ServiceNow Dictionary

Asset Any resource, capability, or anything that could contribute to the delivery of a service.

Availability Ability of a service or a configuration item (CI) to perform its agreed function when required. (% uptime)

Category A named group of things that have something in common. Categories are used to group similar things together.

Change The addition, modification, or removal of anything that could have an effect on services.

Change Management The process responsible for controlling the lifecycle of all changes, enabling beneficial changes to be made with minimum disruption to services.

Change Schedule A document that lists all authorized changes and their planning implementation dates, as well as the estimated dates of longer-term changes.

Change Window A regular, agreed time when changes or releases may be implemented with minimal impact on services. Change windows are regularly documented in service level agreements.

Configuration Item Any component or service asset that needs to be managed in order to deliver a service.

Configuration Management Database (CMDB) Light A database that stores a limited number of attributes of the selected configuration items (CI’s).

Emergency Change A change that must be introduced as soon as possible.

Impact A measure of the effect of an incident, problem, or change. Impact and Urgency are used to assign priority.

Incident An unplanned interruption to a service or reduction in the quality of service. Failure of a configuration item that has not yet affected service is also an incident – for example, failure of one disk from a mirror set.

Incident Management The process responsible for managing the lifecycle of all incidents.

Known Error A problem that has a documented root cause and a workaround. Known errors are created and managed throughout their lifecycle by problem management.

Known Error Database A database containing all known error records. This database is created by problem management and used by incident and problem management.

Major Incident The highest category of impact for an incident.

Normal Change A change that is not an emergency change or a standard change. Normal changes follow the defined steps on the change management process.

Operational Level Agreement (OLA) An agreement between a service provider and another part of the same organization.

Priority A category used to identify the relative importance of an incident, problem, or change. Priority is based on impact and urgency and is used to identify required times for actions to be taken.

Process A structured set of activities designed to accomplish a specific objective. A process takes one or more defined inputs and turns them into defined outputs.

Process Manager A role responsible for the operational management of a process. The process manager’s responsibilities include planning and coordination of all activities required to carry out, monitor, and report on the process.

Process Owner The person who is held accountable for ensuring that a process is fit for purpose. The process owner’s responsibilities includes sponsorship, design, change management and continual improvement of the process and its metrics.

Problem A cause of one or more incidents. The cause is not usually known at the time a problem record is created, and the problem management process is responsible for further investigation.

Problem Management The process responsible for managing the lifecycle of all problems.

Record A row in the ServiceNow database that represents an incident, request, task, or problem. Records are identified in ServiceNow and emails generated by ServiceNow with a record specific identifier.

Request (Service Request) A request from a user for information, advice, a standard change, or access to a service.

Request For Change (RFC) A formal proposal for a change to be made. It includes details of the proposed change and may be recorded on paper or electronically.

Resolution Action taken to repair the root cause of an incident o problem, or to implement a workaround.

Resolution Time Resolution time is defined as the elapsed time between incident or request submission and its resolution.

Response Time Response time is defined as the elapsed time between incident or request submission and a support staff taking ownership for the incident or request.

Record Producer A specific type of catalog item that allows end users to create task-based records, such as incident records, from the service catalog.

Service A means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks.

Service Level Measured and reported achievement against one or more service level targets.

Service Level Agreement (SLA) An agreement between a service provider and a customer. A service level agreement describes the service, documents service level targets, and specifies the responsibilities of the service provider and the customer.

Status The name of a required field in many types of record. It shows the current stage of the lifecycle of the associated configuration item, incident, problem etc.

Urgency A measure of how long it will be until an incident, problem, or change has a significant impact on the business. Impact and urgency are used to assign priority.