ServiceNow Admin Interview Questions

Course highlights

In recent market research, it has emerged that the ServiceNow platform is witnessing exponential growth, with a current market share of approximately 0.7%. This growth trajectory indicates a plethora of opportunities for individuals pursuing a career in ServiceNow Administration. To help aspirants effectively prepare for interviews in this domain, our article delves deep into the most common and relevant ServiceNow Admin Interview Questions for 2023. For ease of understanding and efficient preparation, we’ve classified these questions into two categories:

1. Beginners/Fresher’s
2. Professionals/Experienced

Course introduction

Multisoft Virtual Academy’s ServiceNow Admin online training and certification course is a comprehensive program designed for individuals aiming to master the administrative functionalities of ServiceNow. Participants gain insights into core ServiceNow applications, system configuration, and user interfaces, ensuring they can effectively maintain and customize the ServiceNow environment. Hands-on exercises, real-time scenarios, and expert-led sessions enhance learning. Upon course completion, attendees are equipped with the skills to excel in the ServiceNow ecosystem and are primed for the official ServiceNow Admin certification exam.

Let’s start with the interview questions for beginners:

Q1: What is ServiceNow? Why is it used?

ServiceNow is a cloud-based IT Service Management (ITSM) platform designed to automate and manage enterprise IT operations. It’s used to streamline service operations, improve service delivery, and automate routine tasks across various departments in an organization.

Q2: Name some modules or applications within ServiceNow.

ServiceNow encompasses a broad range of modules, including Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Knowledge Management, Configuration Management Database (CMDB), and Service Catalog, among others.

Q3: What is the difference between a Business Rule and a Client Script in ServiceNow?

A Business Rule is a server-side script that executes whenever a record is inserted, updated, deleted, displayed, or queried. It works on the server side. On the other hand, a Client Script is a script that runs on the client side, meaning on the web browser. It’s used to make dynamic changes on forms or to enhance the user interface.

Q4: What is an Update Set in ServiceNow?

An Update Set is a group of customization that can be moved from one instance to another. It allows administrators to group a series of changes into a named set and then move this set as a unit to another instance.

Q5: Describe the difference between UI Policy and Data Policy.

UI Policies dynamically change information on a form and control the customization of form fields. They are client-side scripts used to make fields read-only, mandatory, or invisible. Data Policies, on the other hand, enforce data consistency and are server-side scripts that set mandatory and read-only states for fields and prevent invalid data from being saved into the database.

Q6: What is a transform map in ServiceNow?

A transform map is a set of fields that determines the relationship between fields in an imported dataset and fields in an existing ServiceNow table. It’s used during data import to guide the movement of data from the import set table to the target table.

Q7: How would you restrict access to a certain part of ServiceNow?

Access to different parts of ServiceNow can be restricted using Access Control Rules (ACLs). ACLs define which roles have what type of access (read, write, create, delete) to specific tables and fields.

Q8: What is a Service Catalog?

The Service Catalog is a module in ServiceNow that allows administrators to define services, allowing users to request them. It’s essentially a structured collection of IT and business services, and can include hardware requests, software provisioning, or even employee onboarding processes.

Q9: Describe an SLA in ServiceNow.

SLA stands for Service Level Agreement. In ServiceNow, an SLA defines the time within which a task or set of tasks must be completed. It can be applied to incidents, problems, and changes to ensure timely response and resolution.

Q10: How does ServiceNow handle data replication and redundancy?

ServiceNow utilizes a multi-instance architecture. Each instance operates independently and is isolated from others. Data replication is achieved by maintaining mirror instances. This ensures data redundancy, high availability, and disaster recovery.

Q11: What are ServiceNow Record Producers?

Record Producers are a type of a catalog item that allows users to create task-based records from the Service Catalog. They provide an alternative way to create records in various tables, like creating an incident without having to navigate to the Incident form.

Q12: Can you describe what a Glide Record is?

Glide Record is an API used for performing database operations without writing SQL queries. It allows ServiceNow developers to use methods to retrieve, update, insert, and delete records in the database.

Q13: What’s the difference between Scheduled Jobs and Import Sets?

Scheduled Jobs are tasks that run at specified times, such as nightly or weekly, to perform specific actions within ServiceNow. Import Sets, on the other hand, are tools for importing data from external sources and mapping that data into ServiceNow tables.

Q14: How is a sys_id used in ServiceNow?

Sys_id is a unique 32-character GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) assigned to each record in ServiceNow to identify it. Every table and record in ServiceNow has a sys_id which can be used to reference and fetch specific data.

Q15: What are Events and Notifications in ServiceNow?

Events are system messages or logs generated by ServiceNow to indicate that a specific situation has occurred. Notifications are actions, often emails or SMS messages, triggered in response to these events to inform users or groups about certain activities.

Q16: How can you improve performance in ServiceNow?

Performance can be enhanced by optimizing business rules, avoiding excessive client scripts, efficiently managing scheduled jobs, regular cleanup of old and unused data, using indexes wisely, and leveraging caching mechanisms.

Q17: What is a Dictionary in ServiceNow?

The Dictionary in ServiceNow defines every table and field in the system. It contains information about field data types, default values, dependent fields, and other attributes.

Q18: How does ServiceNow integrate with other systems?

ServiceNow can integrate with other systems using various methods like SOAP, REST, and direct API calls. IntegrationHub is another feature in ServiceNow that allows for easy connection with other systems through Spokes and Flows.

Q19: What is a Workflow in ServiceNow?

A Workflow is a sequence of activities that automate a process in ServiceNow. Workflows can include approval processes, task generation, notifications, and scripting to coordinate and automate various tasks in ServiceNow.

Q20: Can you explain the role of Update Sets and Cloning in ServiceNow?

Update Sets are groups of customization that can be transferred from one instance to another, allowing for controlled movement of configurations. Cloning, on the other hand, is the process of copying data from one ServiceNow instance to another, usually from production to sub-production environments.

Now let’s have a look on interview questions for professionals:

Q1: How do you handle version control in ServiceNow?

ServiceNow provides Update Sets to capture customization and changes made in an instance. These Update Sets can be exported from a development instance and imported into a test or production instance. It’s crucial to maintain a sequence and ensure dependencies are managed while transferring Update Sets.

Q2: Describe the significance of the ESS role in ServiceNow.

ESS, or “End-User Self-Service”, is a default role in ServiceNow which enables users to create, edit, and update their own incidents or service requests but restricts them from accessing other records or performing administrative functions.

Q3: How can you enhance ServiceNow’s performance?

Optimizing performance can be achieved by:

• Efficiently indexing tables.
• Regularly archiving and purging old data.
• Avoiding or optimizing business rules that run on every task.
• Limiting excessive client scripting.
• Using asynchronous business rules where possible.
• Monitoring instance performance and addressing bottlenecks promptly.

Q4: Explain the differences between an Access Control Rule and a Data Policy.

While both are used to restrict data access and ensure data integrity, Access Control Rules (ACLs) dictate who can access particular data and perform operations like read, write, or delete. In contrast, Data Policies enforce data quality by setting field attributes to mandatory or read-only, ensuring the data that’s entered adheres to certain standards.

Q5: What is ATF in ServiceNow and why is it important?

ATF stands for Automated Test Framework. It allows ServiceNow administrators and developers to create and run tests to ensure that instances work as expected after changes. ATF is vital as it reduces manual testing effort, ensures consistent test results, and helps in delivering changes to production with confidence.

Q6: Describe the significance of Domain Separation in ServiceNow.

Domain Separation allows different parts or departments of an enterprise to manage their data as if they are on separate, isolated instances while actually sharing a single instance. This is useful for large organizations with distinct business units, ensuring data privacy and customization for each unit without needing multiple ServiceNow instances.

Q7: How do you prioritize and manage conflicting business rules in ServiceNow?

Business rules in ServiceNow have an “Order” field. The sequence in which these rules run can be managed using this field. Rules with lower order values run before those with higher values. In cases of conflicts, it’s crucial to analyze the business needs, refactor the rules if necessary, and set their order to ensure the desired outcomes.

Q8: Explain Scoped Applications in ServiceNow.

Scoped applications allow developers to create applications within ServiceNow that operate within their own namespace or “scope.” This means that tables, business rules, and other components of the application do not interfere with the global scope or other scoped applications, ensuring a clean and modular design.

Q9: How do you manage large-scale integrations with ServiceNow, especially when real-time synchronization is required?

Large-scale integrations can be achieved using ServiceNow’s IntegrationHub, API interfaces like REST, SOAP, and more. For real-time synchronization, Webhooks or ServiceNow’s real-time integration capabilities can be leveraged. Ensuring good error handling, logging, and setting up monitors to oversee integration health are also key.

Q10: What’s the difference between CMDB and Asset Management in ServiceNow?

While both deal with items in an organization, CMDB (Configuration Management Database) focuses on configuration items (CIs) that are part of an IT environment and their relationships, which is crucial for impact analysis and change management. Asset Management, on the other hand, tracks and manages physical assets, their lifecycle, costs, and contractual aspects.