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ServiceNow Integration for Runbooks

Harness Incident Response integrates with ServiceNow through a Connector-based approach, enabling automated incident management and tracking.

Overview​

ServiceNow integration enables your runbooks to:

  • Create and update incidents
  • Track incident progress
  • Manage CMDB records
  • Automate workflow transitions
  • Sync incident updates bidirectionally

Connector-Based Integration​

Prerequisites​

  • ServiceNow admin access
  • Instance URL
  • Service account credentials
  • Harness Project Admin role

Setup Steps​

  1. Navigate to Settings → Connectors
  2. Click + New Connector
  3. Select ServiceNow
  4. Configure authentication:
    • Instance URL
    • Username
    • Password/OAuth credentials
  5. Test connection

Required Permissions​

  • incident_manager role
  • itil role
  • rest_service role
  • web_service_admin role

Using ServiceNow in Runbooks​

Incident Creation​

- Action Type: ServiceNow
  Operation: Create Incident
  Category: "Infrastructure"
  Impact: "[incident.severity]"
  ShortDescription: "[incident.service] Incident"
  Description: |
    Impact: [incident.description]
    Service: [incident.service]
    Environment: [incident.environment]

Update Incident​

- Action Type: ServiceNow
  Operation: Update Incident
  Number: "[servicenow.number]"
  Fields:
    Priority: "[incident.severity]"
    Assignment_group: "SRE Team"
    Comments: "Automated response initiated"

State Management​

- Action Type: ServiceNow
  Operation: Update State
  Number: "[servicenow.number]"
  State: "In Progress"
  WorkNotes: "Incident response team engaged"

Directional Synchronization with IR​

Harness IR uses runbook triggers to update ServiceNow when incident fields change. When a field in IR changes, a runbook can automatically update the corresponding ServiceNow incident.

Field Change Triggers​

Configure runbooks to trigger on field changes:

  • State changes
  • Priority updates
  • Severity modifications
  • Assignment changes

Example: State Change Sync​

Trigger:
  Type: Field Change
  Field: state
  
Actions:
  - Action Type: ServiceNow
    Operation: Update State
    Number: "[servicenow.number]"
    State: "[incident.state]"
    WorkNotes: "State updated from IR"

Example: Priority Sync​

Trigger:
  Type: Field Change
  Field: priority
  
Actions:
  - Action Type: ServiceNow
    Operation: Update Incident
    Number: "[servicenow.number]"
    Fields:
      Priority: "[incident.priority]"
      WorkNotes: "Priority updated from IR"

Advanced Features​

Bidirectional Sync (Coming Soon)​

Future Capability

The following features are planned for future releases:

  • Real-time incident synchronization
  • Work notes mirroring
  • CMDB integration
  • Workflow state mapping

Planned Capabilities​

  1. Incident Sync

    • ServiceNow → Harness IR status mapping
    • Automatic state transitions
    • Priority synchronization

  2. Work Notes Sync

    • Bidirectional updates flow
    • Attachment synchronization
    • User mapping

  3. CMDB Integration

    • CI relationship mapping
    • Impact analysis
    • Service dependency tracking

Best Practices​

Incident Management​

  • Use standard categorization
  • Include business impact
  • Link configuration items
  • Maintain SLA tracking

Workflow Integration​

  • Define clear state mappings
  • Document transition rules
  • Set up appropriate triggers
  • Monitor sync status

Field Configuration​

  • Map essential fields
  • Use custom fields appropriately
  • Document field purposes
  • Validate field values

Common Use Cases​

Major Incident Management​

  1. Create ServiceNow incident
  2. Assign response teams
  3. Track resolution progress
  4. Update stakeholders

Change Management​

  1. Create change requests
  2. Track approvals
  3. Document implementations
  4. Update CMDB

SLA Compliance​

  1. Monitor response times
  2. Track resolution progress
  3. Generate reports
  4. Escalate as needed

Troubleshooting​

Common Issues​

  1. Authentication Failures

    • Verify credentials
    • Check roles/permissions
    • Confirm instance access

  2. Field Update Errors

    • Validate field names
    • Check required fields
    • Verify field formats

  3. State Transition Issues

    • Check workflow rules
    • Verify state mappings
    • Confirm permissions

Next Steps​