Seeking Recommendations: Top (3rd Party) Smartsheet and ServiceNow Connectors

cnaciff77

Hello everyone,

We're seeking recommendations for the top (5) third-party connectors between Smartsheet and ServiceNow (bi-directional). If you've used any, could you share your experience and suggest which ones you’d recommend?

If you have a list, I'd appreciate it if you could share that as well.

Many thanks! :)

Brian_Richardson

We do our ServiceNow integration using Smartsheet Bridge. Pro: completely customizable and mostly drag-drop with possibly some lightweight Javascript (which ChatGPT can write for you). Con: can get a little complex and you have to do the integration yourself.

If you're going to be at Engage this year, I'm doing a presentation on exactly that workflow in Bridge…pushing a catalog request to ServiceNow, in the "Future of Workflows" session.

Bridge has the following preset drag-drop modules for ServiceNow. You'll notice none of them are Catalog Requests, hence needing to use a custom Call API step in the example workflow below:

• Create Record
• Delete Record
• Get Group
• Get Record
• Get Records
• Get User
• Update Record

For pushing a catalog request, our workflow in Bridge is:

1. Approve the request in a Smartsheet sheet
2. Trigger Bridge when that column changes
3. Get the row that changed and check for the approval
4. Find and remove carriage returns (\n) which SNow is very picky about
5. Use the built-in Get User module to get user Ids for Smartsheet contacts
6. Use Call API to do a POST request to ServiceNow's /sn_sc/servicecatalog/items/id/order_now endpoint with the body of the request being the various fields like this {"sysparm_quantity":1,"variables":{"requested by":"{{states.Get Requestor@start.servicenow.get_user.data.sys_id||}}}} (note this isn't quite as hairy as it looks - you get the {{states.Get Requestor…..}} bit by simply right clicking the results of the ServiceNow Get User step.
7. Take the resulting response from that call, like the Request Number, and push it back into Smartsheet with an Update Row step

We also do a regular read of existing requests using a separate Bridge workflow that runs on a schedule, iterates through the Smartsheet sheet, and does a quick "Get Record" for updates on anything that was approved and pushed to SNow.

cnaciff77

Thanks, Brian for your detailed and insightful response! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with Smartsheet Bridge and ServiceNow integration.

While I was initially looking for third-party integration solutions, I will take a closer look at your recommendations, especially the workflow you've outlined for pushing catalog requests.

I won't be able to attend, but I'd be very interested in any materials or summaries you might be able to share afterwards. Cheerio!

Brian_Richardson

You're very welcome. Usually they post the presentations after Engage for all to view and see. But, if you decide to use Bridge and are struggling feel free to post again or ping me, happy to help.

I will say - whether to pursue a pre-written integration or to use Bridge depends on a few factors. At least for us:

• Technical Ability: do you have the interest/ability to learn how to develop your own workflows in Bridge? It's setup as a low code/no code integration utility and it's certainly easier to learn than full code or advanced integration tools like Mulesoft. But it's clearly more complex than a pre-done integration.
• Urgency: do you have time to develop and troubleshoot workflows in Bridge? Or do you need someone else to have already done that heavy lifting and speed things along?
• Cost: Bridge is included in Advanced packages, which aren't cheap but bring a huge set of advanced functions. If you're integrating tools, then you probably have workflows that are complex enough to warrant the other addons like Data Shuttle and Data Mesh, Pivot, etc.
• Cost: one other key plus for Bridge is that there's no additional cost for execution. Most IaaS tools charge you on a per run or some other usage metric. For Bridge, it's a flat cost as part of your package, unlimited usage.
• Security: Bridge runs under Smartsheet security, which you already presumably have validated with your team. Third party tools require a whole other round of validation and security review. At IRM we hesitate to pass our data through third parties of any kind, anyway, so third party connector tools are scrutinized pretty heavily. You may not have those same requirements, but it's something to consider.