ITSM Data Connector
It’s now easier than ever to gain valuable insights from your ITSM data using the ITSM Data Connector. Using the connector, you can integrate your data from ServiceNow or Jira into the BigPanda standard data model, allowing you to create reports and build powerful dashboards in Unified Analytics.
Key Features
Configure a data connector to integrate your ITSM data from ServiceNow or Jira into BigPanda.
Use your ITSM data to create dashboards in Unified Analytics.
Set up a Data Connector
The Data Connector setup process is multi-step and involves close coordination with BigPanda support. Contact BigPanda support when you are ready to set up a Data Connector. If you have an existing connector you want to use, provide the ID to the support team.
Review the system prerequisites and required data fields before beginning the data connector setup. Follow the instructions below to set up a data connector with ServiceNow or Jira.
Support will provide you with an auth-uri where you can define authentication for the connection. Let support know when authentication is configured so they can initialize the connector and upload historical data.
BigPanda will let you know when you can see the new Unified Analytics fields. If you need to adjust column mapping, let your account team know.
Initial delay
The sync uses two kinds of data transmissions:
1-time Historical sync - Imports historical data
Ongoing sync - runs every 2 hours to update data
The 1-time historical sync can be a very large ingestion and will take 1-2 days to import.
ServiceNow Setup Process
Connecting an ITSM tool to our data lake involves multiple steps that must be taken in order:
Set up Servicenow SA account and application registry
Create and Set Up A Fivetran Servicenow connector
(Optional) After data is visible in Unified Analytics, adjust column mapping.
ServiceNow Prerequisites
BigPanda permissions - Data connector setup APIs are accessible only for administrators with full Integrations access. ITSM data in BigPanda is only visible for users with view access for Unified Analytics. See the Roles Management documentation for more information.
ServiceNow permissions - To set up connector authentication, enable table auditing and use a ServiceNow Service Account with read access to these tables:
SYS_AUDIT_DELETE
SYS_DB_OBJECT - ServiceNow table metadata
SYS_DICTIONARY - To read all the ServiceNow schemas
SYS_USER
SYS_USER_GROUP
INCIDENT
TASK
CMDB_CI
SYS_CHOICE
TASK_SLA
CONTRACT_SLA
KB_KNOWLEDGE
PROBLEM
PROBLEM_TASK
SYS_JOURNAL_FIELD
Add all required fields and any additional fields you would like to see in reporting.
Special considerations
Read Replicas: Read replicas require an additional flag to be added to each GET API call.
Custom Tables: If there are custom tables related to incidents, you may need to take additional steps to add the custom read role and sync fields for Unified Analytics.
Set up a ServiceNow SA account and application registry
Download and install the latest Update Set
The Update Set will create a new role called bigpanda_data_connector that inherits from the following roles:
Delegated_developer: provides access to sys_dictionary and sys_db_object
Personalize_choices: provides access to sys_choice
Itil: provides access to task related tables
Snc_read_only: provides access to task related tables
Rate Limit Rules will be created to control the GET APIs the data connector uses. The Rate Limit Rules are created as deactivated.
To enable the Rate Limit Rules:
Navigate to Rate Limit Rules
Edit and enable the relevant Rate Limit Rules
Install the update set:
Navigate to the Retrieved Update Set page
Select the Import Update Set from XML option
Choose and upload the Update Set
Select the BigPanda-Fivetran-Role Update Set
Click Preview Update Set
Commit the Update Set
Once the steps are done a new role is created with the name bigpanda_data_connector
Optional: enable the Rate Limit Rules:
Navigate to Rate Limit Rules
Edit and enable the relevant Rate Limit Rules
Create a new SA user
Open the users page
Create a new user
Set the user Timezone to GMT
Add the BigPanda-Fivetran role to the user
Create an application registry on the Global scope as described in the Fivetran documentation.
Create and Set Up A Fivetran Servicenow connector
Submit a ServiceNow data connector creation request with authentication credentials:
POST /resources/v2.0/data-connectors BODY: { "connector_type":"servicenow" }Note Connector ID
Make sure to take a note of the generated connector id that is returned in the API response since you will need it in the next step
Generate a Connect Card URI for the organization - connect cards are uris that can be provided to customers so they can set up connector credentials with no Fivetran credential needed. The Connect Cart URI is valid for 1 day only, and can be regenerated if needed. In order to create a Connect Card, run the following REST API and replace the [connector_id] with the generated connector ID
POST /resources/v2.0/data-connectors/{connector_id}/auth-uri Body: { "Redirect_uri": ”” }The redirect uri is called when when the credential setup in the connect card is completed, so you can set it to BigPanda or "https://www.google.com" for now.
Secure credential storage
The user credentials are securely stored and managed by Fivetran. In case alteration is required to the credentials, the user is always able to update the data-connector credentials using the auth-uri page.
Reach out to BigPanda
Once you have configured the SA account, application registry, and data connector credentials, reach out to your Bigpanda account team.
BigPanda will coordinate final setup and initialization of the data connector.
Initial ingestion of historical data may take several days. You will be notified when data connector data is available for use in Unified Analytics.
ITSM Table
After setting up the BigPanda knowledge base connector, the ITSM table is available as part of the BigPanda Standard Data Model. You can query or export the data using the Open Analytics Hub or create custom dashboards in Unified Analytics.
Column Name | Description | Data Type | ServiceNow Field(s) used to calculate |
|---|---|---|---|
affected_service | The business service that was impacted by the ticket. | varchar | incident.affected_service |
assigned_to | The user who was assigned to resolve the incident. | varchar | sys_user.sys_id sys_user.name task.assigned_to_value |
assignment_group | The assignment group the ticket belongs to. | varchar | sys_user_group.sys_id sys_user_group.name task.assignment_group_value |
bp_incident | The BigPanda incident ID for the ticket. | varchar | incident.x_bip_panda_bigpanda_id |
brand_category | The brand associated with the ticket. This field is used for organizations that represent multiple brands, such as managed service providers. | varchar | incident.brand_category |
business_duration | Total business time spent on the incident. | timestamp | task.business_duration |
business_impact | The business impact of the incident. | varchar | sys_choice.label sys_choice.value sys_choice.element incident.business_impact |
caller_id | The user who reported the incident. | varchar | sys_user.sys_id sys_user.name incident.caller_id_value |
category | The end state category associated with the ticket. | varchar | sys_choice.label sys_choise.value sys_choice.element incident.category |
caused_by_change | ID of the change request causing the incident. | varchar | incident.caused_by_link |
close_code | The resolution code assigned at ticket closure by the operator. This field can be helpful in analyzing tickets that were closed with no action that represent noise. | varchar | incident.close_code |
close_notes | Notes added when the incident was closed. | varchar | task.close_notes |
cmdb_ci | Represents the end state configuration item of the ticket. | varchar | cmdb_ci.name cmdb_ci.sys_id task.cmdb_ci_value |
contact_type | How the contact was made. (For example, phone, email, etc.) | varchar | task.contact_type |
ended_on | Timestamp of when the ticket was resolved. Tickets that are still open will not have a value. | date-time | incident.resolved_at |
impact | The impact level of the incident. | varchar | sys_choice.label sys_choise.value sys_choice.element incident.impact |
itsm_number | The ticket number to be used as a unique identifier in the data set. | varchar | task.number |
made_sla | Indicates if the SLA was met. | boolean | task.made_sla |
opened_by | The user who opened the incident. | varchar | sys_user.sys_id sys_user.name task.opened_by_value |
parent_incident | The ID of the parent incident. | varchar | incident.parent_incident_link |
priority | The end state priority of the ticket. | varchar | sys_choice.label sys_choise.value sys_choice.element task.priority |
problem_id | ID of the related problem record. | varchar | incident.problem_id_link |
reassignment_count | The number of times the ticket was reassigned. This field can be used to identify inefficiencies for tickets that bounce between groups or are incorrectly routed to the resolution group. | number | task.reassignment_count |
reopen_count | The number of times the incident was reopened. | number | incident.reopen_count |
resolved_by | The user who resolved the incident. | varchar | sys_user.sys_id sys_user.name incident.resolved_by_value |
short_description | The short description of the ticket. This field is sometimes referred to as the Ticket Title. You can use this field to find the top reoccuring tickets. | varchar | task.short_description |
started_on | Timestamp of when the ticket was opened. | date-time | task.sys_created_on |
state | Indicates the current progress or stage of an incident in its lifecycle. | varchar | sys_choice.label sys_choice.value sys_choice.element task.state |
subcategory | Represents the end-state subcategory associated with the ticket. | varchar | sys_choice.label sys_choise.value sys_choice.element incident.subcategory |
ttr_seconds | The difference in seconds between the ticket opening and resolution. | number | task.sys_created_on incident.resolved_at |
urgency | The urgency level of the incident. | varchar | sys_choice.label sys_choise.value sys_choice.element task.impact |
Adjust Unified Analytics Field Mapping
BigPanda allows remapping the following Incident object fields:
affected_service
brand_category
resolved_at
close_code
x_big_panda_bigpanda_id
caller_id_value
category
subcategory
Both the original and new column must have the same data type.