5. In the Create ServiceNow Problem per Incident field, select the switch to enable automatic ServiceNow problem ticket creation.

Data mapping

​The following ServiceNow Problem fields are automatically updated when updated from Blameless:

Note that the value of these fields are only updated from a Blameless Retrospective to a ServiceNow problem, and not the other way around.

The following field is set only at the creation of a ServiceNow problem ticket:

Access ServiceNow problem tickets (for Users)

1. To view an automatically-created ServiceNow problem ticket, select a Blameless retrospective link on the Incident Details screen.

2. Links for both the ServiceNow incident ticket and ServiceNow problem ticket now appear on the right side of the Retrospective screen.