Email Notifications for ServiceNow

Email Notifications for ServiceNow

ServiceNow notifications are triggered by events and send emails, SMS, or other alerts to users.

Notification Components

Creating Notifications

Basic Notification Structure

Notification: Incident Assigned
├── When to send
│   ├── Table: incident
│   ├── When: Record inserted or updated
│   └── Conditions: assigned_to changes AND is not empty
├── Who will receive
│   ├── Users: ${assigned_to}
│   └── Groups: (optional)
├── What it will contain
│   ├── Subject: Incident ${number} assigned to you
│   ├── Message: HTML body with ${field} references
│   └── Email Template: (optional)
└── Advanced
    ├── Weight: 0 (priority)
    └── Send to event creator: false

Notification Conditions

// Simple field conditions
assigned_to CHANGES
priority = 1
state = 6  // Resolved

// Script condition (ES5 only!)
// Returns true to send, false to skip
(function() {
    // Only notify for VIP callers
    var caller = current.caller_id.getRefRecord();
    return caller.vip == true;
})()

// Advanced condition with multiple checks
(function() {
    // Don't notify on bulk updates
    if (current.sys_mod_count > 100) return false;

    // Only for production CIs
    var ci = current.cmdb_ci.getRefRecord();
    return ci.used_for == 'Production';
})()

Email Templates

Template Variables

<!-- Field references -->
${number}
<!-- Direct field value -->
${caller_id.name}
<!-- Dot-walked reference -->
${opened_at.display_value}
<!-- Display value -->

<!-- Special variables -->
${URI}
<!-- Link to record -->
${URI_REF}
<!-- Reference link -->
${mail_script:script_name}
<!-- Include email script -->

<!-- Conditional content -->
${mailto:assigned_to}
<!-- Mailto link -->

Template Example

<html>
  <body style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
    <h2>Incident ${number} - ${short_description}</​h2>

    <table border="0" cellpadding="5">
      <tr>
        <td><strong>Priority:</​strong></​td>
        <td>${priority}</​td>
      </​tr>
      <tr>
        <td><strong>Caller:</​strong></​td>
        <td>${caller_id.name}</​td>
      </​tr>
      <tr>
        <td><strong>Assigned to:</​strong></​td>
        <td>${assigned_to.name}</​td>
      </​tr>
      <tr>
        <td><strong>Description:</​strong></​td>
        <td>${description}</​td>
      </​tr>
    </​table>

    <p>
      <a href="${URI}">View Incident</​a>
    </​p>

    ${mail_script:incident_history}
  </​body>
</​html>

Email Scripts

Basic Email Script

// Email Script: incident_history
// Table: incident
// Script (ES5 only!):

;(function runMailScript(current, template, email, email_action, event) {
  // Build activity history
  var html = "<h3>Recent Activity</​h3><ul>"

  var history = new GlideRecord("sys_journal_field")
  history.addQuery("element_id", current.sys_id)
  history.addQuery("name", "incident")
  history.orderByDesc("sys_created_on")
  history.setLimit(5)
  history.query()

  while (history.next()) {
    html += "<li><strong>" + history.sys_created_on.getDisplayValue() + "</​strong>: "
    html += history.value.substring(0, 200) + "</​li>"
  }
  html += "</​ul>"

  template.print(html)
})(current, template, email, email_action, event)

Email Script with Attachments

// Add attachments from the record to the email
;(function runMailScript(current, template, email, email_action, event) {
  var gr = new GlideRecord("sys_attachment")
  gr.addQuery("table_sys_id", current.sys_id)
  gr.addQuery("table_name", "incident")
  gr.query()

  while (gr.next()) {
    email.addAttachment(gr)
  }
})(current, template, email, email_action, event)

Dynamic Recipients

// Email Script to add CC recipients dynamically
;(function runMailScript(current, template, email, email_action, event) {
  // Add all group members as CC
  var group = current.assignment_group
  if (!group.nil()) {
    var members = new GlideRecord("sys_user_grmember")
    members.addQuery("group", group)
    members.query()

    while (members.next()) {
      var user = members.user.getRefRecord()
      if (user.email) {
        email.addAddress("cc", user.email, user.name)
      }
    }
  }
})(current, template, email, email_action, event)

Custom Events

Registering a Custom Event

// Event Registration
// Name: x_myapp.incident.escalated
// Table: incident
// Description: Fired when incident is escalated to management
// Fired by: Business Rule

// In Business Rule (ES5 only!)
;(function executeRule(current, previous) {
  // Check if escalation occurred
  if (current.escalation > previous.escalation) {
    // Fire custom event
    gs.eventQueue(
      "x_myapp.incident.escalated",
      current,
      current.escalation.getDisplayValue(), // parm1
      current.assigned_to.name, // parm2
    )
  }
})(current, previous)

Notification on Custom Event

Notification: Escalation Alert
├── When to send
│   ├── Send when: Event is fired
│   └── Event name: x_myapp.incident.escalated
├── Who will receive
│   └── Users/​Groups: Escalation Managers
└── What it will contain
    ├── Subject: Escalation: ${number} - ${event.parm1}
    └── Message: Incident escalated. Assigned to: ${event.parm2}

Recipient Types

Who Will Receive

Recipient Script

// Recipient Script (ES5 only!)
// Returns comma-separated list of emails or sys_ids

;(function getRecipients(current, event) {
  var recipients = []

  // Add the caller
  if (!current.caller_id.nil()) {
    recipients.push(current.caller_id.email.toString())
  }

  // Add VIP's manager
  var caller = current.caller_id.getRefRecord()
  if (caller.vip == true && !caller.manager.nil()) {
    recipients.push(caller.manager.email.toString())
  }

  return recipients.join(",")
})(current, event)

Notification Weight

Priority system for multiple matching notifications:

// Only highest weight notification sends if "Exclude subscribers" checked
// Weight 0 notification beats Weight 10 notification

Digest Notifications

Configuring Digest

Notification: Daily Incident Summary
├── Digest: Checked
├── Digest Interval: Daily
├── Digest Time: 08:00
└── Content: Summary of all incidents

Digest Email Script

// Summarize digest records
;(function runMailScript(current, template, email, email_action, event) {
  var count = 0
  var html = '<table border="1" cellpadding="5">'
  html += "<tr><th>Number</​th><th>Description</​th><th>Priority</​th></​tr>"

  // 'current' is a GlideRecord with all digest records
  while (current.next()) {
    count++
    html += "<tr>"
    html += "<td>" + current.number + "</​td>"
    html += "<td>" + current.short_description + "</​td>"
    html += "<td>" + current.priority.getDisplayValue() + "</​td>"
    html += "</​tr>"
  }
  html += "</​table>"
  html += "<p>Total: " + count + " incidents</​p>"

  template.print(html)
})(current, template, email, email_action, event)

Outbound Email Configuration

Email Properties

// System Properties for email
glide.email.smtp.active // Enable/​disable outbound email
glide.email.smtp.host // SMTP server
glide.email.smtp.port // SMTP port (usually 25 or 587)
glide.email.default.sender // Default from address
glide.email.test.user // Test recipient (all emails go here)

Testing Notifications

// Background Script to test notification (ES5 only!)
var gr = new GlideRecord("incident")
gr.get("sys_id_here")

// Fire event to trigger notification
gs.eventQueue("incident.assigned", gr, gr.assigned_to.getDisplayValue(), gs.getUserDisplayName())

gs.info("Event queued for incident: " + gr.number)

Best Practices

1. Use Templates - Reuse layouts across notifications
2. Test Thoroughly - Use test user property during development
3. Consider Digests - For high-volume notifications
4. Weight Carefully - Prevent duplicate emails
5. ES5 Only - All scripts must be ES5 compliant
6. Limit Recipients - Don't spam large groups
7. Include Context - Provide enough info to act without login
8. Mobile-Friendly - Keep HTML simple for mobile clients

Common Issues