Scheduled Data Extract

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ervice-now provides numerous ways of getting data into the system. The import set functionality supports pulling data in from an attachment, FTP(S) servers, JDBC data sources, etc. However, a common problem that many customers have is trying to get data out of their SN instance and into their data center. The simplest way to handle this currently is by having a report emailed to you on a scheduled basis. There has to be a better way!

The good news is that there is a better way. The “Scheduled Data Extract” update set has been designed to allow a user to have reports, tables, or table views sent to a specific directory on a local mid server or FTP to a customer’s FTP/FTPS server on a scheduled basis. The “Scheduled Data Extract” update set has been battle-tested and is used by several large Service-now customers today.

On installation of the Data Extract update set, two new modules will be present within the Reports Application: ‘Scheduled Data Extract’ and ‘Data Extract History’.

How it works

Scenario #1:

Let’s say you want to have all of your users exported from Service-now to a particular computer in your corporate intranet. In this case you want it to end up on a generic Windows XP machine in a certain directory everyday at 12 AM. Once you’ve installed the scheduled data extract, you simply fill out the form in the following manner.

Most of these fields should be self-explanatory.  The MID Server field asks which mid server you would like to have handle this request (Note that the ‘MID Server’ field will not be visible until you have installed the MID Server plugin as documented below).  In this scenario, this field should be set to the mid server that’s running on the machine that will be receiving the export from Service-now.  The Append timestamp field should be checked if you do not want to overwrite the file on your Windows XP machine each time Service-now exports its user table.

Scenario #2:

You want to export an incident report to an FTP server every Wednesday at 1 PM.  This report should be in CSV format.  Since the incident table contains so many fields, you want to limit the export to only include the fields that you’re interested in.  This screenshot represents the solution.  Notice the View field.  This allows you to specify which view you want to use.  It is by defining the view that you’re able to specify which fields should be exported.

Notice that the MID Server field is still a mandatory field.  This is because the mid server is what handles the grunt work to get the data from Service-now and FTPs it to your FTP/FTPS server.  The big advantage of this is that you do not need to open/modify ports to allow Service-now to send data to your FTP server.  It can be a local FTP server that you use internally but do not want to open up to the outside world.  The mid server is required to actually perform the transport of the exported file to your FTP location.

The ‘Scheduled Data Extract’ update set supports several secure FTP methods.  One method that is not supported is SFTP, which commonly confused with FTPS.

Prerequisites:

• Mid Server Plugin

Related Links:

• Download: Scheduled Data Extract
• Supporting Documentation: Installing an update set on your instance