IT Services

ServiceNow
ServiceNow logo in black lowercase letters with the 'o' in green featuring a speech bubble tail.

ServiceNow Enhancements Project — Summer 2025

Over the Summer of 2025, we undertook a significant enhancement project to improve the ServiceNow platform for all University users. Our aim was to address known pain points, streamline workflows, and introduce new capabilities that make it easier for staff, students, and fulfilment teams to get things done.

This project was shaped by feedback from across the University community, with a focus on improving communication, reliability, and the overall user experience. We delivered 6 bug fixes that resolve issues and 31 new features designed to simplify processes, enhance self-service, and support our digital transformation goals.

ServiceNow logo in black lowercase letters with the 'o' in green featuring a speech bubble tail.

Key Highlights

Key highlights include:

  • Improved visibility and routing for support requests, ensuring everyone gets the help they need more efficiently.
  • Enhanced communication tools, including better notifications and the ability to share knowledge more easily.
  • New features to support both staff and students, such as improved live chat, streamlined case management, and the ability to explore opportunities to integrate with Microsoft Teams.
  • A more intuitive experience for fulfilment teams, with workflow improvements and new automation options.

These changes are part of our ongoing commitment to providing a modern, responsive service that supports teaching, learning, and day-to-day operations. We’ll continue to listen to your feedback and invest in further improvements to ServiceNow.

Bug Fixes

  • Watchlist recipients not receiving email notifications
    Improves the communication when people are added to cases or incidents who aren’t the requester, but need to receive updates from the case or incident (Ref: STRY0021123)
  • Unauthenticated Users are unable to see the ‘Public’ knowledge base
    Resolved an issue where those who weren’t logged in to ServiceNow could not view the publicly available knowledge base. (Ref: STRY0021188)
  • Enable Students to Connect with a Live Agent via Virtual Agent in Hwb
    Resolved an issue which will now ensure that students who wish to talk to the Hwb team via live chat will be routed to the correct team. (Ref: STRY0021089)
  • Redirect users to the correct portal
    Resolved an issue where, under certain circumstances, when a staff member logged into ServiceNow, they would incorrectly be routed to the back-end of the system, instead of the front-end. (Ref: STRY0021091)
  • Incident Priority field not updating
    Improved the priority information available to view by fulfillers when an incident is raised to help with their prioritisation of all incidents. (Ref: STRY0021116)
  • Change Approval process resolution
    Resolved an issue with the Change Control process to ensure that the appropriate level of authorisation is requested for each change type. (Ref: STRY0021108)

New Features

  • Virtual Agent Engagement Messenger Plugin
    We have implemented the Engagement Messenger Plugin, which will enable us to work on the next phase of Virtual Agent improvements. (Ref: STRY0021099)
  • Ticket Page – Description Visible
    Improved the information available to see when viewing your open cases and incidents for both staff and students. (Ref: STRY0021117)
  • Enable Virtual Agent Deployment to integrate with Microsoft Teams
    Enabled a new feature which will allow us to explore the option of presenting the virtual agent within MS Teams. This feature is not currently available, but we intend to explore its feasibility and benefits. (Ref: STRY0021092)
  • Update incident state when linked to an active problem
    This will improve the communication between fulfillers and those who have reported an incident when a problem is identified. (Ref: STRY0021109)
  • Case creation from an interaction when an Incident is created
    The feature will improve communication with students when a member of staff raises an incident on their behalf. (Ref: STRY0021101)
  • All Hwb case notifications to appear from the Hwb mailbox
    Updated email communications from cases so that they now appear to be sent from hwb@uwtsd.ac.uk. (Ref: STRY0021118)
  • Linking knowledge articles to a case
    Added the ability for Hwb staff to easily share links to knowledge articles within a case or live chat with students. (Ref: STRY0021120)
  • Define and Implement SLA Rules for Marketing and Web Teams
    Added SLA information for both the Marketing and Web Teams. (Ref: STRY0021103)
  • Updated the default Hwb case assignment group
    This enhancement will ensure that new cases are assigned to the new Hwb group, improving the workflow for Hwb staff. (Ref: STRY0021127)
  • Pull attachments from the Hwb Case to the Incident
    This will improve access to relevant information when a student case is logged and escalated to the IT department. (Ref: STRY0021119)
  • Add ‘Email’ as a static option under the Compose section in the CSM Workspace
    Improve the workflow by ensuring email options are more easily accessible for Hwb staff when working on a case. (Ref: STRY0021114)
  • Custom field to capture original sender on Interaction
    Improve the workflow for Hwb staff by enabling easy access to view the sender’s email address when an interaction is created. (Ref: STRY0021129)
  • Ability to compose an email from interactions in CSM Workspace
    Improve communication between Hwb staff and students by enabling Hwb staff to send an email directly from an Interaction. (Ref: STRY0021144)
  • Simplify CSM Workspace ‘Tabs’
    Simplify the CSM workspace view for Hwb staff so that, when working within the platform, irrelevant features are hidden. (Ref: STRY0021098)
  • Make the student number read-only
    Updated the student number field to be read-only when a case is created to ensure the integrity of the original student data within a case record. (Ref: STRY0021090)
  • Checkbox identifier for when a case is in Welsh in the Hwb
    A checkbox has been added to identify cases where the original communication was received in Welsh, to aid reporting requirements. (Ref: STRY0021088)
  • Remove agent from CC when composing an email
    Improved the workflow for Hwb staff so that when composing an email, the CC field is blank. (Ref: STRY0021121)
  • Assignment Groups – Block ability to assign to primary AD groups
    Removed primary assignment groups which should not have cases or incidents assigned to improve workflows and avoid confusion. (Ref: STRY0021113)
  • Redirect Hwb Users to CSM Workspace on login
    Improved the Hwb Staff experience by automatically routing logged-in Hwb Staff to the CSM Workspace upon login. (Ref: STRY0021094)
  • Create a technical catalogue
    To create a new Technical catalogue of internally available IT services. (Ref: STRY0021100)
  • Marketing – Additional Ticket States
    Added additional ticket status options for Requests to more accurately reflect the current state of work. (Ref: STRY0021102)
  • Hwb emails to generate Interaction and not case
    When an email is sent to hwb@uwtsd.ac.uk, an interaction will be created instead of a case, improving the reporting requirements for the Hwb team. (Ref: STRY0021104)
  • Improved communication with the end user for requesting items/catalogue tasks
    For all requests, all staff and student comments will now also be replicated in the catalogue task to reduce the fulfiller’s workload. (Ref: STRY0021112)
  • Request on behalf of a student
    Enabled a new feature to simplify how fulfillers can raise requests on behalf of students. (Ref: STRY0021125)
  • Activate Glide Notification Translation
    A new feature to improve the process of how notifications are translated within the system. (Ref: STRY0021193)
  • Record daily activities for Hwb
    Creation of a new feature to provide the Hwb department with the ability to record routine repetitive tasks. (Ref: STRY0021196)
  • Custom field for catalogue items
    Created a new feature to be able to easily exclude certain catalogue items from having default email notifications being sent to improve the user experience. (Ref: STRY0021126)
  • Ability to compose an email from a Request item
    Created a new feature to compose an email from a request item so that emails can be easily sent to students or staff within the same window to reduce workload. (Ref: STRY0021270)
  • Create an Incident from the Request item
    Enabled a new feature to allow the creation of an incident from a request item when a request item has been raised in error. (Ref: STRY0021111)
  • Access the technical catalogue via the workspace
    Enabled visibility of the newly created Technical catalogue directly from the workspace, so that IT teams can request items from the Technical catalogue more easily. (Ref: STRY0021279)
  • Request Item state needs to be visible on task lists
    Enabled the ability for fulfillers to see the request item state on task lists so that it is known if the task is on-hold without the need to open the RITM. (Ref: STRY0021280)