Notifications and Email in ServiceNow are essential components that enable effective communication between the platform and its users. As a Certified System Administrator, understanding these features is crucial for maintaining efficient collaboration within your organization.
Notifications in Ser…Notifications and Email in ServiceNow are essential components that enable effective communication between the platform and its users. As a Certified System Administrator, understanding these features is crucial for maintaining efficient collaboration within your organization.
Notifications in ServiceNow are automated alerts sent to users when specific conditions are met. These can be triggered by events such as record creation, updates, or state changes. Notifications keep stakeholders informed about important activities, ensuring timely responses and improved workflow efficiency.
Email configuration in ServiceNow involves several key components:
1. **Inbound Email**: ServiceNow can receive emails and convert them into records like incidents, requests, or tasks. This is accomplished through email accounts and inbound email actions that define how incoming messages are processed and routed.
2. **Outbound Email**: The platform sends emails through configured SMTP servers. Administrators must set up email properties, including server addresses, ports, and authentication credentials to enable outgoing communications.
3. **Email Notifications**: These are configured through notification records that specify recipients, conditions, and message content. Administrators can customize who receives notifications based on roles, groups, or specific user fields on records.
4. **Email Templates**: Reusable templates help standardize communication and reduce administrative overhead. Templates support dynamic content using variables that pull data from records.
5. **Email Logs**: ServiceNow maintains detailed logs of all email activities, allowing administrators to troubleshoot delivery issues and monitor email performance.
Best practices include setting up proper email filters to prevent spam, configuring bounce handling for undeliverable messages, and using digest notifications to reduce email volume for users receiving frequent alerts.
Collaboration is enhanced through features like Connect Chat, activity streams, and email-to-record functionality, which allows users to respond to notifications via email and have their replies automatically attached to relevant records. This integration ensures seamless communication while maintaining a complete audit trail within the platform.
Notifications and Email in ServiceNow - Complete CSA Exam Guide
Why Notifications and Email Matter
Notifications and email are critical components of ServiceNow's collaboration features. They ensure that the right people receive timely information about incidents, changes, requests, and other important events. Understanding this topic is essential for the CSA exam as it tests your ability to configure and troubleshoot communication workflows.
What Are Notifications in ServiceNow?
Notifications are automated messages sent to users when specific conditions are met in the platform. They can be delivered via: - Email (most common) - SMS - Meeting invitations
Notifications are triggered by events in the system, such as record creation, updates, or specific field changes.
Key Components of Notifications
1. Notification Records Found under System Notification > Email > Notifications. Each notification record defines: - When to send: Conditions and events that trigger the notification - Who will receive: Recipients (users, groups, email addresses) - What it contains: Subject line and message body using variables
2. Email Templates Reusable templates that define the structure and content of notification emails. They support HTML formatting and can include dynamic content using ${field_name} syntax.
3. Email Layouts Define the overall structure and branding of notification emails, including headers, footers, and styling.
4. Events System-generated or custom events that can trigger notifications. Events are registered in the Event Registry.
How Notifications Work
1. An event is triggered (e.g., incident.created) 2. The system checks for notification records associated with that event 3. Conditions are evaluated to determine if the notification should be sent 4. Recipients are resolved based on configuration 5. The email is composed using templates and layouts 6. The message is placed in the email outbox and sent
ServiceNow can receive and process inbound emails to: - Create new records - Update existing records - Add comments or work notes
Inbound actions define how incoming emails are processed based on conditions.
Email Properties to Know
- glide.email.test.user: Redirects all emails to a specific user for testing - glide.email.smtp.active: Enables or disables outbound email - glide.email.inbound.max_attachment_size: Controls attachment size limits
Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Notifications and Email
Tip 1: Know the notification record structure Questions often ask about the three main sections: When to send, Who will receive, and What it will contain.
Tip 2: Understand recipient types Be familiar with options like Users, Groups, Users in fields, and Event creator.
Tip 3: Remember variable syntax Variables in notification templates use the format ${field_name}. This is commonly tested.
Tip 4: Distinguish between events and conditions Events trigger the notification process; conditions filter whether the notification actually sends.
Tip 5: Know how to troubleshoot The Email Log (sys_email table) is essential for troubleshooting. Understand email states: Ready, Sent, Error, Ignored.
Tip 6: Understand email digest Email digests consolidate multiple notifications into a single email sent at scheduled intervals.
Tip 7: Know watermark functionality Watermarks in emails help ServiceNow identify and process replies to update the correct record.