Welcome to part 2 of the Builder Series.
In the Now Platform, often there are multiple ways to achieve the desired result.
In this series, we’ll select the method that best suits our needs...
... and we may point out additional tools that might apply to other situations.
Just like any successful project - before we start “doing”, we need to do some planning.
There are some questions to ask yourself about the process and future app...
... that can help determine how to best use the Now Platform features.
For this series, we’ll focus on a use case in a fictional company to track their safety issues.
As we go through the planning questions, we’ll answer them in the context of our safety scenario.
Let’s dive a little deeper into the situation…
Luke Wilson is a safety department manager for a furniture manufacturer.
Your company may not build furniture or track safety issues...
... but you’ll find many of Luke’s challenges familiar, as they apply to most organizations.
Luke currently uses spreadsheets to manage the safety issues at his company’s manufacturing facilities.
Each plant’s safety supervisor receives safety issues by email and phone calls.
They enter their issues into a spreadsheet...
... assign a technician to address each one...
... and notify that technician by email.
Each week, all supervisors email their respective spreadsheets to Luke.
Luke then spends several hours sanitizing and merging spreadsheets to do some basic reporting.
Here are some of the challenges his team faces:
People who report safety issues often feel like their requests went into a black hole...
... because they never got a response from the supervisor or technician.
Technicians can’t see their individual work queues and can’t make direct updates when the work is completed.
Supervisors feel they aren’t adding value by managing spreadsheets.
Spreadsheets aren’t formatted consistently by different supervisors.
The data is always stale by the time Luke receives it from supervisors.
He then compiles multiple versions into a master document, sanitizes it, and creates a report.
As the company grows, the regulatory requirements get stricter.
Luke needs to document approvals on each request...
... but he can’t do this effectively across all sites using spreadsheets and email.
And depending on the priority and due date...
... the organization may be fined for issues that aren’t resolved in a timely manner.
Now let’s look at some of the questions to ask yourself before building an app.
We’ll answer them from Luke’s perspective.
First, what are the goals, objectives, and outputs of your app?
In other words, what business problem are you trying to solve?
Without a specific business objective...
... you’ll have difficulty measuring the success of your app or justifying its continued use within the organization.
Luke’s measurable objective looks like this:
Reduce the time it takes to resolve critical safety issues to one hour...
... moderate issues to one day, and low-priority issues to four business days.
Another good question to ask: Are you currently using a spreadsheet because that's what was available and now you've outgrown it...
... or are you migrating from an existing application that you're looking to replace?
This question impacts your approach for building the app...
... because there are different tools within the Now Platform to support your efforts.
Luke doesn’t have any specific apps for managing safety issues today beyond his spreadsheet.
He’ll use this as a framework for his new app.
Next question: Who will use your app?
Identifying your target audience will help you determine which features your app will provide...
... the data it will capture, and the interface you need to provide for your app.
Luke has three primary personas in mind for the safety app...
... all employees who can report a safety issue...
... technicians and supervisors who manage the active issues on a daily basis...
... and himself, the safety manager, who reviews the safety reports to take appropriate action.
Let’s think about security for a moment.
Should everyone have the same ability to see and edit records and fields...
... or will some users need more or less access than others?
Security is a significant and ever-growing concern in most organizations...
... so identifying at the planning stage who has access to what is a critical step in app development.
Luke’s answer to everyone having the same access is No.
Employees will have limited access while the safety team will have more access to safety records.
Regarding use: What will the users do with the app?
Will they provide information, collect information, route information, request information...
... look up information, collaborate on information, or some combination?
Identifying these actions will establish the features and functions you’ll need to build into your app.
For Luke, employees are his “data collectors”.
They’ll create new issues and add comments to records...
... but they won’t change anything related to process management.
Luke and his team will edit almost all fields, including the State, Due date, Priority, and Assignment.
Next, where will the data come from?
A common scenario is that people enter the data.
Some data may already be available in your ServiceNow instance.
You may also require data to be imported from an external data source.
Luke’s safety application will make use of data in existing records...
... for example - users, departments, and locations.
Employees will create new safety records.
And for the initial release of this app, no external data is required.
OK, let’s talk about scale.
How will people interact with your app?
Will they use computers, mobile devices, or both?
Will they take action with the swipe of a finger or the click of the mouse?
When you understand how people will access your app, you can design a better user experience for them.
Luke’s vision is that people will access the app with both mobile and desktop devices.
Mobility will allow employees to report issues immediately, on the spot...
... and include pictures to help the technician.
And desktop access will provide extended data entry capabilities.
Luke and his supervisors can review reports and manage issues easily from laptops at their desks...
... while the technicians can use mobile devices to close safety issues as soon as they’re resolved...
... anywhere on the premises.
Don’t forget to ask yourself: What processes must the app support?
Walking through example use cases, or “a day in the life” of various users, is a great way to clarify an app’s requirements.
Luke envisions this example of a typical safety issue process flow:
An employee in the lobby notices one of the carpet tiles sticking up, causing a tripping hazard.
He takes out his phone, opens the safety app, snaps a photo of the affected floor space...
... enters some basic information, and submits it.
The supervisor sees the new issue in the queue and quickly dispatches it to the closest available technician.
The technician gets an alert, noting the priority and due date, and goes out to replace the carpet square.
When done, she takes a photo to confirm the resolution and marks the safety issue closed.
Luke has also documented how he and his supervisors will interact over reporting and upcoming regulatory requirements.
Now that you have a good idea of what you need, ask yourself...
... Is there an existing ServiceNow app that already meets most of your needs?
Why re-invent the wheel?
If there’s an app that does what you need, or close to it, consider using or extending that app.
If you don’t know, share your requirements with your account team and see if they can help.
Using a ServiceNow application frees you from building and supporting your own.
Luke has talked to his ServiceNow team, and while there are some similarities with IT processes...
... he and his account manager agree that it makes sense to build the safety app.
Let’s think about outputs.
How will your stakeholders need to report in your app?
If your app is meeting a business purpose...
... you may need to provide reports showing usage, adoption, and key business objectives associated with your app.
In Luke’s case, there are specific requirements about resolution times based on priorities...
... and other objectives related to the location of safety issues and categorization.
With all this great information, you need to ask yourself, Is this app a good fit for the Now Platform?
Not every app idea would work well on the Now Platform.
In general, your app is a good fit if it involves one or more of these items:
Forms, Task management, Repeatable processes, Spreadsheet-driven processes, Request fulfillment...
... Third-party integration, or orchestrating multiple systems.
If your app involves things like unstructured data...
... graphics processing, streaming video or audio, or unrepeatable processes the Now Platform probably isn’t what you need.
Here are a couple of quick tips before you start building.
First, begin with the end in mind.
Understanding and visualizing your desired solution, whether virtually or on a whiteboard...
... can help you determine the steps to build your app.
Often, the outputs are drivers for the inputs.
If you’re trying to speed up a process, for example...
... knowing your output metrics can clarify what to measure.
If you’re managing assets, perhaps cost and location are more important than the details of each item.
Identifying your goals and objectives helps you manage conversations with key stakeholders...
... so that your app specifically addresses your desired business outcomes.
An example of a clear objective might sound like this:
Reduce the time it takes to route and approve time-off requests from five days to less than one day.
Here’s the second tip: Take this opportunity to review and revise your process.
Too many times, processes are dictated by limitations of legacy tools.
Don’t cripple your new app by trying to make it work like the old one did.
After all, if the old app were perfect, you wouldn’t be building a new one.
One final note:
Many organizations believe their processes are unique when they’re actually pretty similar to processes in other organizations.
Take advantage of that similarity...
... by working with your ServiceNow account team or partner to leverage solutions others have already created!
The answers to these questions should provide good insight into various aspects of your application.
Let’s keep them in mind as we build our app’s features in the upcoming videos.
For more information, see our product documentation, knowledge base, or podcast.
Or ask a question in the ServiceNow Community.