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title: ServiceNow Interview Questions

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# ServiceNow Interview Questions

## Introduction to ServiceNow
ServiceNow is an US based software company that offers a cloud computing platform to enable organisations manage their digital workflows for enterprise operations. ServiceNow automates the entire organizational processes and provides consistent experience to its customers. It acts as a exhaustive development environment wherein we can build, test & implement applications that deliver automated workflows for challenges such as operations management, case management and services management.

ServiceNow was initially founded as Glidesoft Inc. in 2003 by Fred Luddy. It stepped into the ITSM (Information Technology Service Management) domain and provided competition to established companies like HP & IBM. Today ServiceNow is not just limited to ITSM, even though it still constitute a major part of its business. Now, it has got diversified into 5 major services which include IT, HR Service Delivery, Security, Customer Service & Business Applications. ServiceNow is a comprehensive cloud solution that aggregates all these services in a single system of record.

As a cloud-based platform, ServiceNow enables smoother integration of the legacy software. This platform essentially offers connected digital workflows that simplifies the business operations. ServiceNow also shares the valuable insights that helps employees to boost their productivity.

ServiceNow's career policy states that it provides a feasible work environment that help them do the best work and impart a value-based culture that stimulate employees to stay happy, healthy, engaged, and growing, thereby it keeps their people at the center of everything they do.


## Interview Process at ServiceNow

Considering the interview experience of earlier candidates, usually the interview process at ServiceNow includes 5 rounds for experienced: 1 Online Test, 2 Technical, 1 Managerial & last HR round. For freshers, the interview rounds may differ and can conclude in 2-3 rounds. Whole interview process can generally take 2-4 weeks depending on the importance of the profile inside the organisation. The interview process are sophisticated and requires every round to be cleared in order to receive a job offer from ServiceNow. 

* **Online Test:**  It can consist of one dynamic programming problem to be solved. 
* **Technical Round-1:** It covers Coding problems depending on the interviewer’s choice. They provide you an online IDE, wherein you have to share the screen and write the code. At the end, the interviewer may ask you to explain the logic you have used to solve the problem.
* **Technical Round-2:** In this round, the Interview may start with a general introduction and can proceed with a detailed  discussion about the projects that you have worked in the eariler companies. The interviewer may frame the questions according to the requirements of a specific role or depending on the explanation that you provide with respect to your project works.
* **Managerial Round:** Here you may have to face a very detailed discussion on the role and about your past experience. This round may also include some tricky questions with different ways of solving the same problem or following a better approach in arriving at the solution.
* **HR Round:** As ususl, the HR will throw you some questions with respect to personal assessment and discuss about the salary part to conclude on the decision of job offer. Here they may also provide you some brief information about the company/HR policies that you need to follow inside the organisation once you join the company.
    
## ServiceNow Technical Interview Questions
Following are some of the major technical questions that are being asked in the interview process of ServiceNow developer role:

#### 1. What is ServiceNow?
ServiceNow is a cloud-based ITSM (IT Service Management) tool that offers a single record system for business management, operations, and IT services. All features related to the organization's IT services reside within the ServiceNow ecosystem. You can obtain a complete view of the resources and services. This permits you to control the allocation of resources in a better way and helps to efficiently design the process flow. 

ServiceNow provides services such as HR, security, business applications, customer service, and IT(Information Technology) service delivery. It is considered an integrated cloud solution where we can get all of these services in a single place. 

#### 2. Write the full form of CMDB and explain what is it?
CMDB stands for Configuration Management Database. CMDB is a repository that can be used as a data warehouse for IT  installations. It will hold the data associated with IT assets collections and details about relationships between assets.

#### 3. Explain the steps for enabling or disabling an application in ServiceNow.
Use the below given steps to enable or disable an application in ServiceNow:
- Go to the “Application Menus” module.
- Open the required application that has to be enabled or disabled.
- You can set the active value as "true" to enable the application. To disable the application set the active value as "false".

#### 4. Explain record matching and data lookup features in ServiceNow.
The data lookup and record matching features allow you for setting up the field value based on a particular condition instead of scriptwriting. For example, on incident forms, the priority lookup rules automatically sample data. Now, set the priority of an incident based on the urgency values and the incident impact. Data lookup rules allow you to specify the fields and conditions where you wish data lookup to happen.

#### 5. What is meant by Coalesce in ServiceNow?
The field property that is used in transform map field mapping is known as Coalesce. Coalescing on a field allows you to use that field as a unique key. The existing record will get updated with the imported information if a match with the coalesce field is found. If you can't find a match, then insertion of a new record into the database will take place.

#### 6. What is meant by impersonating a user? How it is useful?
Impersonating a user means providing the administrator access to what the actual user would have access to. This will have the same modules as well as menus. ServiceNow records all activities of an administrator when the user is impersonating another user. This feature of ServiceNow is very helpful in testing. For example, if you want to test that whether a user is able to access the change form or not. You are allowed to impersonate that user and can perform testing without any need of logging out from your session and again logging in with that user credentials.

#### 7. What is dictionary override in ServiceNow?
Dictionary overrides allow for overriding various field properties in an extended table. Consider an example of a changing table that is extended from the task table. There is a status field in the task table which is set as read-only. If you use this field in change form, it will be in read-only mode. By using the dictionary override, we can alter this to non-read only. 

#### 8. What is a data policy?
Data policies are helpful to enforce data consistency by setting read-only and mandatory states. They can be quite relatable to UI policies, but the difference is UI policies are applied only to the data provided on forms using standard browsers. Also, it can apply rules to each data entered, like data entered through import sets, web services, email, or mobile UI.  For example, if a mandatory field in the entered record is empty then it is possible to prevent the insertion of that record into the table by using data policy. 

#### 9. What are UI policies in ServiceNow?
UI policies are considered as an alternative for client scripts. You can set a field as mandatory, which is read-only, and visible on a form by using UI policies. It can be used to dynamically change a field on a form. 

#### 10. What is a transform map in ServiceNow?
- A transform map in ServiceNow is a field map set that controls the relationship between import set table's displayed fields and target table's existing fields, like Incident `[incident]` or User`[sys_user]`. 
- After transform map creation, you can reuse this to map data from one more import set to the same table.
- A transform map allows an administrator to define final destinations for data imported on tables. This will make it easier to specify linkage between the import set table's source fields and the target table's destination fields. 
- You can use transform mapping to dynamically map source fields and destination fields.

#### 11. What is domain separation in ServiceNow?
Domain separation is a useful method for separating data into logically defined domains. Also, it can be used to separate administration. For example, consider a client who  has two businesses and has a single ServiceNow instance for both businesses. He doesn't want users from one business to view other business data. In this case, we can use domain separation for isolating the records from both businesses.

#### 12. What is a business rule?
The business rule is server-side scripting, which gets executed when you try to insert, delete, update, display or query a record. The main use of creating a business rule is that you can decide when and on what action it will execute. The business rule can be applied to the following states: `display`, `before`, or `after`.

#### 13. What is import set in ServiceNow?
Import set tool is utilised for importing data from multiple set of data sources and then map that data into ServiceNow tables through transform maps. It behaves as a staging table for imported records.

#### 14. What is HTML sanitizer in ServiceNow?
The HTML Sanitizer is useful in cleaning up HTML markup in HTML fields automatically. Also, it will eliminate unwanted code and protect against security threats like cross-site script attacks. Starting from the Eureka release, the HTML sanitizer is active for all instances.

#### 15. What are gauges in ServiceNow?
A gauge can be seen on the homepage of ServiceNow and can contain up-to-date information about the record's current status that is present on ServiceNow tables. A gauge is based on a report and it can be placed on a homepage or a content page.

#### 16. What are metrics in ServiceNow?
Metrics are used for recording and measuring the workflow of  individual records. By using metrics, customers are able to arm their process by giving tangible figures for measuring. For example, how much time it takes before a ticket is reassigned or changes its state.

#### 17. What are the different types of searches that are available in ServiceNow?
Below given list of searches are helpful in ServiceNow to find the information:
- **Lists:** Used to obtain records in a list.
- **Knowledge base:** Used to find knowledge-based articles.
- **Global text search:** Used to find records in different tables from a search field.
- **Navigation filter:** Used to filter the application navigator items.
- **Search screens:** Use a form as an interface for searching table records. These custom modules can be created by administrators.

#### 18. What do you mean by a record producer in ServiceNow?
A catalog item that permits users in the creation of task-based records by using Service Catalog is known as a record producer. For example, you can consider the creation of a problem record or a change record by using a record producer. It will give you an alternative method for the creation of records via Service Catalog.

#### 19. What is a BSM Map?
BSM map stands for Business Service Management map. Configuration Items(CI) are graphically displayed by using a BSM map. These items are used to provide support for a business service and indicates the Configuration Items related status.

#### 20. What is ACL in ServiceNow?
ACL(Access Control List) in ServiceNow defines what can be accessed by data users and in what way they can access the same. ACL rules require users to fulfill individual requirements to obtain access to particular data. 

#### 21. What is an inactivity monitor?
An inactivity monitor is used in event triggering for a task record if the task was kept in an inactive state for a certain period. If the task remains in an inactive state, the inactivity monitor repeats at regular intervals.

#### 22. What is a scorecard?
A scorecard is used for measuring employee performance or a business process. It provides a representation of progress across time in the visualized format. It belongs to an indicator. The initial step is defining the indicators that you wish to measure. You can enhance scorecards by adding aggregates, targets, breakdowns(scores per group), and time series.

#### 23. Differentiate between `next()` and `_next()` method in ServiceNow.
The `next()` method is used for moving into the next record in GlideRecord. `_next()` is quite similar to `next()`, the difference is it is used when you query the table that has next as a column name.

#### 24. What is the purpose of the setWorkflow(e) function?
The setWorkflow(e) is useful in enabling or disabling the execution of business rules that are subsequent actions triggered. If you set the parameter "e" value to false, an insert/update operation will not be audited. When the parameter "e" value is set to true for a GlideRecord operation, then only auditing will be done. Parameter "e" represents a boolean variable that will enable business rules if the value is true(default), and will disable them if the value is false.

#### 25. Explain the types of reports available in ServiceNow.
1. **Bar reports:** They allow you for comparing scores over data dimensions.
2. **Pie and Donut reports:** It helps to visualize the relationship between parts and the entire data set using various shapes like pies.
3. **Time Series reports:** It helps to visualize data over time. You can make use of  MetricBase data in time series reports, along with your instance data and imported data sources. 
4. **Multidimensional reports:** It helps to visualize data across dimensions in a table or graph.
5. **Scores:** It helps to visualize single data points either as a single value or across ranges.
6. **Statistical reports:** It helps to visualize data with statistical values like means and medians.
7. Other reports contain calendars, lists, and maps.

#### 26. What is a foreign record insert?
When an import does a modification to a table that is not the target table for that particular import, then a foreign record insert happens. This occurs when you try to update a reference field on a table.

#### 27. How to set the invalid queries into empty result sets in ServiceNow?
By default, queries having invalid field names executes but invalid condition will be ignored. You can enable the `glide.invalid_query.returns_no_rows property` for more strict query control. It will produce an empty result set for invalid queries.

#### 28. List out the order of processing for Record ACL rules in the ServiceNow platform.
Processing order for Record ACL rules is given below:
- Matching the object against ACL rules related to the field.
- Matching the object against ACL rules related to the table.
- Both field and table ACL rules must be passed by the user to gain access to a record object.

#### 29. How to restrict users from uploading an attachment in ServiceNow?
Following is the stepwise process for restricting users to upload an attachment:
- Go to System Properties -> Security.
- Under the Attachment limits and behavior section, search for a role list that can produce attachments: property(glide.attachment.role).
- Mention one or more roles(separated by commas).
- Only roles listed under this property will be allowed to upload attachments to a record. If no roles are mentioned, then all roles are permitted to upload attachments to ServiceNow forms.
- Click on Save.

#### 30. What is the scope of cascade variable checkbox in order guide in ServiceNow?
It is a checkbox for selecting whether the used variables should cascade, which transmits their values to the items ordered. Variable data entered in the order guide will not be passed on to ordered items if we clear this checkbox.

#### 31. Explain Change Management in ServiceNow.
The Change Management application in ServiceNow gives an organized approach for controlling the life cycle of entire changes. It also provides useful changes to be made with minimum interference to IT services.

## Tips to Prepare for ServiceNow Interview

Following are some of the tips that you can keep in mind while preparing for ServiceNow Interview:

* **Be clear & confident:** Whatever response you provide during the interview, let it be clear in all means. Also, present your knowledge with lot of confidence, so that you can impress the interviewer with your positive attitude.
* **Be honest about your knowledge:** During the interview, present your responses honestly with respect to whatever knowledge you possess or while explaining about the points that are mentioned on your resume. If you don't know any particular concept, admit it honestly or mention that you haven't worked on such concept earlier. But you can mention positively that, you would love to work on any particular concept which you don't know or haven't worked on.
* **Try to give the answers with details:** The interviewer might ask some one liner questions. But you have to make sure that you make him understand that you have deep knowledge about a particular aspect that he seek answer for. The interviewer should gauge you as you have very vast knowledge about many of the topics. But don't be much descriptive also, keeping the time limit in your mind.
* **Talk about your multi-skills:** Present about your other valuable knowledge/skills that you have acquired in the past in addition to ServiceNow. This ensures the interviewer that you are an apt candidate to finalize as multi-skills will give you an edge over other candidates.
* **Be enthusiastic:** During the interview, you always have to show energy. The interviewer should think that you are having a lot of energy and enthusiastic to takeup any kind of work. You have to be positive all throught the interview process.
* **Give some live examples:** While giving the responses try to answer with some live examples. This shows the interviewer that you have the depth-knowledge about a particular concept.

### FAQ's

#### 1. How do I prepare for a ServiceNow interview?
Following are some of the valuable ways that you can utilise to prepare for a ServiceNow interview:-
* **Use your network:** You can Reach out to any person in your alumni network and check if they can offer you insight into ServiceNow and provide inputs about the interview process.
* **Do your research:** Perform some research on ServiceNow, such as their work culture, on-going projects, company goals, etc.
* **Practice makes man perfect:** The job positions are very competitive to get, so doing your research and preparing for behavioral-type questions is imperative.

#### 2. How do you get hired in ServiceNow?
- ServiceNow hires candidates who are extremely creative and are passionate about creating software products that will change the pattern of how usually the ograsitions work. 
- They hire candidates who have exceptional problem-solving & communication skills and also they should possess strong knowledge about ServiceNow platform. 
- Additionally, ServiceNow wants to hire resources who can work well inside a team while also having the initiative to tackle challenges independently.

#### 3. Does ServiceNow need coding?
In both front-end and back-end, ServiceNow can be configured using JavaScript, and you will make solid use of ServiceNow's proprietary JS libraries for database transactions usually prefixed with "Glide". GlideRecord object can form db queries, GlideDateTime provides access to Java time classes & methods, etc. AngularJS is also a important if you plan on using Service Portal. So first learn basic front end programming (JavaScript, html, and CSS). Once you are comfortable with those areas, move on to JS libraries that ServiceNow uses (Angular, Jelly, and jQuery). That's all you actually require to program in ServiceNow.

#### 4. How many rounds of interview are there in ServiceNow?
Based on the interview experience of previously appeared candidates, usually the interview process at ServiceNow constitute 5 rounds for experienced: 1 Online Test, 2 Technical, 1 Managerial & last HR round. For freshers, the interview rounds may vary and can conclude in 2-3 rounds.

#### 5. What is ServiceNow used for?
- ServiceNow is essentially a cloud-based workflow automation tool which enable businesses to improve their operational efficiencies by streamlining and automating routine work activities.
- It uses machine learning aspect to leverage data and workflows, thereby help businesses become faster & scalable. 
- It delivers all the information to the technician to fix and repair issues while eliminate the dependency on spreadsheets and emails.

#### 6. Why is ServiceNow so popular?
ServiceNow is a powerful product and is being respected because it has a capability to manage everything as a Service. The best part of ServiceNow is, under one platform you can manage the entire workflow that offers different kinds of support and enables the enterprises to define services, provides an instinctual service experience, deliver service, assures the service availability and analyzes critical service metrics, process delivery and management, real time communication, customer interaction, collaboration and resource sharing , testing, quality assurance and more.

#### 7. Is ServiceNow developer a good career?
There is a great scope for ServiceNow developers in India and globally, as the technology is expected to grow continuously for many more years and also its scope is vast in diverse fields of business. ServiceNow tool has been implemented by many of the companies from almost all the domains, that provide continued service and support for various industries like Automobile, IT, Health, Insurance, Media and Entertainment etc. Few of the IT companies were using an obsolete ITSM system in the past. With ServiceNow platform available, now the IT companies are able to work more effectively with all the departments on a single tool which helps them to save large amount of time and money.

According to the survey conducted by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment for software developers is set to grow by 21% from 2018 to 2028, which is much faster growth than the average occupation. This rapid growth may be due to increased rate of demand for software applications across almost all the industries.

#### 8. Does ServiceNow pay well?
According to the data provided in Ambitionbox website, the average salary of ServiceNow Software Engineer in India is ₹ 17.5 Lakhs for employees with an experiance ranging between 1 to 7 years. For Software Engineers inside the ServiceNow company, usually the salary ranges between ₹11 Lakhs to ₹26 Lakhs (Salary estimates are as on 11th Aug, 2021).

#### 9. What are the skills a ServiceNow developer should possess?
The most important skills a ServiceNow developer should possess includes the following:
* Extensive knowledge of JavaScript
* Familiarity with UI, HTML, SQL and CSS
* Knowledge of XML & structural programming concepts
* Heavy Experience in using the ServiceNow platform
* Knowledge of ITIL processes
* Advanced problem-solving ability
* Excellent communication and presentation skills
* Organization and time management skills

#### 10. What does a ServiceNow Developer do?
- A ServiceNow developer is mainly accountable for managing the ServiceNow platform of an organisation, wherein he essentially supports various IT service management activities and thereby helping in automating the business processes. 
- The ServiceNow developer role will include the designing, configuring, developing, baseline and troubleshooting implementation, and custom applications to enrich the ServiceNow platform. 
- A ServiceNow developer should also help in managing the platform inorder to ensure the stability and implement the architectural changes whenever necessary.

#### 11. What certifications are offered by ServiceNow?
The different certifications offered by ServiceNow are:
* **Certified Systems Administrator:** This certification will provide you the basics of ServiceNow and test whether or not you can manage, configure and implement the platform.
* **Certified Application Developer:** This particular certification will test your ability to design and manage the applications.
* **Certified Implementation Specialist:** This specific certification tests your skills to implement ServiceNow and it also covers different set of topics, including service mapping, service management, financial management, vulnerability response, security, HR and customer service management.

#### 12. What are the roles & responsibilities of a ServiceNow developer?
Following are some of the major roles and responsibilities of a ServiceNow developer:
* Identifying the deficiencies and provide the best solutions
* Collaborating with other administrators to develop solutions and also helping in change management
* Using languages and third party controls such as C#, .Net and AJAX
* Managing the tool configuration to ensure reliable production
* Custom applications to facilitate the use of new applications and customizations
* Avoiding any disruptions by implementing the new changes with least disruption to operations
* Providing the expertise for all technical issues related to development
* Understanding the bigger picture by using large-scale thinking when working on projects
 
#### 13. What are the job profiles that a ServiceNow developer can look for?
As a ServiceNow developer, you can opt to work in any of the following roles:
* Functional consultant
* Administrator
* Process architect
* Developer
* Technical consultant
* Business or process analyst
* Platform owner
* Technical lead
* Implementation specialist

### Conclusion
We believe that you found this particular article as very useful and insightful for your ServiceNow interview preparations. Get yourself prepared for every question thoroughly as it is going to enhance your understanding about the subject. Apart, you can also take inspiration from these questions, so as to get an idea of what type of questions are being asked in the ServiceNow interview and how your responses should be presented to the interviewer. 

The ServiceNow interview will normally have a variety set of questions, and the above questions on ServiceNow will definitely touch every such aspect. In order to get a better hold on this subject, please leverage your time to learn deeper about the core ServiceNow concepts.

### References
* "Learning ServiceNow" by Tim Woodruff
* https://www.tutorialspoint.com/servicenow/index.htm
* https://www.youtube.com/c/edurekaIN/search?query=servicenow
* https://www.servicenow.com/careers.html
* https://www.ambitionbox.com/
* https://www.servicenow.com/services/training-and-certification/foundations-elearning.html