Install the ServiceNow Integration

Use BigPanda to automatically create incidents in ServiceNow, based on high-level incidents that are intelligently grouped from multiple alerts. The ServiceNow application has a convenient UI that provides configurability to support most use cases with documentation for further customization. Integrating BigPanda with ServiceNow reduces IT noise resulting in faster incident resolution.

Compare supported versions and types or read more about the bidirectional sync capabilities and best practices in the ServiceNow documentation.

Assistance required

The BigPanda - ServiceNow v3 integration includes major architectural changes, including new security roles, and deprecated API patterns. The upgrade process must be planned and coordinated with your BigPanda account team.

Contact your BigPanda account team to discuss next steps to upgrade to a 3.x integration version.

Relevant Permissions

The ServiceNow integration requires a BigPanda account with these permissions at Full Access level:

Manage Environments - Full access to environments the UI and API, and the ability to view and action all incidents.
Incident Actions (All Environments) - Full access ability to perform actions on all enrichment tags and incidents (assign, snooze, share, comment).
Integrations - View, install, and edit integrations in the Integrations tab.
AutoShare - View, add, edit, and delete AutoShare rules.
Incident Enrichment - View, create, and edit Incident Tags.
Alert Enrichment - View, create, and edit Alert Tags. Required for integrations connecting ServiceNow CMDB data to BigPanda.
Root-Cause Changes - View change details within an incident and mark changes as Suspect or Match. Required for integrations for organizations leveraging change data in BigPanda incidents.
Alert Filtering & Planned Maintenance - View, create, edit, and delete Maintenance Plans and Alert Filters. Required for integrations connecting ServiceNow maintenance windows to BigPanda.

To learn more about how BigPanda's permissions work, see the Roles Management guide.

Before you begin

Before installing or upgrading, confirm the following:

Your ServiceNow instance runs Xanadu or later.
You have an active ITSM license.
Your ServiceNow instance can make outbound HTTPS (port 443) connections to your BigPanda API region.
You have the required BigPanda credentials:
- Bearer Token
- API Key
- Incidents App Key
- Changes App Key (if you use the Changes module)
- CMDB Enrichment v2 API Key (if you use CMDB v2 or incident merge)
- Open Integration Manager (OIM) API Key (if your organization uses OIM)
You have identified which users need the x_bip_panda.user and x_bip_panda.admin roles.
The BigPanda integration service account in ServiceNow will have both the x_bip_panda.user and itil roles assigned.
Outbound HTTPS access to your BigPanda API region is allowed from your ServiceNow instance.
If upgrading, you have documented any custom transform map modifications that should be preserved during migration.

Platform Requirements

Requirement	v2.9.x	v3.0+
ServiceNow platform	All supported releases	Xanadu or later.
ITSM license	Required	Required.
Application scope	Unscoped (global)	Scoped (`x_bip_panda`).
ServiceNow Store certification	No	Yes.

An active BigPanda subscription with API access is required for all versions.

Firewall rules

If your ServiceNow instance uses restricted outbound access, allow HTTPS (port 443) traffic to your region's BigPanda API endpoint. No other ports or protocols are required.

Roles and Permissions in ServiceNow

The v3 integration uses dedicated scoped roles instead of relying on global ServiceNow roles.

Role	Label	Access Level	Typical Users
`x_bip_panda.user`	BigPanda User	Read-only access to all BigPanda tables. Can view configuration (credentials masked), incident metadata, similar incidents, and related changes.	NOC analysts, on-call engineers, and anyone who needs visibility into BigPanda data.
`x_bip_panda.config_admin`	BigPanda Config Admin	Create and update configuration records without full admin privileges.	Integration configurators.
`x_bip_panda.admin`	BigPanda Admin	Full access to all BigPanda tables. Can create, modify, and delete configuration versions, manage credentials, and run administrative operations.	Integration administrators responsible for setup and maintenance.

Assign ITIL and user role for admins

Assign x_bip_panda.user along with x_bip_panda.admin for users who need administrative access. The admin role does not automatically include read-only permissions.

As part of ServiceNow Store certification requirements, the itil role was removed from BigPanda application roles. The integration service account still requires ITIL-level access to create and update incidents in the ServiceNow incident table.

When creating the BigPanda service account in ServiceNow, assign both of the following roles:

x_bip_panda.user - grants access to BigPanda scoped tables and data.
itil - grants the access needed to create, read, and update records in the incident table and other ITSM tables.

Without the itil role, the integration service account will not be able to create or update incidents in ServiceNow.

Create an app key

Create an app key in BigPanda.

Integration specific

You'll need a separate app key for each integrated system.

https://files.readme.io/9865f2f-Integrations_App_Key_Creation.jpg

App key configuration in BigPanda

Install the BigPanda Application from the ServiceNow Store

The v3 application is installed from the ServiceNow Store. Three fix scripts run automatically during installation to create scoped tables, register the BigPanda CMDB discovery source, and populate a default configuration record.

Open the BigPanda app listing in the ServiceNow Store.
Click Buy and complete the installation wizard.
Wait for the installation to finish. This takes 3-5 minutes and a progress bar will show the installation status. Don't close the browser or navigate away from the page while this happens.
In the ServiceNow navigation pane, confirm the BigPanda application is available. If modules are not visible, refresh your browser or log out and back in.

NOTE: The BigPanda ServiceNow v3 integration requires ServiceNow Xanadu or later, and an ITSM license. See the ServiceNow v3 integration documentation for detailed system requirements.

Connect ServiceNow to BigPanda

To set up the BigPanda application in ServiceNow, click All on the top menu to open the navigation pane, then go to BigPanda > Admin > Configuration.

Click the globe icon on the far right of the top menu to open the application scope picker. Select the BigPanda scope. You must select the BigPanda scope whenever making edits to your configuration, otherwise your edits will not be saved.
Using the details below, fill in the inputs for Bearer Token, API Key, and Incidents App Key, and take note of important URLs.
- Bearer Token: <Your Org Bearer Token>
- API Key: Follow these instructions to create one
- Incidents App Key: <Your App Key>
- OIM API Key: <your OIM API key>. This key is required if your BigPanda organization uses OIM for advanced alert enrichment and correlation. Contact your BigPanda account team to obtain an OIM API key if needed.
- Incident URL Base: https://a.bigpanda.io/v2/feed/all/
- Incidents Retrieval Endpoint: https://integrations.bigpanda.io/servicenow/incidents/retrieve
- Incidents Callback Endpoint: https://integrations.bigpanda.io/servicenow/incidents/callback
Once the fields have been configured, click Submit at the bottom of the page.

Create a User for BigPanda in ServiceNow

Create a dedicated ServiceNow integration user. We recommend using a dedicated non-interactive service account for this integration, for example bigpanda. This prevents the integration from being affected by individual user account changes.

In ServiceNow, under User Administration > Users, select New
Enter a username for the integration account, for example bigpanda.
Enable the Active checkbox.
Generate a password and save it securely for use during the webhook configuration step.
Make sure the Password needs reset checkbox is not checked.
Click Submit, then reopen the user record to confirm that Password needs reset is still cleared.
Navigate to the Roles tab at the bottom of the screen and select Edit…. Do not edit through Roles module in the Navigation Sidebar

In the Collection field, search for and add the required roles to the Roles List by double-clicking each one. At minimum, add x_bip_panda_user, itil, and rest_service. The v3 integration includes the following BigPanda roles:

Role	Purpose	When to Assign
`x_bip_panda_user`	Standard integration user role for API operations. Required for the integration user account.	Always required for the integration user (usually `bigpanda`). Also required for OAuth users.
`x_bip_panda.admin`	Full administrative access to all BigPanda configuration and settings.	Assign to ServiceNow administrators who will manage the BigPanda integration configuration.
`x_bip_panda.config_admin`	Configuration create/update access without full admin privileges.	Assign to users who need to modify integration settings but should not have full admin access.
`itil`	Adds scoped access for itil features	Always required for the integration user.
`rest_service`	Adds scoped access for rest service features	Always required for the integration user.

Click Save

Configure Integration Webhook

In the BigPanda console, configure the ServiceNow integration webhook:

x-bp-servicenowPassword: Enter the password for the user created in the previous section.
x-bp-api-key header: Enter the value for the API Key created earlier.
x-bp-config-servicenowUrl: Enter the full domain name of your ServiceNow account.
x-bp-servicenowUsername: Enter the username, usually bigpanda.
Add a new custom header called x-bp-config-org-id. For the value, enter the organization ID for the BigPanda organization you're integrating with ServiceNow.
(Optional) Add any additional custom headers if needed, such as those required for OAuth v2.0. Refer to the ServiceNow Advanced Customization documentation for more details on available custom headers.
Click Configure Webhook

Webhook builder

Configure the App in ServiceNow

Once the basic API setup is completed, you need to configure incident synchronization.

From the top menu in ServiceNow, navigate to All > BigPanda > Admin > Configuration.

Field mappings will be set to defaults but can all be customized. See the ServiceNow Incidents documentation for more information.

Testing the integration

Manually share an existing BigPanda Incident to this newly created integration. If it is enabled, ServiceNow Telemetry and Debug tools are available.

When satisfied with the integration, turn off both Telemetry and Debug in ServiceNow in the BigPanda application configuration page.

NOTE: Telemetry and debug logging write to ServiceNow system logs on every transaction, which can produce hundreds of thousands of syslog rows per day on busy instances and degrade overall ServiceNow performance. This logging is the most common cause of BigPanda-related impacts to a ServiceNow instance.

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