ServiceNow CIS-HRSD cheat sheet

HRSD is delivered as scoped applications on the ServiceNow platform: HR case management, HR services, and HR profile data live in the Human Resources Core scope (sn_hr_core); lifecycle events and employee relations exist in their own scopes.

All HR cases descend from the base table sn_hr_core_case, which extends task; each HR case type (payroll, benefits, general, employee relations) is a table extension that inherits fields, state model, and ACL behavior from the base.

Core record types: HR profile (sn_hr_core_profile), HR service (sn_hr_core_service), HR template (sn_hr_core_template), HR task (sn_hr_core_task), HR category (sn_hr_core_category), and Center of Excellence (COE).

The HR profile holds employee-specific data (hire date, job, location, department, manager, employment status) and is linked to sys_user; HR attributes therefore are not exposed on the platform user record to every user.

HR criteria records decide which employees a service, catalog item, knowledge article, or lifecycle event applies to; criteria can be built from conditions on user/profile fields or from an advanced script.

Employee-facing experience is the Employee Service Center (Service Portal); agent-facing experience is HR Agent Workspace - both read and write the same case, task, and profile records.

Case visibility is governed by ACLs plus relationships to the record: the subject person (opened for), the requester (opened by), assignment group/COE, and confidential-case handling.

Configuration chain to remember: COE -> HR category -> HR service -> case template and HR tasks -> catalog item -> HR criteria -> publish to ESC.

An HR service (sn_hr_core_service) is the definition of one type of HR request; a case created from it inherits the case type (target table), COE, category, template, and SLA.

Key HR service fields: name, COE, category/subcategory, case type, default case template, subject person handling, HR criteria for eligibility, and the fulfillment flow or workflow.

A Center of Excellence groups related HR services and owns the assignment groups that fulfill them (for example HR Operations, Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, Employee Relations).

A case template prefills case field values and auto-generates child HR tasks, each with an assignment group, optional assignee, short description, and a due-date offset.

HR tasks are child records of the case and represent units of fulfillment; internal tasks go to HR groups, while employee tasks are assigned to the subject person to supply documents or information.

HR criteria attached to the HR service define eligibility; if the employee fails the criteria, the service is withheld from Employee Service Center search and ordering even if a catalog item exists.

An HR service is often associated with a knowledge base or set of articles so agents receive suggested articles and employees get deflection before case creation.

Configuration order that avoids broken references: create COE and category, then HR service, then template and tasks, then the catalog item referencing the service, then criteria, then publish.

An HR catalog item is a sc_cat_item record that references an HR service; submitting it creates an HR case rather than a standard service catalog request or request item workflow.

HR categories (sn_hr_core_category) build the taxonomy that drives Employee Service Center navigation menus and search facets for HR services.

Two layers of targeting must agree: HR criteria on the HR service govern eligibility to receive the service, and HR criteria on the catalog item govern visibility in the catalog.

Catalog item variables reach the case only when the case template or a script maps them to case fields; unmapped variables remain on the request and are invisible to the agent on the case.

Multiple catalog items can reference one HR service to represent different intents, each attaching a different case template, variable set, and task list.

Use the service/catalog item preview and a sample-employee test before publishing to confirm that HR criteria resolve as intended for the target population.

Deactivating a catalog item hides it from the Employee Service Center while preserving references from historical cases and requests; deleting it breaks those references.

Case progression runs from new through open/work in progress and awaiting information to resolved and closed; the exact state model is defined per case type and closure normally requires a resolution or close code.

'Opened for' is the subject person the case is about; 'opened by' is the requester. Agents can create a case on behalf of an employee, and access is granted through both relationships.

Inquiries are lightweight records for simple employee questions; they are answered and closed directly by an agent or deflected with knowledge and do not carry the full multi-task fulfillment workflow.

Assignment options are manual assignment, assignment rules, or Advanced Work Assignment, which routes cases and tasks by service channel, skills, capacity, and agent availability.

A case stays open until required HR tasks close; the agent reviews task output, confirms with the employee, then resolves and closes with the correct resolution code.

Work notes are internal to HR agents while additional comments are visible to the employee; both are recorded in the case activity stream and drive outbound notifications.

Escalation and transfer move a case to another agent, assignment group, or COE while keeping the same case number, activity history, and SLA records on the original record.

HR knowledge is stored in kb_knowledge under a knowledge base with an owner group; the HR knowledge base is typically restricted to HR authors and surfaced through the Employee Service Center.

Article lifecycle is draft -> review -> publish -> retire, driven by the knowledge workflow; only published articles appear in ESC search results and can be attached as suggested articles on cases.

HR criteria on articles or knowledge bases target content to populations (location, employment type, grade), so an article can be published yet invisible to a given employee.

User criteria (can_read_user) control read access at the knowledge base and article level, and ESC text search honors those criteria when returning results.

Flagging an article as unhelpful creates feedback routed to the knowledge owner, who can revise, retire, or re-target the article rather than duplicate it.

Employee self-service capabilities: knowledge search, Ask HR / Virtual Agent conversations, case creation and tracking, HR profile review, lifecycle activity completion, and article rating.

Deflection reporting combines article views and helpful votes with searches that did not end in case creation; a case opened immediately after a search signals failed deflection.

HR integrations typically bring worker data from an HCM system (Workday, SuccessFactors, Oracle) into HR profiles and sys_user using IntegrationHub spokes, transform maps, or scheduled imports.

Standard inbound pattern: staged import table -> transform map -> HR profile and user records, coalescing on employee number so existing profiles are updated instead of duplicated.

Lifecycle events orchestrate multi-department journeys (onboarding, offboarding, leave) by generating a lifecycle case plus a schedule of activities timed relative to the event date.

An activity set is a reusable bundle of activities that can be attached to several event types; activities may be HR tasks, catalog tasks, approvals, or employee tasks.

Lifecycle configuration chain: event type -> activity sets -> individual activities with owner group and due-date offset, plus HR criteria for eligibility and a linked case template.

Due-date offsets are expressed relative to the event date: negative offsets schedule prerequisites (e.g., -7 days for equipment), positive offsets schedule follow-ups (e.g., +30 days for a check-in).

Analytics rely on Performance Analytics indicators over HR case, HR task, and lifecycle activity tables; typical KPIs are case volume, average age, resolution time, SLA compliance, reopen rate, and deflection rate.

Agent Workspace dashboards and Employee Service Center widgets report from the same case and task tables, and PA dashboards stay current only while the indicator data collector jobs run.