ServiceNow CIS-CSM cheat sheet

CSM cases are stored in sn_customerservice_case, which extends task; this gives cases assignment, state, SLA, activity, and work notes inherited from task.

Core CSM roles separate duties: sn_customerservice_agent works cases; sn_customerservice_manager oversees teams and queues; sn_customerservice_admin configures CSM.

A typical case state flow is New to Open or In Progress, then Awaiting Information, Resolved, and Closed; transitions are enforced by state models and business rules.

Entitlements define what support a customer is eligible for and can attach to accounts, contacts, or products; SLAs define response and resolution targets.

Case assignment can be manual or automated through assignment rules, groups, skills, and Advanced Work Assignment; AWA uses availability and capacity.

Universal Request links related requests across departments into one view, while each department still works its own task or case.

Case tasks break work into assignable child records; parent-child case linking supports complex issues that span multiple cases.

CSM self-service includes the Customer Service Portal, knowledge management, service catalog, and communities, reducing agent-created cases.

Impact multiplied by urgency commonly determines priority; priority influences routing, SLA attention, and escalation.

customer_account stores organizations; customer_contact stores people tied to accounts; csm_consumer stores B2C individuals not tied to an account.

Cases reference account, contact, or consumer to establish customer context; missing or inconsistent customer data breaks routing, SLA, and reporting.

Account hierarchy models parent-child relationships and supports organizational rollups; contacts can have relationships and roles that affect visibility.

Case management includes creation, categorization, assignment, escalation, SLA tracking, resolution, and closure; case tasks handle sub-work.

Priority is often calculated from impact and urgency; impact measures business effect, urgency measures time sensitivity.

Entitlements determine support coverage and SLA eligibility; they can be tied to accounts, contacts, products, or service contracts.

Parent-child cases group related work; related cases and tasks preserve links without merging records.

Access to customer data is controlled by roles, ACLs, and domain separation; portal users see records permitted by their contact or consumer relationships.

Data quality rules such as mandatory fields, duplicate checks, and normalization keep account and contact records usable for case routing and reporting.

CSM Configurable Workspace is built on UI Builder and Agent Workspace; admins configure list pages, record pages, tabs, and page variants.

The agent inbox shows assigned cases, interactions, and tasks; agents can accept, prioritize, transfer, or open records from the inbox.

Advanced Work Assignment routes work by availability, capacity, and skills; it pushes work to inboxes and reduces manual assignment queues.

Playbooks provide guided stages and activities; activities can be manual or automated and can launch flows or subflows.

Page variants change workspace layout by conditions such as role, case type, or state, so agents see relevant components.

The Customer Service Portal is a Service Portal for self-service: knowledge search, case submission, case status, catalog requests, and approvals.

Omnichannel interactions record chat, phone, email, or messaging sessions; an interaction can be linked to or converted into a case.

Agent assist surfaces knowledge articles and similar cases in context; workspace search uses global and contextual search.

Workspace configuration is declarative: use UI Builder components and actions rather than custom page code when possible.

Flow Designer automates CSM with triggers such as record created or updated; actions can create tasks, send notifications, update records, and call spokes.

Business rules run server-side on database operations and enforce data integrity or side effects that must occur regardless of client.

SLA definitions include conditions, schedules, and response or resolution targets; the SLA engine creates SLA records when conditions match.

Assignment rules evaluate case conditions and set assignment group or assignee; they complement AWA and manual reassignment.

IntegrationHub spokes provide reusable actions and connections for external systems; CSM flows use spokes for Teams, Outlook, telephony, and other integrations.

Reports query a table with conditions and display results as lists, charts, or dashboards; dashboards combine multiple reports and widgets.

Performance Analytics tracks indicators over time and supports trend analysis for backlog, SLA compliance, and agent performance.

CSAT surveys collect customer satisfaction after resolution; survey results can feed reports and dashboards for service quality monitoring.

Notifications and email templates automate customer and agent communication; scheduled jobs and imports support data movement.