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Help us welcome in the latest Now Platform® release. Madrid — is now available!
Check out the Question & Answer from the broadcast KEYNOTE. Be sure to bookmark this post, so when other Product specific Q&As are posted, you'll be notified.
Now Platform Release Fact Sheet: Madrid
Madrid release is now available (Summary Blog)
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Watch On Demand The Now Platform Madrid release broadcast.
Get up to speed on key innovations from ServiceNow
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Q. Differences in Software Asset Management features from London to Madrid?
A. Thanks for your question! We are happy to share some of the newer updates in Madrid for SAM. This could be a bit of a lengthy answer, so I've included links to 2 blog posts for additional reading.
- What's New in London:
https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_article&sys_id=b371621fdbb71f005ed4a851ca961... - What's New in Madrid: https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_blog&sys_id=db32d4addb... I
f you have trouble navigating to the links, please let us know.
Q. Any SNOW discovery improvements?
A. Two main improvements: File-based discovery (scan files systems to identify file fingerprints from a list of signatures) and PowerShell demoting for communicating directly with Windows Servers via WinRM. You can read about it here: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/madrid-release-notes/page/release-notes/it-operations-management/...
Q. With this new release will the lag time be reduced?
A. Can you expand on this please? Can you explain what you mean by lag time?
Q. I see that with Madrid you are renaming the current mobile app to Classic and releasing a new mobile app. I see that it seems to be more tied in with Agent Desktop. So, will there be additional licensing fees to use the new mobile app? And will there be no further enhancements to Classic and an eventual phase out?
A. The new mobile platform will be included with any of the Pro SKUs. In Madrid, our resources will prioritize bugs or defects but eventually phase out in the future.
Q. Can you comment on the upcoming Jira integration which is slated for the GA release of Madrid? Any details would be helpful
A. The Jira IntegrationHub Spoke will provide actions to manage Issues, Get Project Information, and manage Users/Groups.
Q. Was the migration to Marid so easy becuase you are mostly OOB? How will businesses fare with more configured/customised environment?
A. Managing to OOB for ServiceNow apps and products is a best practice that maximizes the ease and speed of upgrades.
Q. Are the mobile apps able to be sandboxed?
A. Mobile apps support Enterprise Mobility Management capabilities such as restrictive Copy/Paste to prevent data loss.
Q. Why would we need to create apps? I thought HR portal was mobile ready?
A. With the new ServiceNow Agent mobile app in Madrid, customers can enjoy consumer like native mobile-first experience across their enterprise. New capabilities include: fully native mobile experiences for iOS and Android, rapid app development, codeless app deployment, the new mobile Studio, offline read and write, and out-of-the-box experiences for ITSM/FSM in Madrid. HR portal is still accessible using Mobile Classic or web-browser but lacks native features that allow users to take advantage of their micro moments that would allow agents to decrease their toggle time between screens and allow teams to collaborate and work more efficiently
Q. I assume this is available on both IOS and Android?
A. Correct -- the new mobile platform is available for both iOS and Android.
Q. What about end user services via mobile app?
A. The Madrid release is focused on the mobile experience for Agent or full-filler personas.
Q. Is Mobile studio an add-on or comes with Service-Now automatically?
A. Please work with your account rep for any information on pricing and packaging.
Q. Does the mobile app reflect customer-specific configuration, i.e., field ordering or configuration, or is it based on the out-of-the-box configuration?
A. We ship out-of-the-box apps for ITSM and Field Service Management with preconfigured arrangements, but the arrangement and order of the fields are customizable.
Q. On the Automated Test Framework, will it now work on items that have a pop-up UI Page?
A. Yes, it will.
Q. Is new Mobile platform Compatible with Service Portal?
A. Mobile Studio provides native experiences for interacting with ServiceNow apps and the Now Platform from iOS and Android devices.
Q. Many of us have been waiting for the Agent Workspaces for a while. Will it be available for real soon?
A. Yes Agent Workspace will be available in Madrid for everyone as part of the base ITSM application.
Q. Is the agent workspace something that is automatic? Or is this a plugin that needs to be activated?
A. Agent Workspace does have a plugin that needs to be activated but it is part of the base ITSM offering.
Q. Will a features summary be made available following the broadcast?
A. Yes. Please check out the fact sheet here. https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_article&sys_id=f6011c5bdb2fe7844abd5583ca96...
Q. In this keynote they mention creating mobile apps in mobile studio. Which mobile application from the Apple Store are they referring to?
A. The new app is called ServiceNow Agent
Q. What is a Pro SKU?
A. In ITSM the Pro SKU includes great features like Virtual Agent, Agent Intelligence, Performance Analytics and Continual Improvement Management. There are Pro SKU's for the others as well.
Q. Is the module Discovery being upgraded as well since it is a key piece of finding out what my assets are or for that matter any customer.
A. Just two main enhancements for Discovery: File-based discovery (scan files systems to identify file fingerprints from a list of signatures), and PowerShell remoting (for communicating directly with Windows Servers via WinRM). You can read about it here: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/madrid-release-notes/page/release-notes/it-operations-management/...
Q. Is Madrid FedRamp certified and at what impact level?
A. At the time of this broadcast, Madrid is under FedRamp evaluation. For more information, including when it becomes certified, please see this page: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/madrid-release-notes/page/release-notes/available-versions.html
Q. Does Agent Workspace require an ITSM pro license or is it standard/out of box?
A. Agent Workspace does not require an ITSM pro license, it is part of the base ITSM offering
Q. Alert Intelligence - is that a paid module? is it built on top of event management?
A. Alert Intelligence is a new feature included with Event Management licensing.
Q. I have pulled he Fact Sheet on the Madrid release and I find it interesting that there is no focus on the ITBM platform and resource and project management process
A. There are ITBM updates including: New PPM Dashboards for Portfolio, Program and Project Manager New Rate Model supporting date range and conditional processing New Financial Baseline compare Enhanced - Move Project Start Date Enhanced - Interproject dependencies Enhanced - Support for MS Project import for Sub-Project
Q. Will there be a change with how an agent is alerted when a Chat is waiting?
A. If an Agent in working in the new Agent Workspace then they will have an actual inbox for things like chats, walkups and even new incidents. If not in the Agent Workspace, then the chat functionality will work as it has.
Q. With such data being held in the cloud is there any changes being made to the availability of full database encryption?
A. Database Encryption is currently available for all supported release versions
Q. For mobile studio, do users have to install a new version of the ServiceNow mobile app on their Android and iPhone devices?
A. Apps created with the new Mobile Studio can only be accessed using the new, free ServiceNow Agent app.
Q. Where do I find details about licensing for the "ITSM Pro Package"?
A. You can find the details on ITSM Pro by going to Servicenow.com and looking at ITSM under the IT Workflows
Q. Agent Workspace is "Generally Available" ... What portions are included within Madrid at no additional costs and which require the 'pro license'
A. If you want to use the built-in machine learning to get recommended resolutions and proactively identify and link to a major incident, you'll need the Pro license.
Q. Can you upgrade from releases prior to London directly to Madrid?
A. Yes, you can.
Q. Are these Madrid features (agent work space, AI, Mobile Suite) available under the ITSA Unlimited licensing model?
A. We recommend talking to your ServiceNow Account Exec about this.
Q. Is the agent working on a ticket able to past a image in the text when replying to a customers email? trying to avoid sending image as a attachment
A. You can use the 'insert/update image' action on the email client to add image to the email.
Q. Is Agent Workspace included in the licensing for base ITSM, or is there an additional license fee to use it?
A. It's included in the base ITSM package
Q. Is there additional cost for Agent Workspace or is it included in our ITSM licensing?
A. It's included in your ITSM licensing
Q. Does Agent Workspace have access to look at knowledge articles? I saw Agent Intelligence being mentioned, but not knowledge.
A. Yes, you can configure Agent Workspace to look at Knowledge articles.
Q. For service portal spectrum, is AngularJS still supported or are developers required to use Angular?
A. We support the older version of AngularJS. There aren’t plans to update that yet but we are aware that Google has announced end of life for it in the next year. We're currently evaluating the direction to update the technology but should have no immediate impact to customers.
Q. Does the Madrid release also include, "merel", the ability to open separate tabs of ServiceNow without ending up on the same screen for all, after clicking Update?
A. This functionality is available in Agent Workspace.
Q. So, if I'm hearing correctly, the Agent Workspace will be available to everyone in Madrid, where you had to pay for it in London?
A. The Agent Workspace is available for both ITSM and CSM in the standard license. There was no charge for it in London, but it was available in 'Limited Access'. Now in Madrid it is generally available. Thanks
Q. Is there are CSI Module?
A. Yes there is a Continual Improvement Management module that is enabled as part of the ITSM Pro SKU
Q. How many of the big advancements within ServiceNow are available as part of the base system?
A. Work with your account representative
Q. Is agent workspace only available on ITSM Pro?
A. No Agent Workspace is available as part of the base ITSM license. If you have the Pro SKU though, you get the added Agent Intelligence feature
Q. So We are saying that end user cannot use mobile app to submit incident & service request?
A. In the first iteration of the Mobile app it will be "Agent: based, but the updates coming in the New York release will include requester functions.
Q. Hi, upgrade process should be smooth in companies with thousands of users like mine, also considering configurations/customizations that are in place. Automatic Test Framework is certainly an interesting opportunity: are also available other facilities? For example, having a temporary sandbox machine might help understand how smooth upgrade process.
A. That's great to hear! Please work with your account rep if you have any specific questions about how this can work for you.
Q. Have there been any updates to the survey tool?
A. Yes there have been updates to the Survey tool. One, in particular, is that is can be incorporated into the Outlook plugin so that surveys can be sent directly via email in an embedded manner.
Q. I'm confused. What app is that on the iPad? ServiceNow?
A. That is the CSM customer service portal, on an iPad. It's part of Customer Service Management.
Q. In the employee onboarding demo between departments such as HR, facilities and IT - Do all departments need to be in ServiceNow to use this feature?
A. Not all departments need to be in ServiceNow. ServiceNow will task and notify the departments required to fulfill any work orders, setup workspace, and provision account access. If those departments are on ServiceNow, the tasks will be in the form of requests. If not, the departments will be notified either via email or integration with their solutions that there are tasks required to complete the onboarding process.
Q. The Change Management workflow OOTB was based on ITIL v3...will that be updated to the new ITIL v4 anytime soon?
A. We are still looking at the timing for updating the OOTB workflow for Change to ITIL v4. We are making a good number of investments in the Change area, so we could see this come in the next few releases
Q. Will task boards be easy to use in the new phone app? That is adding tasks and updating tasks. Thanks.
A. Mobile Studio provides native experiences for interacting with ServiceNow apps and the Now Platform from iOS and Android devices.
Q. This question may not be related. but in London, the Mid Servers, you had to install Java (JRE) on the host machine before installing the Mid service. In Madrid, you have now repackaged Java inside the installer? so the installer service is an all-in-one again?
A. That's right - the MID Server is once again an all-in-one installer.
Q. Is CSM part of the base ITSM app or is it separate?
A. CSM is separate from ITSM app.
Q. How are customer Service Incidents, Problems, Requests kept separate from IT incidents, problems, requests?
A. With the Service Management integration agents can directly create Incidents, Problems, Requests from the case so that the case can be driven to resolution. If there are different groups handling IT incidents, problems, requests versus Customer incidents, problems, requests then you can build assignment rules to route the records to the correct group. Since the underlying objects are the same, your assignment rules for incidents, problems, requests will continue to work regardless of the source. Further, the incidents, problems, requests have a reference to the Case if they originated from the Case so you can build reports around that too.
Q. When viewing incidents not on the main page, hitting the back button takes you page to page 1 instead of the page it was being viewed on. Has this been resolved in the new release?
A. The this was addressed was with Agent Workspace, in where the tab views can better address the information needs of the agents verses a back button
Q. Knowledge Management Group Ownership - is that going to be available to the general KM product, or only for Field Service?
A. It is available in the Knowledge advanced plugin, available to all applications. Please follow Madrid documentation to enable the feature.
Q. How customizable is the agent workspace as far as bringing in CMDB application information as a widget to help agents route tickets/calls to specific support teams?
A. No customization is needed. This information is still present within agent workspace, so any information that is in the CMDB will carry over into the incident information. The only difference is the UX/UI and the ability to bring up information in a variety of way in a single pane view.
Q. will mobile field service be available on Microsoft Windows operating system devices like SurfaceGo?
A. The native mobile app is supported for Android and iOS devices. Mobile web will continue work via a browser on a Windows OS
Q. How soon after getting back on-line do the offline entries upload?
A. Syncing your mobile device back online will take just a few seconds. There is a safety-limit of 1000 records per data-item in offline mode but there is no size limit. Still, it is possible to define an offline scenario that is too large, and it will simply fail or take too long to cache on the device.
Q. Is there a any work to auto assign incidents to agents in ITSM like it does in Field Management?
A. With Agent Workspace there is queue functionality that can auto assign incidents based on workloads and availability
Q. How is CSM Workflow licensed in Madrid ?
A. Workflow comes along with the standard license for CSM. So it is included with the base licensing.
Q. I'm looking for improvements to the task board (I'm using it like a Kanban board). I need wip limits, additional labels, etc. Does Madrid release offer anything in this area? Thank you for the two additional labels in London.
A. There were no updates to the Visual Task Board in Madrid.
Q. How do you access the customer success center?
A. https://www.servicenow.com/success.html
Q. We have jumped to Madrid in our DEV last weekend , for Agent Workspace ITSM is still paid subscription under IT Service Management license,, are there any plans on making free under this license?
A. No. This is because Agent Workspace relies on machine learning (Agent Intelligence) to power the Agent Assist functionality to vastly increase the fullers capabilities.
Q. Any changes related to CMDB?
A. A few new features and some changes. New in Madrid: Agent Workspace for the CMDB, ability to exclude data from CMDB Health audits, improved CMDB search and quick starts for the CMDB (using the Automated Test Framework). Some changes have been made to the Query Builder and Identification and Reconciliation. Read about it in more detail here: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/madrid-release-notes/page/release-notes/now-platform-capabilities...
Q. Can Agent Workspace be configured for HR module?
A. Hello! Not yet in Madrid. We are working on introducing Agent Workspace in future releases, and will design it to suit the specific needs of our HR customers.
Q. Agent workspace - is there a licensing cost?
A. Good news - agent workspace doe not have a separate licensing cost.
Q. Any new mobile platform specific features added in Madrid?
A. New capabilities include: fully native mobile experiences for iOS and Android, rapid app development and codeless app deployment with Studio, offline read and write, enhanced security features around DLP, and out-of-the-box experiences for ITSM/FSM in Madrid.
Q. Will the new_call model continue to be supported as interaction management gains a stronger footing?
A. New Call module continues to be supported. However, there are many benefits to using Interaction Management: better UI experience. Better interaction logging.
Q. I am also interested in any new integration tools for the Project module. TY!
A. There is Enhanced integration Support for MS Project import for Sub-Project with Madrid.
Q. Is Agent Workspace available also for custom applications?
A. Not at this time.
Q. Is there an additional cost for Mobile Studio?
A. The new mobile platform comes with the Pro SKU model. Please work with your account rep for any information on pricing and packaging.
Q. Is the knowledge mgt Group Ownership and Guided setup only available within the Customer Service module or is it also available in the base ITSM application?
A. It is available to all products. You need to install Knowledge advanced plugin and follow the Madrid documentation instruction to enable the feature.
Q. Agent Workspace is available to everyone but Agent Intelligence is on a for-fee/license basis correct?
A. Yes, Agent Intelligence requires the CSM Pro license
Q. Is Mobile Studio available for everyone or we will need a special lic?
A. Mobile Studio is part of Dev Studio and follows platform license
Q. Is there not more functionality available for the DevOps platform in Madrid?
A. There is not specific functionality for DevOps in the Madrid release.
Q. Can ITSM Mobile be extended or widgets / pages in it be used in custom Mobile Studio? Should one add to ITSM Mobile or Build a new app?
A. The new ITSM mobile app is not customizable. It has been purposely built to address micro moments that full-fillers would tackle throughout the day. Other tasks typically are better addressed on a computer
Q. can agent workspace be tied to a Virtual assistant that allows inbound customers to access an agent through chat using Advanced work assignment
A. Absolutely! If a customer interacts with virtual agent but still wants to escalate to a live agent, they are handed off seamlessly to advanced work assignment and routed to an available agent.
Q. Are there any plans to enhance the Release Management module in Madrid?
A. No enhancements in Madrid
Q. Agent Workplace is generally available in what version of ITSM Suite?
A. Agent Workspace is generally available in the base ITSM package
Q. How are the interfaces to such apps as Splunk being enhanced. Also, starting to see that there are opportunities to ingest logs to aid in vulnerability management. Yes//No?
A. For apps like Splunk, we are making it even easier to integrate into ServiceNow with a new drag-and-drop UI to align Splunk alert fields with security incident fields. Re: vulnerability management, if you're talking about using vulnerability scanners with Vulnerability Response, we've had that for a few releases (we support Tenable, Qualys, and Rapid7 today). If you're talking about general log data, I'd need more info. In Madrid, we added the ability to match Vulnerabilities to Known Exploits using built-in Shodan integration; essentially, it allows you to know which vulnerabilities that have been discovered have active exploits (meaning the CI can be more easily compromised).
Q. What OOB Virtual Agents are included with the Madrid release?
A. Links to the OOTB topics for IT, CSM, and HR can be found here: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/madrid-servicenow-platform/page/administer/virtual-agent/referenc...
Q. Thank you all for an great presentation of Madrid. My entire team took time out today to watch. We are certainly more excited than every to implement ServicNow. Thank you again.
A. Thank you! We are happy to hear that.
Q. How does the Madrid release apply the ITIL4 focus areas?
A. We know from our own client experience that executives have always been focused on “driving stakeholder value” with their processes, but ITIL V4 is also in response to more modern “add-ons” like continuous delivery DevOps – where development and operations teams are no longer silo-ed in separate teams. With ServiceNow, we understand these highly agile teams and individuals working across application lifecycles (from development to testing to deployment) but no longer just for IT, for the entire enterprise. We have recognized where the market is, and have painted a path to get industry leaders up to speed with new releases of Change Management, Problem Management as well as upgrades in ITBMs PPM solutions
Q. Continuous Service Improvement as a stand alone component of ServiceNow
A. Continual Improvement Management is available as part of the ITSM pro package, so if you only have the base license you would need to move to Pro to get the functionality.
Q. Am I correct in thinking that Agent Workspace will become available to HR in the Madrid Release?
A. Hello! Not yet in Madrid. We are working on introducing Agent Workspace in future releases, and will design it to suit the specific needs of our HR customers.
Q. Are there any changes in Madrid to the PPM Module and Time Sheet Portal?
A. There were a slew of enhancements and upgrades: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/madrid-it-business-management/page/product/project-portfolio-suit...
Q. Will Agent Workspace be part of HRSD?
A. Hello! We are working on introducing Agent Workspace in future releases, and will design it to suit the specific needs of our HR customers.
Q. Can Performance Analytics or Workbenches be shown in the Mobile solution. I see a big need for this for Executive advocacy and drive progress meetings rather than Status/Static snap-shot of the past discussions.
A. Native chart and analytics are not available in Madrid. However, any mobile responsive pages such as PA can be shown.
Q. Are custom fields in Cases visible in the CSM Agent Workspace?
A. Yes they are. Just include them in the form view configuration.
Q. Is Agent Intelligence configurable regarding search sources?
A. You can configure search sources for Agent Assist (knowledge, community Q&A, Service Catalog) and Agent Intelligence (cases, problems, major cases)
Q. Can we expect AngularJS version upgrade anytime soon?
A. Currently evaluating the direction to update the technology but will not have an immediate impact to customers
Q. Does that mean that CSM Incident; problem, request, etc. are separate applications to the ITSM apps?
A. Incident, problem, request are same between CSM and ITSM
Q. Will there be any new things in Event Management under ITOM?
A. Quite a few things: New Alert Intelligence UI, Explanations for the reason an Alert Group was created, Icinga2 event connector, Alert similarity support using Natural Language Processing, monitoring of event processing and quick start tests for Event Management (using the Automated Test Framework). You can read about it here: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/madrid-release-notes/page/release-notes/it-operations-management/...
Q. AIOps is a big piece of the Madrid release can you elaborate on this?
A. We are investing in key areas of Event Management and Operational Intelligence to make AIOps a reality. Madrid sees the application of Natural Language Processing used to find similar alerts, related tasks and knowledge that can be presented to an operator through the new Alert Intelligence UI. Operational Intelligence also sees improvements to anomaly detection and control bounds settings with the aim of helping you pinpoint performance issues and accelerate root cause identification. More is coming in the New York release!
Q. Are there significant enhancements to Operational Intelligence in Madrid?
A. There are minor improvements to OI in Madrid: Self-health monitoring, and Quick start tests for OI (using the Automated Test Framework). There are a few changes to OI - read about it here: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/madrid-release-notes/page/release-notes/it-operations-management/...
Q. Are there additional costs for developing or using the mobile agent (adding applications/views over custom tables/information)?
A. Mobile Studio is part of Dev Studio and follows platform license
Q. What component (or service) facilitates communication and the movement of data between a ServiceNow instance and external applications, data sources, and services?
A. We use the 3rd party api, usually REST and JDBC.
Q. Do we have anything new to introduce to monitor ServiceNow nodes proactively .So that we can able to avoid performance issues occurred
A. Self-service health (for EM and OI) are part of the product and can be extended. The self-service metrics are also monitored by our datacenter team, new in Madrid
Other Product specific Q&A's
Q&A from the Madrid Release Broadcast - IT Business Management (ITBM)
Q&A from the Madrid Release Broadcast - Security
Q&A from the Madrid Release Broadcast - Customer Service (CSM)
Q&A from the Madrid Release Broadcast - Human Resources (HR)
Q&A from the Madrid Release Broadcast - Now Platform
Q&A from the Madrid Release Broadcast - IT Operations Management (ITOM)
