When implementing solutions on the ServiceNow platform, often you are either seeking approvals (from Business Stakeholders) or using tasks for Fulfillers to complete work. As you digitize your business processes, more and more use cases will be discovered that can leverage the benefits of the platform. What can happen, though, as this transformation / modernization effort expands, you may find yourself needing or wanting to have people complete work that don’t do all the things that a Fulfiller user does.
What is a Fulfiller?
ServiceNow documentation provides these details (reference Capabilities of users with ITIL role – IT Service Management Process with ITIL Role – https://youtu.be/dGooMB4Gdt0):
- Handle Incidents and related tasks (Problems and Changes), identifying, classifying, providing initial support, investigation, and diagnosis
- Manage Incident monitoring, tracking, communications, resolution and recovery of service or workaround
- Work on requests needing to be fulfilled through the Service Catalog
- Create and update records derived from TASK
- Have access to core ITSM applications
- Access and update information in the CMDB
- Create and update group approvals, user approvals, Incident state and user records
- Create and update Interactions
- Create and update release records
As the breadth and depth of your business process transformation unfolds, your efforts may reach non-Fulfiller user types. This is where having ChecklistPRO and utilizing the generic CLP Record (ChecklistPRO Record) may make sense. The CLP Record provides a non-task custom record (i.e., it does not extend a TASK and thus does not include any of the capabilities associated with TASK records) to hold a Checklist and is for ChecklistPRO Users, which represent a class of user that may not have Fulfiller rights.
The ChecklistPRO User / Record is for users that do not perform the Fulfiller duties, but instead simply need access to complete a ChecklistPRO Checklist.
Using ChecklistPRO, the architecture / development team has additional tools at their disposal when digitizing a business process. In addition to the well-established Checklist functionality, you can now place a Checklist on a CLP Record which provides access to a Checklist for “ChecklistPRO Users”. In this way, your solution architect can determine the best option for the organization, deciding if the users involved should be Fulfillers or if having less privileged ChecklistPRO Users will suffice. Having such an option allows for additional ServiceNow products to be procured while ensuring that the Fulfiller user-base is properly provisioned.
ChecklistPRO provides admins / developers the ability to create a CLP Record in both Flow Designer as well as the legacy Workflow tools. Simply drag the “ChecklistPRO Record” into the Flow / Workflow, complete the inputs and then ChecklistPRO Users will be able to complete these Checklists without having to burn a Fulfiller license on a user that does not do all the activities that a typical Fulfiller does.
ChecklistPRO provides the email notifications to alert these users of their open Checklists as well as providing a Service Portal interface for accessing / updating the Checklist. The ChecklistPRO User can complete the Checklist here.
How to determine if a ChecklistPRO User / Record option is what is needed?
- Analyze which groups are being assigned tasks. How often are these groups being assigned work? Calculate how many tasks each member has been assigned. We recommend analyzing data for the past 12 months and factor in things such as how long have users been members of the group (a new person to the group will undoubtedly have fewer assignments than someone with a longer membership tenure).
- Look for users with fewer than 10 task assignments as a starting point. Do any patterns emerge?
- Do all or most members of certain groups seem to do work infrequently?
- Are these group members doing a variety of work as described in the What is a Fulfiller section above? If not, this may be a case for considering a ChecklistPRO User / Record.
Performing this exercise will help ensure that your Fulfiller user-base is properly provisioned and help preserve your ServiceNow capital for more valuable functional platform / product offerings.
Disclaimer: A ChecklistPRO User cannot do Fulfiller User work such as those having the ITIL role. ChecklistPRO Users are only privileged to complete ChecklistPRO Checklists. This is not a replacement for the Fulfiller or Business Stakeholder Licensed User but instead a complementary tool for optimizing how work gets done on the platform.