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ServiceNow Integration

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Level 3
Hi everyone, Our firm is looking at the potential impact of integrating ServiceNow with Workfront, but are unsure of the actual benefits this would provide. I have not found much information in the discussion boards or Workfront Experience articles. I'm basically trying to figure out what the integration provides and compare the difference between the Fusion integration and the general API integration/connection. Additionally, is there a cloud based requirement for this as well? I appreciate any information anyone can provide. Thank you! Jason Young
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Level 2
This is something we've been thinking about as well. Our first use case is an intake process - routing Request items from SN into WF. Our second thoughts are around things like Change Requests - trying to give or take items to align calendars. We haven't looked into Fusion's options, but in talking with a Workfront Partner, this seems doable to them via the API. Cloud vs not didn't sound like an issue if the firewall restrictions are addressed. Mark Lopez Centene Corporation

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Level 2
Thanks Jason for starting this conversation. At Workfront, we've seen several customers explore and implement a ServiceNow to Workfront integration. The vast majority of customers that do this are setup such that certain work items in Workfront can be assigned to a team that uses ServiceNow and those work items create tickets in ServiceNow and Fusion keeps Workfront up to date with the work status. We also see some scenarios where it goes the other way, where a work item created in Servicenow meets some criteria and then is sent to Workfront (and then status stays up to date). To Mark's point, as long as firewall things can be addressed, all the APIs are the same and you can work through on-premise scenarios. As for Workfront Fusion vs. building and maintaining something via the API yourself, the advantages of Workfront Fusion generally fall into the following categories: (each point may be more or less important for each customer). Initial Build Speed: - Workfront Fusion includes pre-built connectors for both Workfront and ServiceNow. Use of these connectors can speed up initial implementation and the time between an "idea" and actual integration working (when compared to traditional software development against APIs). Additionally, it is commonly the case that someone with a "technical background" (but not a developer) can use Fusion to accomplish this, without relying upon your IT team to get around to building something for you. You can remove the need for "waterfall" requirements gathering and easily add value iteratively. Ongoing Agility: - It is rarely the case that your ServiceNow instance or your Workfront instance are going to stay completely static. Your business needs are going to change and you are going to want to continually update / enhance your integrations to support those changes. You'll want to think about who is planning and making those changes (developers or admins), and plan accordingly. We find that the closer you are to the business / department needs, you usually plan better for these incremental updates. Hosting / Maintenance / Monitoring: - Every integration code must be "run" and maintained somewhere. You could write code that runs on your office computer to connect two systems, but you probably wouldn't want to rely upon that. Workfront Fusion includes all the hosting, maintenance, monitoring of the integration to ensure it continues to run effectively and get updates based upon corresponding systems' APIs. Of course, with all of that said it could still make sense to approach with traditional development cycles depending on your organization's needs. If it is useful, I've attached a few slides from my Leap presentation last year where we reviewed this topic as well/ Darin Patterson Workfront