xmatters/xm-labs-snow-inform

Inform with xMatters add-on for the ServiceNow integration

Inform with xMatters for the ServiceNow integration

This is part of the xMatters Labs awesome listing. For others, see here

The xMatters integration for ServiceNow provides a several find and assign workflows for tracking down responsible parties for an Incident. However, there are cases where the need for informing other people about an Incident or providing updates regarding an Incident are important. This is where Inform with xMatters comes in. It does not target any users and instead relies on subscriptions to determine who wants to be notified.

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Pre-Requisites

• ServiceNow Helsinki, Istanbul or Jakarta
• ServiceNow integration to xMatters v3.7.11+
• xMatters account - If you don't have one, get one!

Files

• ServiceNowInformwithxMatters.zip - Communications Plan file. This contains all of the out of box ServiceNow forms, in addition to the Inform with xMatters form.
• Inform with xMatters - for SN 3.7.1.xml - Update set containing the ServiceNow artifacts for enabling the Inform with xMatters functionality. Note: Right click > Save As.. the link to download the file as an XML file.

Installation

Login to ServiceNow and navigate to Retrieved Update Sets. Click the Import Update Set from XML link at the bottom and point to the Inform with xMatters - for SN 3.7.1.xml. Preview the update set and commit. This is all net new records so there should not be any files overwritten.

Login to xMatters and import the ServiceNowInformwithxMatters.zip file. This contains a new comm plan called ServiceNow - Inform with xMatters and contains the Integration Builder script, form and properties for sending these notifications.

Configure ServiceNow

Login to ServiceNow and expand the "Integration - xMatters" menu item. In the Configuration section, there is a new entry for "Inform Configuration":

Item	Description
Inform with xMatters Form Endpoint	The Integration Builder endpoint for the "Inform with xMatters" inbound integration url
Available Locations	Semicolon separated list of locations to make available for selection
UUID for affected locations	Not used
Available Services	Semicolon separated list of services to make available for selection
UUID for affected services	Not used

The Available Services and Available Locations values in the config page above will need to match what is available in the "affected_services" and "affected_locations" properties in the ServiceNow - Inform with xMatters comm plan in xMatters. Here:

Configure xMatters

Make sure the affected_locations and the affected_services properties have been updated to contain the same entries as listed in the Inform with xMatters configuration page in ServiceNow.

Create a subscription panel called Inform with xMatters and set the scope to only Inform with xMatters:

Then create the actual subscription records for the users who wish to be notified.

Testing

Login to ServiceNow and find an open Incident. There will be a new button called "Inform with xMatters". Push it and the Inform dialog will be displayed:

Populate all the relevant info and hit Submit. A helpful message will let you know you've done it successfully.

And the email will come through:

Troubleshooting

If the events are not making it into xMatters, then check out the System Logs in ServiceNow for any error messages. The Inform with xMatters workflow uses the same logging setting as the Incident workflow, so update the Logging setting in the main xMatters Configuration page to get more or less detail.

If the events are making it into xMatters, review the Event logs to determine if any Subscription criteria were met. If not, make sure the subscription record was created for the appropriate user. If so, make sure the user's devices are all configured correctly.