5 Working with Ticketing Templates

This chapter provides details on the default ticketing templates shipped along with the ServiceNow connector. The ticketing templates specify the mappings between Enterprise Manager ticket attributes and ServiceNow incident attributes.

This chapter covers the following topics:

Default Ticketing Templates

When a connector instance is created in Enterprise Manager, all associated templates are available for ticket create/update operations. This section describes the default mappings between the Enterprise Manager ticket data fields and the ServiceNow incident data fields.

The ticketing templates XML Style Sheet (XSL) files contains mappings between the two systems. These files are located in the Self Update archive. To extract the installation file, perform the steps described in the Exporting a Template File section.

There are three default ServiceNow templates, as described in Table 5-1:

Table 5-1 Default ServiceNow Templates

XSL File Name Enterprise Manager User Interface Description Required ServiceNow User Permissions (Roles) 
ServiceNow_CreateAndUpdate_Default.xsl

ServiceNow Create and Update

  • Creates new incident in ServiceNow

  • Updates existing incident in ServiceNow

  • itil

  • soap_create

  • soap_update

  • soap_query

 
ServiceNow_CreateAndUpdate_AutoClose.xsl

ServiceNow Create, Update, and Close

  • Creates new incident in ServiceNow

  • Updates existing incident in ServiceNow

  • Closes incident in ServiceNow (if created using a rule, not manually)

  • Reopens incident in ServiceNow

  • itil

  • soap_create

  • soap_update

  • soap_query

  • admin

 
ServiceNow_CreateAndUpdate_AutoResolve.xsl

ServiceNow Create, Update, and Resolve

  • Creates new incident in ServiceNow

  • Updates existing incident in ServiceNow

  • Resolves incident in ServiceNow (if created using a rule, not manually)

  • Reopens incident in ServiceNow

  • itil

  • soap_create

  • soap_update

  • soap_query

Note:

For more information on ServiceNow system roles, see the Base System Roles section of the ServiceNow Product Documentation Wiki: 
http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Base_System_Roles#gsc.tab=0

Standard Fields Mapping

Table 5-2 shows the standard fields provided by Enterprise Manager and how they are mapped to equivalent fields within ServiceNow:

Table 5-2 Enterprise Manager-to-ServiceNow Standard Fields Mapping

Enterprise Manager UI Field Enterprise Manager Backend Field ServiceNow Field Notes

Priority

SystemAttributes/Priority

Priority

See Table 5-3

Severity

SystemAttributes/SeverityCode

Priority

See Table 5-3

Resolution State

SystemAttributes/ResolutionState

State

See Table 5-5

Summary

SystemAttributes/Summary

Short description

  

Description

SystemAttributes/Description

Description at the top of comments

Links directly to Enterprise Manager ticket

Event Class

EMEvent/SystemAttributes/EventClass

Incident Details > Event Type

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager ticket

Category

SystemAttributes/Category

Incident Details > Category

Category of the Enterprise Manager Event

Escalation

SystemAttributes/EscalationLevel

Incident Details > Escalation Level

  

Owner

SystemAttributes/Owner

Incident Details > Owner

  

Acknowledge

SystemAttributes/Acknowledge

Incident Details > Acknowledged

  

Target Name

SystemAttributes/SourceInfo/TargetInfo/TargetName

Source Details > Target

  

Target Type

SystemAttributes/SourceInfo/TargetInfo/TargetTypeLabel

Source Details > Type

Links directly to the Enterprise Manager target

Owner

SystemAttributes/SourceInfo/SourceObjInfo/ObjOwner

Source Details > Owner

  

Target Host

.../TargetProperty/Name=Target_Host -> Value

Source Details > Target_Host

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager target

Comment

.../TargetProperty/Name=Comment -> Value

Source Details > Comment

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager target

Contact

.../TargetProperty/Name=Contact -> Value

Source Details > Contact

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager target

Cost Center

.../TargetProperty/Name=Cost Center -> Value

Source Details > Cost Center

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager target

Department

.../TargetProperty/Name=Department -> Value

Source Details > Department

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager target

Lifecycle Status

.../TargetProperty/Name=Lifecycle Status -> Value

Source Details > Lifecycle Status

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager target

Line of Business

.../TargetProperty/Name=Line of Business -> Value

Source Details > Line of Business

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager target

Location

.../TargetProperty/Name=Location -> Value

Source Details > Target Location

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager target

Operating System

.../TargetProperty/Name=Operating System -> Value

Source Details > Operating System

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager target

Platform

.../TargetProperty/Name=Platform -> Value

Source Details > Platform

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager target

Target Version

.../TargetProperty/Name=Target Version -> Value

Source Details > Target Version

Displayed if defined for Enterprise Manager target

Rule Name

NotificationRuleName

Source Details > Rule Name

Displayed if Incident was created by a Rule

Rule Owner

NotificationRuleOwner

Source Details > Rule Owner

Displayed if Incident was created by a Rule

Priority and Severity Mapping

Table 5-3 and Table 5-4 show the mapping between the Enterprise Manager ticket priority/severity values and how the corresponding values are set in ServiceNow based on those incidents.

Note:

Now Incident Priority is calculated from Impact and Priority as described in the Incident Management section of the ServiceNow Product Documentation Wiki: 
http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Incident_Management#gsc.tab=0

Table 5-3 Enterprise Manager-to-ServiceNow Priority Mapping

Enterprise Manager Priority ServiceNow Impact ServiceNow Urgency ServiceNow Priority

Urgent

1

1

1

Very High

1

2

2

High

2

2

3

Medium

2

3

4

Low

3

3

5

Note:

The Enterprise Manager priority is used whenever it is set (that is, overrides severity code setting). Otherwise, the Enterprise Manager severity code is used.

Table 5-4 Enterprise Manager-to-ServiceNow Severity Mapping

Enterprise Manager Severity Code ServiceNow Impact ServiceNow Urgency ServiceNow Priority

FATAL

1

1

1

CRITICAL

1

2

2

WARNING

2

2

3

ADVISORY

2

3

4

Anything else but CLEAR

3

3

5

Note:

ServiceNow Incident is Closed/Resolved when the Enterprise Manager severity code becomes CLEAR.

State Mapping

As shown in Table 5-5, the mapping between states within Oracle Enterprise Manager and ServiceNow are quite similar:

Table 5-5 Enterprise Manager-to-ServiceNow State Mapping

Enterprise Manager Resolution State ServiceNow State

New

New

Resolved

Resolved

Closed

Closed

Any Other State

Active

Customizable Fields

Table 5-6 shows fields that exist in ServiceNow that are not provided by Enterprise Manager, but can be customized as needed:

Table 5-6 Customizable ServiceNow Fields

ServiceNow Field Default Value Notes

Caller

sample.user

Requires ServiceNow configuration

Location

Sample Location

Requires ServiceNow configuration

Category

EM Incident

Requires ServiceNow configuration

Assignment group

EMSampleGroup

Requires ServiceNow configuration

Assigned to

sample.user

Requires ServiceNow configuration

Close code

Solved (Work Around)

  

Closed by

sample.user

Requires ServiceNow configuration

Close notes

Enterprise Manager Resolution

  

Editing Templates

Although default mappings are sufficient for most implementations, if the out-of-box ticketing templates do not satisfy your requirements, you can modify them. To modify a template, Oracle recommends that you use one of the existing templates as the base template. Copy this ticket template to a new file, modify, and register the new ticketing template.

Oracle recommends that only users with advanced knowledge of XSLT make complex changes. If necessary, you can revert the templates to the original.

To edit an existing ticketing template:

  1. Select the connector instance and go to the Configure Management Connector page.

  2. Select the Template tab.

  3. Select the desired template and click Edit.

  4. Edit the Description and Template Contents fields as needed, then click Save.

The ticket template is automatically registered. Saving the registered template updates it in the repository.

Installing a New or Modified Template File

These customization files assume a fresh installation of ServiceNow.

Note:

In order to import the template files for use with the connector, it is required to overwrite existing templates. Oracle recommends that you back up these templates before you start the uninstall process.

The modified versions of the templates will be reinstalled when the connector is reinstalled, as will any newly added templates and remaining original templates.

If you want to create a custom template, you need to install a new or modified template before it is recognized in Enterprise Manager.

For each new custom template, run the following emctl register_template connector command as a user with execute privilege on emctl and the ability to read the template:

$ORACLE_HOME/bin/emctl register_template connector -t <template.xsl> -repos_pwd <reposPassword> -cname <connectorName> -iname <internalName> -tname <templateName> -ttype 2 [-d <description>]

Where:

  • <template.xsl> is the full path name of the template file.

  • <reposPassword> is the Enterprise Manager root (SYSMAN) password.

  • <connectorName> is the name of the connector instance installed in the Configuring a Connector Instance section

  • <internalName> is the internal name to use for the template.

  • <templateName> is the name to display for the template.

  • <description> is the description of the template.

For example, the following command adds a new outbound template (newTemplate.xsl) for the connector instance:

emctl register_template connector -t /home/oracle/custom_templates/template.xml -repos_pwd sysmanpass -cname "ServiceNow Connector Instance" -iname "newTemplate" -tname "New Template" -ttype 2 -d "Demo template"

Exporting a Template File

Out-of-the-box ServiceNow customized template files are included in the Self Update archive that was installed in Installing the Connector.

To extract a template file to install on an offline system or to customize it and re-install it:

  1. Determine the command required to export the ServiceNow template file:

    1. From the Setup menu, select Extensibility, then select Self Update.

    2. Click the Management Connector link in the Type column.

    3. Click the ServiceNow connector to select it, then select Export from the Actions list.

    A pop-up window, similar to the example shown below (Figure 5-1), appears with the command required to export the file.

    Figure 5-1 Export Command Example

    Surrounding text describes Figure 5-1 .

  2. Open a command window on the Management Server host system and navigate to a temporary directory where you can copy and unzip the file.

  3. Log in to EM CLI using the following command. You will be asked to provide the password information for the sysman user account.

    emcli login -username=sysman

    EM CLI must be executed from the OMS host. See the Oracle Enterprise Manager Command Line Interface for information about setting up EM CLI.

  4. Run the EM CLI export_update command from your system, changing <dirname> to the full path of the temporary directory.

    This action creates a zip file. The file name is composed of the ID value you specify in the export_update command with a .zip extension. In the example command in Figure 2-1 above, the zip file name would be:

    E9F684312AE7A18E98340715D079E58D.zip

  5. Extract the ServiceNow template file from the .zip file using the following command:

    unzip *.zip archives/<filename>

Restoring Templates

After you edit or customize a template, you can restore it to its previous default contents if needed by performing the following steps.

Note:

You can restore out-of-box templates that you have may edited or customized to their default values. You cannot restore new templates that you have created (using the emctl register_template command).

  1. From the Setup menu, select Extensibility, and then select Management Connectors.

  2. On the Management Connectors page, select the connector instance and go to the Configure Management Connector page.

  3. Select the Template tab.

  4. Select the template and click Restore.

  5. Click Yes in the confirmation page that appears to restore.