ServiceNow - probably the worst crappy software we have to use

[Dieselboy]

ServiceNow - the huge ITIL software that's designed to make end-users lives more difficult than it ever has to be.

While raising a change, why is it so difficult to add "affected CI's" ?
-- if you have 30 CIs to add, it's going to take bloody ages...
-- it's impossible to scroll through the CI list and check all that apply, click next page, check more and then click ADD
--- if you click next page, all your checked items are cleared out >
-- while searching for your CI by hostname, the returned results seem to list all of the CIs that are around your search result, not just the one you searched for, so I have to use the web browser FIND function (ctrl+F) and then paste the hostname in there as well so that it clearly shows me the item on a row
-- and, while using the cumbersome UI to add those 30 CI's, the "add all" button is way too close. So when I'm getting close to completing adding the 28th / 29th / 30th CI, I accidentally click "ADD ALL (YOU LOSER!)" and then 1000 CI's are added to the change and I need to go and delete them all, on multiple pages. One single accidental click then costs you hours of work.


When trying to get data out of ServiceNow you can display a nice dashboard and filter query. The result is a web-based table. I've customised the columns to show Hostname, OS, some other relevant columns like "owner" but most importantly, IP address.
- why is there no column for "subnet mask" or netmask? So now I have an excel sheet populated with the exported data and I am still blocked from raising a firewall change request because I dont have subnet ID's without a netmask.
If I drill into a single CI, "Netmask" is indeed there but there is no column to add it in to the table so it can be exported along with matching IP to the relevant hostname.
EVEN BETTER would be if there were smarts programmed into Service Now to automatically calculate the subnet ID based on the IP and Mask so that you could filter on it! But that would take some thinking power...

Trying to find CMDB on the very long menu on the left is not possible for me. I dont know where it is and the menu is too cluttered for me to figure it out. I usually use the ctrl+F, or type the hostname in the search bar and fumble my way around until I see the data I need.

When trying to raise a change, have to use ctrl+F to find "Change" and then I can see the "new change" option. Why not just break the UI down into the relevant sections. Pathetic.

There is so much data present in service now that you probably want to have multiple tabs open on different areas of service now. So the logical thing to do is to right click a menu link -> open in new tab. Will service now allow you to do this? Absolutely not. Although most times if you press CTRL and then right click, the open in new tab option is there.


I engaged servicenow directly back in perhaps 2014 because I was looking for service desk systems for my last employment. These problems were there at that time and I avoided it very quickly. It's as though the people that make this software have no idea how people use it from a real-world perspective? It's a very capable software that aims to make it as difficult to use and as much inconvenience as possible. Horrible.

<End complaining>

No one should need to go on a 4-weeks long training course to do basic everyday tasks in service now. I've never needed training to use my online banking or check emails from gmail.

[icecream-guy]

We just moved to SN Tokyo.     

Have you created "favorites",   that's all I do. have favorites for changes, incidents, tasks, that are assigned to me.
Our SN Team have started automation efforts, using API's to make DNS changes in Infoblox, and are working on automating firewalls changes into Algosec.

[Dieselboy]

I was only supposed to be at this customer Engagement for a couple of months, so haven't come across favorites. I guess now that must be what the gold star is I see sometimes.

The next problem is that no one can use the API. Default groups mean the API is not accessible to anyone. You have to be added to the group to be able to even have read only access. So in my case I'd need to request that and wait for approval just to take the easy option of pulling data data out like hostnames IPs and masks.

It would be easier and simpler, cheaper and more beneficial to a large organisation to do bare minimum customisation in service now and write your own front end web app to make API calls to input data. You could create a simple web page with a opening large menu that simply listed: raise incident, raise change, etc.
Then the page would display the required fields and send the data over the API.
If not a separate web app then an integration with an existing company portal.

[deanwebb]

Favorites help. I'm working on being a Certified SNOW Admin, and it's much easier to use when you have full admin rights and don't have to open/respond to any trouble tickets.