Implementation Best Practices

[Alex Appiani]

What's the best approach to a ServiceNow implementation?

The ServiceNow Adaptive Implementation Framework, designed by ServiceNow Professional Services, helps you have a successful ServiceNow implementation. To get an overview of how ServiceNow Professional Services can help you, look at the ServiceNow Implementation Services data sheet.   To learn about ServiceNow Services partners who are trained and certified to deploy ServiceNow solutions, view the Find a Partner page by selecting "Services" under PartnerNow Program.

What is Guided Setup, and can I get everything I need out of the guided setup topics?

ITSM Guided Setup helps configure ITSM applications on your ServiceNow instance by guiding you through a series of steps or tasks which are easy to follow and aligned to proven practices. With the new Jakarta release, Guided setup has added process best practice guidance for Incident and Change along with technical guidance though information pages and contextual help. Review the release notes and this recorded webinar to know more about new capabilities like Task assignment and plugin dependency support to Guided Setup. ServiceNow Professional Services, ServiceNow Remote Services and ServiceNow Services Partners are available for end-to-end implementation support.

Where can I find application-specific best practices?

To find product-related best practices (e.g., IT Service Management, Security Operations, etc), access the ServiceNow Product Documentation and search for "best practice," filtering by product. To find instance-related best practices (upgrades, customizations, etc.), log into HI and search for specific topics in the KnowledgeBase.

On the ITSM Guides space, you can also find a calendar of live webinars and on-demand recordings which cover application specific best practices.

Are there any ITIL process guides aligned with ServiceNow applications?

The ITSM Process Guides explain how to use ServiceNow applications to support the following ITIL processes: Incident Management, Service Catalog and Request Fulfillment, Change Management, Configuration Management, Knowledge Management and Problem Management.

How do I promote expansion of ServiceNow throughout my company?

The Champion Enablement Community provides tools, templates, and collateral specifically designed for this effort.

I need to put a solid governance model in place around the ServiceNow platform. Where do I start?

Look at the Governance Technical Best Practices eBook which provides you with the tools you need to create a scalable, technical governance foundation. The Champion Enablement Community also has a section entirely dedicated to Program Management.

How do I structure a team to support the ServiceNow platform?

There are a number of roles to consider, including the platform owner, a business analyst, and a platform architect and developer. Check the Platform Support Model KB article.

Do I run everything on a single instance, or do I need multiple separate instances?

In general, most companies can run everything on a single instance.   You want to consider how you will manage administrative rights, whether you will use a shared data model, and so on. Read this KB article about Instance Separation. It covers best practices, challenges, security models, and instance separation methods.

How do I introduce ServiceNow to my company?

ServiceNow Professional Services or partners can help you plan a smooth go-live to introduce ServiceNow to your company. You can also check out the "Introduce ServiceNow to Your Enterprise" section of the Champion Enablement Community.

How do I best manage the migration of changes across my ServiceNow instances?

There are a number of things to consider, including how you name your update sets, and in which order you migrate them.   Read the ServiceNow Development Path KB article to learn more.