How to Set up a Salesforce ServiceNow Integration [Step-by-Step Guide]

Salesforce ServiceNow integration can assist your teams in better acquiring and aggregating their already increasing information if they use sophisticated platforms such as Salesforce along with ServiceNow to boost efficiency and productivity. It will openly share critical and reliable info in an automated and unobtrusive manner.

Through Salesforce training, you can keep teams according to their system while allowing data to be transmitted bi-directionally to other groups. This post explains why the Salesforce ServiceNow integration is useful and how to find the best tool to make it happen. The article then begins to explain how integration could be designed and implemented from start to finish. This article will go over why we should integrate Salesforce with ServiceNow, the best tool for establishing Salesforce ServiceNow Integration, and how to create a Salesforce ServiceNow integration, among other things.

Why should we integrate Salesforce and ServiceNow?

Salesforce is one of the most popular CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platforms on the market. Its goal is to close the gap among customers and businesses. It offers a variety of functions and applications to various departments inside the organization, such as sales, advertising, IT, and others, to assist them to deepen and improving their client interactions.

ServiceNow is indeed a cloud-based workflow automation application. It optimizes and automates common job procedures, allowing you to spend less time on administrative functions. Thus it allocates and classifies occurrences based on the availability of agents and their skill level. Its origins can be traced back to ITSM (IT Service Management).

Why is a Salesforce ServiceNow Integration necessary?

Both of these systems are adept at processing large amounts of data, making it easier for teams to complete their tasks. If they share this information, it can enable them to achieve their overall corporate goals. Customer support teams who use ServiceNow can take advantage of Salesforce's customer highlights, comments, and inquiries. Salesforce also allows the sales group to keep records of incidences by key clients. Often the same data that both groups require is available on various platforms, resulting in inefficiencies and redundancy.

As a result, sharing the data will aid different teams in gathering and collating crucial data inside their platforms. However, doing it manually could be time-taking, mistake-prone, and potentially result in duplicate data.

If all of this is automatically generated, teams will be able to provide superior client service and an enriched client experience from beginning to end. To communicate information, the teams will not have to depart their sites or transfer between apps. Salesforce ServiceNow integration could assist teams in doing all of it together with less amount of effort. Necessary data could be reviewed and sent between teams with this kind of integration in place. For example, the sales group may be solely interested in the state of issues reported by significant customers but not in the incident's technical details.

Likewise, support teams may not require to see personal customer data, preferring instead to see technical aspects, if there are any, which can assist them in solving their problems. When setting up the ServiceNow Salesforce interface, it's critical to pick the correct tool for the job. This can assist you in better realizing the value of the integration.

Building up Salesforce ServiceNow Integration with the Right Tool

Because every integration scenario is different, it's critical for the tool to recognize it and adjust to it flawlessly. Exchange of information also requires a high level of security. So seek products with built-in security features such as encrypted file sharing, and role-oriented access controls, among others. Decentralized integration tools can assist both parts of integration in controlling what is communicated with the opposite side and interpreting information received from either side. It gives both parties autonomy and the ability to work separately.

The integration solution should be dependable enough to handle downtimes along with system problems without the need for manual intervention. Even without integrating parties realizing the outage, adjustments should be processed and executed in a similar sequence as they were initiated. In the future, you may wish to integrate with clients, suppliers, or vendors. It will be much easier to make the change if you have a product that already interfaces with the apps they use.

Oxalate supports all of these functions natively, which is why we chose it for the Salesforce ServiceNow connectivity. Using the aid of its programming engine, Exalate can keep up with your specific integration situation. So you don't have to spend too much time customizing your device to match your needs; all you have to do is tweak the synchronization aspects and start with. In a little bit, we'll figure out how to do this. Exalate offers distributed integration, in which each part independently controls what data is given and received without intervention.

It contains a transactional synchronization engine that permits modifications for synchronization to be applied in the same sequence as they were initiated without the need for user intervention if there is no manual involvement. It includes a transactional synchronization engine that permits alterations queued for synchronization in a similar way as they were initiated without the need for user intervention as if the system is offline or the firewall has been set up. It has Github, Jira (on-premise and cloud), Azure DevOps, Zendesk, HP QC/ALM connections. So, if the firms you wish to be integrated with using these apps, you could simply expand the network. Let's look at how to set up a Salesforce ServiceNow integration.

Don't forget to check out: Overcoming 5 Biggest Salesforce Integration Challenges

How to Integrate Salesforce with ServiceNow

You must have to install Exalate on either side before you can set up a Salesforce ServiceNow integration. After that, this could be set up to share incoming, outgoing data on both sides independently of each other. Afterwards, you can begin the synchronization process.

Step 1: Installing the Exalate on the Salesforce

To install Exalate on Salesforce, enter the marketplace by searching for the AppExchange in Salesforce's global search bar and typing AppExchange.

Type "Exalate" into the "Search AppExchange" search bar and choose this from the listing which displays.

At this stage, go over the application's details and select the green "Get It Now" button to start the installation process. If necessary, you would be prompted to log into the AppExchange dashboard. Carry on after that.

Next, select the region in which the Exalate package will be installed. Select among Production or Sandbox mode. Here, we can go with "Install in Production."

Some information about the installation will be shown. Before selecting "Confirm and Install," review them and accept the terms and conditions at the end of the provided page.

On the following screen, you must select the people who'll have accessibility to the Exalate application. It is for increased security and control over who gets available to the system.

Based on your requirements, you can select one of the other two alternatives. An index of possible users would be shown with specific profile access, so you can then select to adjust the rights. To continue, click "Install."

Next, for accessibility to third-party websites, click "Continue." As a result, click "Allow" to provide Exalate with the appropriate permissions. The message "Installation Complete!" will appear after an installation. Then, to return to the Salesforce instance, choose the "Done" option.

It's now or never to request the Exalate node. To perform the same, go to the left side of a Salesforce platform and look for Exalate in the "Apps" area.

Choose the “Request node” option to continue.

Press “Allow” for required permissions.

After that, provide the contact info. Oxalate will be able to verify the account and authorize the evaluation license as a result of this.

Fill in the required information and then click "Agree and Submit." You might as well have got an email by now. Take it and select "Verify Exalate instance" from the drop-down menu. After that, you'll be taken to a Salesforce instance. For login to the Exalate for Salesforce console, follow these steps if necessary.

After that, you can immediately begin using Oxalate! Continue to the following step if you have the requirement to install it on ServiceNow.

Step 2: Install Exalate on ServiceNow

Here's how to set up ServiceNow on Exalate in detail. However, we will only go over the method shortly here. By going to Exalate's integrations page, you could demand a ServiceNow instance.

Click the ServiceNow logo on-page. Click "Submit" after entering the organization's information and more personal data. The ServiceNow node URL will be sent to you through email.

You'll have to download an XML file for the following step. This file contains the data ServiceNow will require to connect to Oxalate. It's available for purchase here.

After that, go to the ServiceNow account and log in. Look for "System Update Sets" in the left-hand menu. If somehow the listing is too lengthy and you can't find it, use the "Filter navigator" search box. By selecting "System Update Sets," you may now expand it. Choose "Retrieve Update Sets" from the drop-down menu. Click "Import Update Set from XML" under the "Related Links" header.

Click "Upload" after selecting the XML file you downloaded. The XML file would be displayed after updating. Now select "Preview Update Set" from the drop-down menu. To complete the Exalate installation on ServiceNow, click "Commit Update Set."

Now you can move on to the next stage.

Step 3: Establish a Salesforce-ServiceNow connection

You must first link Salesforce and ServiceNow before beginning to use Exalate for synchronization. The connection sets your synchronization rules, as well as how your synchronization behaves.

The connection is established when one part initiates it and the next accepts it. Either Salesforce or ServiceNow can be used to accomplish this. Exalate's user interface is consistent across systems, so anyone can use it on any of them.

Let's begin by establishing a connection with the Salesforce instance. For this, go to the Oxalate left-hand menu and select "Connections." All of your connections are listed on this screen. This will be vacant if it is the first time.

Click "Initiate connection" to get started.

There will be a pop-up window. In the text field, type the destination URL. Its other end that would like to link with is referred to as the destination. That's ServiceNow in our instance. If you don't remember the URL, go to the ServiceNow Exalate console and select "General Settings" from the menu. From there, copy the URL.

Oxalate runs a brief check after inserting the URL to know if it is installed at the other end. You will be given the proper status.

After that, you'll be asked to select a connection mode.

Check out an amazing Salesforce video tutorial here: Integration using Salesforce Connect

Step 4: Configure the connection to control what data is shared

If you don't want to set up the connection right now, you may do it later by going to the "Connections" tab and selecting the modify connection button beside the connection name.

By clicking the three dots, you could choose to enable, deactivate, or remove the connection. With the exception of some other general information, the state of your connectivity is also indicated here. After you've pressed the "Configure Sync" option, let's go on to the next steps. The panels for editing the links are similar, therefore there are four tabs presented in either case: "Rules," "Triggers," "Statistics," and "Info."

The "Statistics" page displays synchronization-oriented info such as the count of complaints, remarks, and attachments that have been synced. It includes the plethora of problems synchronized the last time, as well as the time and date of the sync. The "Info" tab displays basic connection information such as the connection's name, kind, descriptions, and destination URL. We have the option to change the description.

So, if you're in Salesforce, "Outgoing sync" describes what data you provide to ServiceNow, and "Incoming sync" describes how you get back data from ServiceNow. It is also the case with ServiceNow.

In the Salesforce part, the rules are as follows:

To regulate the flow of information, you can alter the rules. You can do this by either deleting a line to cease sharing data or adding additional lines to sync something else, such as custom fields. Remove the line out from incoming or outgoing sync or just leave a comment to delete it.

Add comments to a line by beginning it with "/." If you require to remark a set of lines, start it with "/*" and end it with "*/."

For instance, suppose we leave a comment to a replica line, replica.description = entity.

The description is the same as an entity. If you leave the Case description blank inside the Outgoing sync area, the Case description would not be communicated also with ServiceNow.

As an example, if you have to sync Tasks instead of Cases in Salesforce, include the given script in the Outgoing sync.

if(entity.entityType == “Task”) {
    replica.key = entity.Id
    replica.summary = entity.Subject
    replica.description = entity.Description
}

As a result, the Task's content and description would be depicted with ServiceNow. Click "Publish" after you're finished. From another sync onwards, the modifications you've done will be stored and applied. Don't click "Publish" yet; instead, go on to the coming phase to add "Triggers."

Step 5: Create Automatic Synchronization Triggers

Triggers are utilized to synchronize Salesforce and ServiceNow aspects. You must include a query as constructing triggers. Oxalate automatically synchronizes items that fit the search query with either side based on the sync rules you've established. To begin, go to the top of the screen and pick the "Triggers" tab.

Triggers can also be accessed by going to the "Triggers" menu on the left-hand side of the screen.

If you're doing it this manner, you'll have to choose which connection you like to deploy the trigger to first. The remaining steps are the same. All of your triggers will be displayed on the screen. Click "Create trigger" to make a novel one.

A pop-up titled "Add trigger" will display. To begin, choose the entity whereby the trigger will be applied from a dropdown list. Oxalate supports a variety of ServiceNow entities, including Change Requests, Cases, and Problems. For example, we've chosen "Incident."

As illustrated above, the trigger is listed on the preceding screen. The trigger can be edited or deleted using a button. By clicking the three dots adjacent to the trigger and selecting "Bulk oxalate," you may also synchronize the preexisting entities that meet the trigger requirement.

After you've finished editing, click "Publish."

Conclusion

Salesforce ServiceNow integration could undoubtedly assist teams in closing information gaps and bringing them together to work toward a single objective of bettering the customer experience. We observed how an interface like this would benefit groups operating on multiple devices like ServiceNow and Salesforce without requiring them to leave their comfortable environment. We then gained a sense of what a good integration tool should have intrinsically, and we decided to choose Exalate for the integration as it has the characteristics we needed. Finally, we saw how a step-by-step technique might be used to construct such an integration.