The ServiceNow integration connects deskbird Ticketing with your ServiceNow instance. Tickets that employees report in deskbird are automatically created as ServiceNow incidents, and status, urgency, assignee, comments and attachments stay in sync in both directions. Your IT team keeps working in ServiceNow, while employees keep reporting issues in deskbird as usual.
- How the integration works
- Before you start
- Connect ServiceNow
- Choose which categories sync
- What stays in sync
- Resolve sync conflicts
- Check the connection status
- Disconnect or reconnect
- FAQs
1. How the integration works
Once ServiceNow is connected, you decide per ticket category which tickets are sent to ServiceNow. From then on:
- An employee reports an issue in deskbird in a synced category.
- deskbird creates a matching incident in ServiceNow within seconds.
- Changes made in deskbird (status, urgency, assignee, internal notes) are sent to ServiceNow immediately.
- Changes made in ServiceNow (state, priority, assignee, comments, work notes, new attachments) are brought back to deskbird every 15 minutes.
Tickets in categories that are not synced stay in deskbird only.
| What | deskbird to ServiceNow | ServiceNow to deskbird |
|---|---|---|
| New ticket | Creates an incident | Not supported: incidents created in ServiceNow don't appear in deskbird |
| Status | Yes | Yes |
| Urgency / priority | Yes (sets urgency and impact) | Yes (based on the calculated priority) |
| Assignee | Yes, if the person exists in ServiceNow with the same email address | Yes; people who aren't deskbird users are shown as External user |
| Comments | Internal notes become work notes | Work notes and additional comments become internal notes |
| Attachments | Uploaded when the incident is created | A notice is posted in deskbird; files are not copied |
| Title, description, category, location, form answers | Only when the incident is created | No |
| Deleting | No effect in ServiceNow | A deleted incident cancels the deskbird ticket |
2. Before you start
The setup involves two people: a deskbird Global Admin and a ServiceNow administrator who prepares a user account for the connection. Most failed connections are caused by the ServiceNow setup, so check these points first.
In deskbird
- The ServiceNow integration is activated for your company. If ServiceNow isn't listed under Admin > Company > Integrations, contact deskbird support to have it activated.
- Connecting and disconnecting ServiceNow requires the Global Admin role.
- Choosing which categories sync requires the Global Admin or Office Admin role.
- Ticketing is active for the offices whose tickets should sync.
In ServiceNow
- A dedicated integration user. Everything deskbird writes to ServiceNow (incidents, work notes, attachments) appears as written by this user, so give it a recognizable name such as "deskbird Integration". The user needs read and write access to incidents, users, journal entries (comments and work notes) and attachments.
- Basic authentication allowed for the integration user. The connection signs in with a username and password. Recent ServiceNow releases block basic authentication for accounts that aren't allowlisted, and the connection then fails with a "wrong credentials" message even though the credentials are correct. Allow the user in one of these ways:
- Grant the role
snc_basic_auth_api_access. - Enable Web service access only on the user.
- Add the user to the system property
glide.authenticate.basic_auth.allowed_users.
- Grant the role
- The Caller field. deskbird doesn't fill in Caller on the incidents it creates. If Caller is mandatory on your incident form (the ServiceNow default), agents need to pick a caller before saving their first change. To avoid this, set a default caller or relax the rule for incidents opened by the integration user.
- Inline images in work notes (optional). Images from deskbird internal notes are displayed inside the work note only if the system property
glide.ui.security.allow_codetagis set totrue. Otherwise, the work note shows raw HTML; the image is still attached to the incident.
3. Connect ServiceNow
A Global Admin connects ServiceNow once for the whole company.
- Go to Admin > Company > Integrations and find ServiceNow in the Ticketing section.
- Click Set up sync. A connection window from our integration partner Merge opens, with ServiceNow already selected.
- Enter your ServiceNow instance name (for example,
yourcompanyinyourcompany.service-now.com) and the integration user's username and password. - Complete the remaining steps in the window.
deskbird confirms that ServiceNow is connected, and the status changes from Connecting to Connected. This usually takes a few minutes. Once connected, the ServiceNow row shows your instance name and when deskbird last synced changes from ServiceNow. In Classic view, a working connection is shown as Active.
💡 Connecting doesn't sync anything yet. Tickets only start syncing once you choose categories (see Choose which categories sync). Existing incidents in ServiceNow and existing tickets in deskbird are not imported.
4. Choose which categories sync
Sync is enabled per ticket category, so you decide exactly which kinds of tickets go to ServiceNow.
- Go to Admin > Workplace > Ticketing and select the office.
- Open an existing category or add a new one.
- Under Integrations, set Sync tickets to to ServiceNow (the default is None).
- Click Save.
Good to know:
- The Sync tickets to option only appears once ServiceNow is connected.
- Categories are set per office. Repeat these steps for every office whose tickets should sync.
- A category can sync to one ticketing system only.
- Existing open tickets in the category are sent to ServiceNow the next time their status, urgency, assignee or category changes.
- Moving a ticket into a synced category sends it to ServiceNow.
- Setting a category back to None stops new tickets from syncing. Tickets already sent to ServiceNow keep syncing.
5. What stays in sync
deskbird sends changes to ServiceNow immediately. Changes made in ServiceNow reach deskbird in batches every 15 minutes. Only incidents that were created from deskbird tickets are synced.
New tickets
Nothing changes for employees: they report issues in deskbird as usual. For each new ticket in a synced category, deskbird creates an incident in the ServiceNow Incident table:
- Short description: the category name and the deskbird ticket number, for example
IT & Equipment [ABC-2]. Agents can use the ticket number to find the ticket in deskbird. - Description: the location, location details, all form answers and the reporter's email address.
- Urgency and Impact: both set from the deskbird urgency. ServiceNow calculates the priority from these values.
- Assigned to / Opened by: filled in if a ServiceNow user has the same email address as the deskbird assignee or reporter. Otherwise, Opened by shows the integration user.
- Attachments: files uploaded in the report form.
deskbird doesn't set Category, Subcategory, Assignment group or Caller. Your ServiceNow defaults and rules apply.
Status
| deskbird status | Sent to ServiceNow as |
|---|---|
Open |
New |
In Progress |
In Progress |
Done |
Closed |
Cancelled |
Canceled |
| ServiceNow state | Shown in deskbird as |
|---|---|
New |
Open |
In Progress, On Hold |
In Progress |
Resolved, Closed |
Done |
Canceled |
Cancelled |
A ticket that is cancelled in deskbird stays cancelled if the incident is resolved or closed in ServiceNow.
Urgency and priority
| deskbird urgency | Sent to ServiceNow as (urgency and impact) | Resulting priority (ServiceNow standard rules) |
|---|---|---|
| High | 1 - High | 1 - Critical |
| Medium | 2 - Medium | 3 - Moderate |
| Low | 3 - Low | 5 - Planning |
In the other direction, deskbird reads the ServiceNow Priority: 1 - Critical and 2 - High become High, 3 - Moderate becomes Medium, and 4 - Low and 5 - Planning become Low. If you use custom priority rules in ServiceNow, your own mapping applies.
Assignee
- Assignees are matched by email address in both directions.
- If the ServiceNow assignee isn't an active deskbird user in your company, deskbird shows their email address with the label External user. While an external user is assigned, the assignee can't be changed in deskbird.
- If the deskbird assignee doesn't exist in ServiceNow, the assignee stays unchanged in ServiceNow; all other changes are still sent.
Comments and internal notes
- deskbird to ServiceNow: only internal notes are sent. Each internal note becomes a ServiceNow work note, starting with the name of the deskbird author. Public comments in the Updates tab stay in deskbird.
- ServiceNow to deskbird: work notes and additional comments are both added to the ticket's Internal notes. They arrive as plain text (formatting, links and images are removed) and don't trigger emails.
⚠️ Additional comments from ServiceNow agents are shown as internal notes in deskbird. The reporter doesn't see them and doesn't receive an email. To reach the reporter, agents should use another channel.
Attachments
- deskbird to ServiceNow: images (PNG, JPEG, HEIC) and PDFs uploaded in the report form are attached to the incident when it's created. Files added to the ticket later are not uploaded.
- ServiceNow to deskbird: when files are added to the incident, deskbird posts a public comment in the ticket's Updates saying who added them. The files themselves stay in ServiceNow. The reporter sees this comment and receives the usual comment email.
Changes coming from ServiceNow appear in the ticket's Updates with ServiceNow as the author.
6. Resolve sync conflicts
When someone changes a ticket's status, urgency or assignee in deskbird, deskbird first checks the incident in ServiceNow. If ServiceNow already has a different value for that field (for example, because an agent changed it since the last sync), a conflict dialog opens.
- Each conflicting field is listed with the deskbird value and the ServiceNow value. The ServiceNow value is preselected.
- Select the value to keep for each field.
- Click Update ticket.
A deskbird value you keep is sent to ServiceNow. A ServiceNow value you keep is applied in deskbird. Closing the dialog without choosing keeps the ServiceNow values.
7. Check the connection status
The status of the ServiceNow row under Admin > Company > Integrations shows whether sync is working. If there's a problem, a message below the row explains what to do.
| Status | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Not connected |
ServiceNow isn't connected. | Click Set up sync. |
Connecting |
The connection window was completed and the connection is being confirmed. | Wait a few minutes. |
Connected (Classic view: Active) |
Sync works in both directions. | Nothing. |
Sync issues: ServiceNow is rejecting updates from deskbird |
Changes from deskbird can't be written to ServiceNow. | Ask your ServiceNow administrator to check the integration user's permissions. |
Sync issues: updates from ServiceNow aren't reaching deskbird |
Changes from ServiceNow can't be read at the moment. | Wait one or two sync cycles (15 minutes each). If the message stays, contact deskbird support. |
Sync issues with a Reconnect button |
The ServiceNow credentials were rejected. | Click Reconnect and sign in again with the integration user. |
The status returns to Connected automatically once a problem is solved. deskbird retries failed updates automatically.
8. Disconnect or reconnect
Disconnect ServiceNow
Disconnecting stops all sync immediately. Existing incidents in ServiceNow are not changed.
- Go to Admin > Company > Integrations.
- Click Disconnect on the ServiceNow row.
- Confirm with Disconnect, or click Go back to cancel.
- Changes made in deskbird or ServiceNow while disconnected are not synced later, even after reconnecting.
- Categories keep their Sync tickets to: ServiceNow setting. If you don't plan to reconnect, set them to None.
- While the status shows Reconnect, the Disconnect button isn't available. Reconnect first, then disconnect if needed.
Reconnect ServiceNow
If the status shows a Reconnect button, click it and sign in again with the integration user of the same ServiceNow instance. Sync resumes where it stopped: changes held back in deskbird are sent, and changes made in ServiceNow during the last 7 days are brought over.
⚠️ Connecting a different ServiceNow instance isn't supported, because existing tickets stay linked to the incidents in the original instance.
9. FAQs
Recent ServiceNow releases block basic authentication for accounts that aren't allowlisted. Ask your ServiceNow administrator to allow basic authentication for the integration user (see Before you start), then try again.
No. Only tickets reported in deskbird are synced. Incidents created directly in ServiceNow stay in ServiceNow.
No, past tickets are not imported. An existing ticket in a synced category is sent to ServiceNow the next time its status, urgency, assignee or category changes.
Caller is mandatory on the standard ServiceNow incident form, and deskbird leaves it empty. Agents can pick a caller once, or your ServiceNow administrator can set a default caller or relax the rule for incidents opened by the integration user.
deskbird sets both urgency and impact in ServiceNow, and ServiceNow's standard priority rules turn High urgency with High impact into 1 - Critical. To get a different result, adjust the priority rules in ServiceNow.
All comments from ServiceNow, including additional comments, are added to the deskbird ticket as internal notes. Only people who manage tickets can see them, and no email is sent to the reporter.
Assignees are matched by email address in both directions. The person needs the same email address in deskbird and in ServiceNow.
Not at the moment. Agents can find the deskbird ticket number in the incident's short description.
Changes from ServiceNow are not synced in real time. deskbird checks for updates every 15 minutes. Changes made in deskbird are sent to ServiceNow immediately.
No. Only the state, priority, assignee, comments, work notes and new attachments are synced back to deskbird.
No. Each company can connect one ServiceNow instance, and each category can sync to one ticketing system.