⏰ Scheduled Jobs and Events in ServiceNow

CASE STUDY 1:🌐 1. Introduction

ServiceNow provides powerful automation features through Scheduled Jobs (Scheduled Scripts) and Events.

• Scheduled Jobs allow administrators to run scripts automatically at a specified time or on a recurring basis.

• Events enable asynchronous, event-driven processing by queuing triggers that can be used in Business Rules, Notifications, and Workflows/Flows.

💡 Key Benefit: Together, they reduce manual work, improve reliability, and support automation at scale.

📑 2. Scheduled Jobs (Scheduled Scripts)

Definition

A Scheduled Job is a script that runs at a defined time or interval.

Common Use Cases

• Auto-closing old incidents after 30 days.

• Sending daily/weekly reports to managers.

• Cleaning up temporary data.

• Checking SLA breaches overnight.

How to Create a Scheduled Job

1. Navigate to System Definition → Scheduled Jobs (or Scheduled Script Executions).

2. Click New.

3. Define:

   • Run time (once, daily, weekly, monthly, custom CRON).

   • Script logic to execute.

4. Test and save.

Example Script: Auto-close Resolved Incidents

var gr = new GlideRecord('incident');
gr.addQuery('state', 'Resolved');
gr.addQuery('sys_updated_on', '<=', gs.daysAgo(30));
gr.query();
while (gr.next()) {
    gr.state = 'Closed';
    gr.update();
}

CASE STUDY 2: 📑 Events

Definition

Events are messages that represent something that happened in the system. They are logged in the Event Queue (sysevent table).

Event Structure

• Event Name → Identifier (e.g., incident.closed)

• Table/Record → Where the event occurred

• Parameters → Additional data (e.g., incident number, user ID)

Event Workflow

1. Event is fired → via script, Business Rule, or Flow.

2. Event is added to the Event Queue.

3. Event Actions are triggered → Notifications, Scripts, or Workflows.

Example: Fire an Event in a Business Rule

gs.eventQueue("incident.closed", current, current.sys_id, gs.getUserID());

This triggers the incident.closed event when an incident record is closed.

⚡Advanced Concepts

Scheduled Jobs

• CRON Expressions → Provide fine-grained scheduling (e.g., run every 15 minutes).

• On-Demand Execution → Jobs can be triggered manually for urgent fixes.

• Scripted Automation → Complex jobs that update multiple tables.

Events

• Custom Events → Developers can define new events for custom apps.

• Event-Driven Notifications → Trigger emails, SMS, or integrations only when events occur.

• Event Scripts → Execute server-side logic automatically in response to an event.

• Event Filtering → Prevent duplicate/unnecessary events from cluttering the queue.

CASE STUDY 3:🛠️  Real-World Examples

1. Scheduled Job – Every Sunday night, generate a compliance audit report and email it to IT leadership.

2. Scheduled Job – Run a nightly job to purge inactive guest user accounts.

3. Event – Fire an event when a VIP user logs an incident, sending instant notifications to priority teams.

4. Event – Fire a custom event vendor.contract.expired → triggers automated tasks to alert Procurement.

💡 Best Practices

• ✅ Test scripts in sub-production environments before scheduling.

• ✅ Use CRON expressions for precision scheduling.

• ✅ Avoid jobs that process massive records at once—break them into batches.

• ✅ Monitor the Event Queue regularly to identify failures or delays.

• ✅ Use meaningful event names for clarity (e.g., change.approved instead of custom1).

• ❌ Do not overload Scheduled Jobs—excessive long-running jobs may impact performance.

• ❌ Avoid firing too many unnecessary events; it clogs the queue.

🎬 Conclusion

Scheduled Jobs and Events are key automation tools in ServiceNow.

• Scheduled Jobs → Run repetitive tasks automatically at defined times.

• Events → Enable event-driven automation for real-time responsiveness.

Together, they provide powerful automation, reduced manual effort, and improved efficiency, making ServiceNow a proactive platform for IT and business operations.