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ServiceNow PM Deep Dive - 05-08-2015

ServiceNow PM Deep Dive - 05-08-2015

Owned by Eric Taggart
Last updated: May 09, 2015

Attending: Kian, Marina, Cheryl, Eric P, Ying, Paul, Briandy, Diane, Brian, Eric T, Carman Cedola (carman.cedola@servicenow.com), Jon Crane (jon.crane@servicenow.com)

Notes:

  • Discussion re: role/ACL based partitioning of UCI's SN instance for pseudo-multi-tenancy
    • Select UCI business/academic units and groups handling sensitive/restricted data (incidents, projects, etc)
  • SN Project/Portfolio Management
    • Jon also referenced Demand Management (project demand pipeline) also "Ideation" for collecting/managing ideas
    • Idea => Demand => Project
  • Portfolios, Portfolio Projects and Projects
    • A single Project can be related to a single Portfolio Project which can be related to multiple Portfolios
      • That let's one project and it's health indicators show in multiple portfolios with only having to maintain the health indicators in one place
      • Not sure whether this relationship is only in Juno or wether it's also in Eureka
      • We should follow-up with John on that
    • We can associate a Project with a single Configuration item, but any way to have more complex relationships across SN applications 
      • sys_m2m_list can be used to establish a new relationship betwteen two tables
        • That will then show a Relationship with the related objects
      • Can also create list fields and add them to an object - and they'll show in the UI
        • Like adding a list of team members
        • Could also be a way to associate a project with multiple business services
    • Add custom new project KPIs to Portfolio Projects
      • Add the new KPI data element to each
      • Augment the Business Rule that updates Portfolio Projects when Projects are edited to also update the new data KPI element
    • Business Service Maps in Fuji have been improved and the user can save a view as an image
      • GANTT charts cannot  yet be presented easily for printer/image
        • Jon will ask their project team whether it's being worked ok
    • Organizing tasks/subtasks/phases
      • Jon showed adding/arranging tasks via the GANTT chart
        • The graphical bar item you drag/drop onto another defines which is the precedent
        • The task you drag/drop onto another defines which will be the child task
        • This is an area where we could use more training
      • Fuji Project WorkBench
        • The Workbench concept applies to all SN applications
    • Any ideas for representing the OIT IT Roadmaps?
      • Nothing clear yet
      • Maybe the SN Resource application will be a better area to try organizing the information
        • Would probably require requesting Resource Plans
    • Initiating Project requests
      • Currently can use Record Producers
      • Fuji: Idea -> Demand -> Project
    • Projects vs SubProjects and Tasks vs SubTasks
      • Tasks/SubTasks are more easily managed via GANTT chart
      • Projects vs SubProjects decide based on scope and level of details desired
    • Any way to differentiate assignments/personal tasks vs Project Tasks?
      • Can use the My Task Boards
      • Can create Team Task Boards - with multiple people added to the board
      • Would like a place to see all incidents, project tasks and personal tasks assigned to an individual
      • Can create task (parent) and then create subtasks under it
    • Any way to suspend a project and then reactivate without resetting all the task-level information
      • Business rules were firing when Start Project was selected (or when the state changed)
        • Setting the status to Open appears to reset various task attributes (like percent complete)
      • Would have to find a way to change the state to those business rules don't fire
      • Seems we need to be very careful about when we do what
      • Consider adding controls around items like Status (turn it into a button with confirmation, etc) so changing Status that will have big impact can be known before doing it
    • Task Duration changes seem to fire business rules that trigger other changes
      • Task Duration calculations factor in the project schedule and they only filter-in the lowest level tasks
        • User can't set Parent task durations since they're derived from lowest level child tasks
      • Changing task start dates from ASAP to specific dates recalculates subtasks
      • What's the best way to learn Project/Tasks
        • Use Knowledge Labs and the SN WIki
        • SN also offers BPM training
    • Can tasks be pegged to a completion date where child/precedent tasks get backward adjusted (finish to start)?
      • User builds task hierarchy wit
      • h durations, then set a master completion date and have it backward schedule the project
      • Currently SN is anchored to the start
      • Jon/Carman will go back and ask if there's anything possible
      • Finish to Finish?
        • Not yet supported the way we were discussing
    • Any MS Exchange Calendar integrations?
      • Some partners have done things, SN may build something into the product but no defined timeline
      • Carman will check on the status
      • Any way for Incidents/Tasks to know when someone's unavailable (vacation, sick, planned time out of office, etc.)
    • Is there a JIRA API
      • There is a web service API 
      • Many things are possible, not sure what JIRA integrations are currently being used
      • One of our use cases may be to update an SN Project item when a JIRA Project Information issue is created
        • We'd likely need to build that integration
      • SN does have some deliverable items eg SCCM, etc
  • Performance Analytics
    • Can take daily snapshots
    • Jon showed various analytic reports
  • Orchestration
    • Onboarding new staff
      • Could create a Service Catalog item that prompts for various attributes (need AD account, Exchange mailbox, PC, permissions to network folders, etc.)
        • Orchestration can handle some automated tasks (like mailbox creation) as well as manual tasks
          • Exchange can be on-prem or O365 - create, deactivate, etc.
    • Server request/creation
      • Can create VMWare machines and AWS machines
    • Service restarts
      • WHen an error condition rises, can auto-restart a server, ship the related log back, etc.
  • Service Watch
    • Autodiscover of business services
    • Agentless but requires TCPIP collectors behind our firewalls that examine network traffic and report back to single instance
    • Licensing based on number of servers (physical and virtual)
  • Licensing
    • Do Web Service API authentication accounts use/require a license?
      • Carman will look into that