3 Common Challenges in ServiceNow Data Export

Dealing with a critical management report and that too comprised of data in a scattered format, could be quite challenging and cumbersome. And, if these challenges weren’t enough, challenges encountered while exporting the haywire data into a comprehensive, interpretable and a company approved format only added to the hassles of the data administrators. It is important that these challenges are addressed through the right channels, followed by the right, time-bound, and result-oriented solutions. This blog, however, would focus on some of the common challenges encountered while dealing with ServiceNow data export. Take a look.

Around a decade and a half ago, there weren’t multiple formats available for data export. In fact, fundamentally, data wasn’t as humongous as it is today, and not as complex either. It wasn’t really a challenge to export some data into a required format. However, coming back to the present, wherein there has been a splurge in the routine administrative and operational challenges, along with complex and huge volumes of data, and moreover, the availability of a number of formats, has made it difficult for administrators to choose the best one. What add to the series of difficulties are the export limits that every single format exists with and its subsequent performance! Let us look at some of the most common ServiceNow data export challenges faced by most of the organizations.

Record Limit

ServiceNow offers a wide range of format types including Excel, CSV, XML, PDF, JSON, etc. However, besides the functionalities that each of these formats offers, there is a limit on the number of records that one can export to these formats. ServiceNow offers a table wherein the user can set a record limit, though. In case the user does not specify a limit, the system applies the default limit.

So, for instance, if the default limit is set at 10,000 records, and if the user increases the limit up to 100,000 records, the number of records exported would be 100,000. ServiceNow enables the user to set a record limit based on the user’s requirement. But, here the limitation is that of performance. Higher the limit, lower the performance. Users, although can set a limit to export as many records as they may want, a higher number of records would pose a negative impact on the tool’s performance, thereby landing the user in a dilemma, as to whether opt for the number of records, or confine them to the default limit in order to achieve the highest levels of performance.

Records Returned

Besides, the numbers of records returned over a specified extended limit also pose an impact. For example, if you’ve chosen to export the data to Excel, and in case, the numbers of records to be exported are, say 30,000, you would be returned only 10,000 records, as the default record limit in Excel is 10,000.

Data Security

This one’s not a challenge, though a concern for users. Given the criticality of data, it is imperative that the export happens in a safe and secure manner. Here, as a solution, ServiceNow offers a few integration and operates through a firewall, which in turn, has got a specific port that ensures traffic management in an organized manner. Integrations can interact through HTTPS in place of HTTP, encrypting the entire chunk of the transmitted data. Through a singular sign-on and a mutual authentication system, the system assures a certain layer of security thus allowing the users to take a look at the requested data. Further, additional layers of restrictions can be added through access control lists, and the facilitation of high-security plugins would establish even stricter standards of security.

So if you too are facing any of these challenges with ServiceNow data export, feel free to get in touch for custom ServiceNow solutions from Fidel.

Contact +91-20-66463200 or Mail to infofidel@fideltech.com