Airtable + ServiceNow Integrations

Airtable is a cloud based database software whereas ServiceNow is a cloud based Enterprise Service Management Software company.

What is Airtable?

Airtable is an easy to use and simple cloud based database tool which can be used for a variety of purposes such as Project Management, Inventory Management, Sales Order Processing, Customer Support and many more. It uses web browser based interface which means that one can access the application from anywhere in the world and from any device as long as it is connected to the internet. The best feature of Airtable is its simplicity. It does not need any programming language to create an application for it. A person who has basic knowledge of MS Excel can use Airtable. It also supports the collaboration of multiple people working on the same project as they can all share different views of the same data.Airtable has three levels of users:- Level 1 users are able to create tables and fields but are not allowed to create formulas.- Level 2 users are able to create formulas and are able to control which fields are visible to whom.- Level 3 users are able to create their own apps using Airtable’s API (Application Programming Interface.

What is ServiceNow?

ServiceNow is a cloud based enterprise application management software company which offers a variety of services such as Customer Service, IT Operations, Asset Management, Procurement, HR, Financials etc. It is basically used by large organizations and government bodies. ServiceNow uses a type of Software as a Service (SaaS. model in which the customers pay monthly subscription fees for using its products and services. ServiceNow’s main advantage is its integration with other third party systems such as Salesforce and GitHub. It also has a mobile app which allows employees to access their work email, calendar, contacts etc on the go.

Integration of Airtable and ServiceNow

There have been several studies which prove that integrating Airtable and ServiceNow will help increase productivity, improve customer service and reduce costs. Recent study shows that companies save up to 20% on average by integrating Airtable and ServiceNow. If given below steps are followed then it would be easily possible to integrate these two applications:The first thing to do is to integrate ServiceNow with Airtable’s server by creating an HTTP Api on Airtable’s server. An Api key should be generated on ServiceNow’s side and pasted into Airtable’s server. So far no user interaction has been required; all this process can be done by the IT staff. Once this is completed then four types of data can be exposed on Airtable’s user interface. These four types of data are listed below.- Workflow Information. Workflow Information represents the state of the workflow at any given point in time. The information to be exposed includes the workflow status, who submitted it, when it was submitted, when it was assigned, etc.- Incident Information. Incident Information represents information about an incident such as what caused it, how it was fixed, why it occurred, etc.- Outage Information. Outage Information represents information about an outage such as what caused it, when it began/ended etc.- Configurations. Configurations represent detailed configurations for each application / host / device in the environment. For example. IP address, hostname, setup details etc.ServiceNow also has the capability to expose the following additional data on Airtable’s user interface.- Data from custom fields- Data from Workflow Activities- Data from Incident Fixes- Data from Outage EventsOnce this data is exposed on Airtable’s user interface then it is possible to create relationships between incidents and workflow activities or between incidents and devices/hosts. This provides an overview of what caused an incident or what happened after an incident was created/submitted or even what was down during an outage. This overview could be used as a way to look at historical data which can be used to improve processes or plan for future events. In addition if we combine all of these things together then Airtable provides a complete picture of an organization’s operations which could be used by managers to make informed decisions about their business operations.However there are some challenges which need to be discussed before we start integrating these two applications.

• The first challenge is that ServiceNow API’s do not have support for many operations such as creating categories or adding attachments etc. This makes some integrations very difficult and sometimes impossible if there are many manual tasks involved in ServiceNow tickets or workflows. However there are some workarounds for this problem such as using Text field instead of choosing a category or attaching files directly from Google Drive or Dropbox rather than using a file attachment field in ServiceNow tickets etc. Moreover new versions of APIs are always being released so there may be some new additions in future releases which may improve this problem in future releases; however we will have to wait until new releases come out to see their level of complexity and ease of integration with other applications such as Airtable.
• Another challenge is that ServiceNow does not have any automated mechanism for creating relationships between incidents/workflows/devices/hosts so these relationships will need to be created manually one at a time which will take a long time and effort especially if there are large amount of data which needs to be integrated between ServiceNow and Airtable.
• Another challenge is that once data is exposed on Airtable’s user interface then users would want to use this data for different purposes such as reporting etc., however most of the data from ServiceNow cannot be easily changed or queried in Airtable due to its limitations such as no aggregations in datasets etc. However there is an option available in newer versions of APIs called “Field Updates” where one can run queries on certain fields inside the API so that the results are exposed on Airtable’s user interface giving one more flexibility in terms of using data from ServiceNow in Airtable reports etc.
• Another challenge is that if we want to expose any other application data from ServiceNow onto Airtable’s user interface then we will need to plan things ahead properly; for example we need to ask ourselves questions like “How often should a particular field be updated? Is there a need to update all fields regularly or only specific fields? Can we even make this automatic? How much work will be required to maintain the integration?” before we decide whether or not we want to expose a particular field onto Airtable’s user interface and then proceed accordingly.
• Another challenge is that once we start integrating these two applications then there will definitely be changes required in both applications so it would require maintenance over a period of time with frequent updates being released by both companies.

B. Benefits of Integration of Airtable and ServiceNow.If Integration between these two applications is done properly then many benefits would arise from this integration such as increased productivity, better customer service, reduced costs etc..i. Increased Productivity. By combining data from both applications you will have more flexibility in terms of creating reports and analyzing data because you will have more information at your disposal than you previously had before these integrations started happening . For example if you wanted to analyze how many times incidents were raised for certain devices then you will have more information available at your disposal because you will have information about incidents and devices combined together rather than having separate data for incidents and devices before Integrations started happening between these two applications . Also having better quality data means better analysis results because you will get more accurate information about what happened during incidents rather than having inaccurate information about what happened during incidents because you did not have enough information available at your disposal before Integrations started happening between these two applications . Furthermore this integration also facilitates smoother workflow transitions between different stages because all relevant information about incidents/workflows/devices/hosts will automatically become available on Airtable’s user interface once integrations start happening between these two applications . This means that incidents can be assigned directly from Airtable’s user interface without having to go into ServiceNow and assign them manually which saves time, reduces errors and makes workflow transitions smoother . Besides that one can assign multiple issues directly from within Airtable by selecting multiple issues at once rather than having to go into ServiceNow and assign them manually one at a time which again saves time, reduces errors and makes workflow transitions smoother . Also by having information about incidents/workflows/devices/hosts

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