Chapter 1. ServiceNow Foundations

This opening chapter lays out the foundational aspects of ServiceNow, from the bottom up. Understanding the fundamentals of the ServiceNow platform is important. It provides insight into the concepts that determine how all the applications built on top work.

Tip

Although long, the chapter is not exhaustive and expects basic familiarity with the ServiceNow interface. Remember to refer to the ServiceNow documentation and any training material you may have.

Perhaps you've decided to build a new hotel, and you want to ensure it won't fall down. The architect's drawings need to be understood and the right building materials ordered. It's costly (and career limiting!) if it collapses in the opening week!

In this chapter, we review the blueprints. We will understand the important design aspects of ServiceNow so that we can build on them later. The data structure available to us is critical, since it enables us to model information and processes in the right way.

In this chapter, we will cover:

• The physical components of the ServiceNow architecture
• How everything you see and do is in the database
• A review of the most important field types
• The magic of reference fields
• Using and building a good interface