Integrating Teams with ServiceNow: A Comprehensive Guide

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How Can I Connect ServiceNow with Microsoft Teams for Better Collaboration?

As an IT service manager, I’m struggling to streamline communication between our service desk team and other departments. We use ServiceNow for incident management and Microsoft Teams for daily collaboration, but these platforms remain disconnected. Our team constantly switches between applications, causing delays in incident resolution and poor visibility. Is there a way to integrate ServiceNow notifications into Teams, enable chat functionality between platforms, and possibly incorporate ServiceNow’s Virtual Agent within our Teams environment?

Efficiency Through ServiceNow and Teams Chat Integration

Organizations running ServiceNow for IT service management often face communication silos when team members collaborate in Microsoft Teams. This disconnect forces staff to constantly switch between platforms, leading to delayed incident responses, missed notifications, and fragmented conversations. Similar to how you can add Microsoft Teams to Outlook, integrating ServiceNow with Microsoft Teams creates a unified workspace where service desk activities seamlessly flow into team conversations.

Configuring Your ServiceNow Virtual Agent Teams Setup

We’ll establish connections between ServiceNow and Microsoft Teams using the ServiceNow Virtual Agent, configure notifications, and set up interactive capabilities between both platforms.

Establishing ServiceNow Integration with Microsoft Teams

Setting Up ServiceNow Spoke for Microsoft Teams

  1. Log in to your ServiceNow instance with administrator privileges
  2. Navigate to System Applications > IntegrationHub > Spokes
  3. Search for and install the “Microsoft Teams Spoke” from the ServiceNow Store if not already installed
  4. Once installed, navigate to IntegrationHub > Credentials to set up OAuth credentials
  5. Create a new credential record for Microsoft Teams and follow the OAuth setup wizard

Configuring Microsoft Teams Application for ServiceNow

  1. Access the Microsoft Teams Admin Center with appropriate permissions
  2. Go to “Teams apps” > “Manage apps”
  3. Search for “ServiceNow” in the app catalog
  4. Select the ServiceNow app and click “Add” to make it available to your organization
  5. Configure app permissions and policies as needed for your organization

Setting Up ServiceNow Virtual Agent Teams Integration

  1. In your ServiceNow instance, navigate to Virtual Agent > Administration > Integrations
  2. Select “Microsoft Teams” as the integration platform
  3. Configure the connection settings using the OAuth credentials established earlier
  4. Define the Virtual Agent topics that should be available in Teams
  5. Map ServiceNow user accounts to Microsoft Teams identities for proper authentication

Tip: Create custom Virtual Agent topics specifically designed for Teams users, focusing on common IT requests that can be resolved without leaving the Teams interface.

Implementing ServiceNow Notifications in Teams

Configuring Incident Alerts in Teams Channels

  1. In ServiceNow, navigate to System Notifications > Email > Notifications
  2. Select or create a notification for incidents (e.g., “Incident Assigned”)
  3. Add a Business Rule to trigger Teams notifications: 
(function executeRule(current, previous /*null when async*/) {
  var teams = new sn_teams.TeamsNotification();
  teams.setChannel("IT Service Desk");
  teams.setTitle("New Incident Assigned: " + current.number);
  teams.setMessage("Priority: " + current.priority + "\nAssigned to: " + current.assigned_to.getDisplayValue() + "\nDescription: " + current.short_description);
  teams.setActionLink(current.getLink());
  teams.send();
})(current, previous);
  1. Save and activate the Business Rule
  2. Test by creating a new incident that meets the rule criteria

Creating Interactive ServiceNow Cards in Teams

  1. Navigate to IntegrationHub > Flow Designer
  2. Create a new Flow for “Incident Update Notification”
  3. Add a “Microsoft Teams – Post Adaptive Card” action
  4. Design your adaptive card with incident details:
{
  "type": "AdaptiveCard",
  "body": [
    {
      "type": "TextBlock",
      "size": "Medium",
      "weight": "Bolder",
      "text": "Incident ${incident.number}: ${incident.short_description}"
    },
    {
      "type": "FactSet",
      "facts": [
        { "title": "Priority", "value": "${incident.priority}" },
        { "title": "Status", "value": "${incident.state}" },
        { "title": "Assigned to", "value": "${incident.assigned_to}" }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "actions": [
    {
      "type": "Action.OpenUrl",
      "title": "View in ServiceNow",
      "url": "${incident.url}"
    },
    {
      "type": "Action.Submit",
      "title": "Update Status",
      "data": {
        "action": "updateStatus",
        "incidentId": "${incident.sys_id}"
      }
    }
  ],
  "$schema": "http://adaptivecards.io/schemas/adaptive-card.json",
  "version": "1.2"
}
  1. Configure the flow trigger based on incident updates
  2. Activate the flow and test with a sample incident

Enhancing Collaboration with Microsoft Planner Integration with ServiceNow

  1. In ServiceNow, navigate to IntegrationHub > Flow Designer
  2. Create a new Flow for “Create Planner Task from Incident”
  3. Add a trigger condition (e.g., when an incident is assigned to a specific group)
  4. Add a “Microsoft Teams – Create Planner Task” action
  5. Map the ServiceNow incident fields to Planner task fields:
    • Title: Incident number and short description
    • Description: Incident details and priority
    • Assigned To: Map to the appropriate Teams user
    • Due Date: Calculate based on SLA or priority
  6. Add a note to the ServiceNow incident indicating a Planner task was created
  7. Activate the flow and test with a new incident

Troubleshooting Your ServiceNow Teams Chat Integration

Authentication and Connection Issues

If you encounter the error “Failed to connect to Microsoft Teams,” verify your OAuth credentials and permissions. Ensure the application has been properly registered in Azure AD and has the necessary Microsoft Graph API permissions. For persistent authentication issues, regenerate the client secret in Azure AD and update the credential record in ServiceNow. Also check network connectivity between ServiceNow and Microsoft’s cloud services.

Notification Delivery Problems

When facing ‘Notification failed to deliver’ errors, check the Teams channel configuration in your ServiceNow instance. Verify that the channel ID is correct and that the ServiceNow app has been added to that specific channel. Like how you can send emails to Teams channels, ensure the user’s ServiceNow account is properly mapped to their Microsoft Teams identity.

Virtual Agent Functionality Issues

If the ServiceNow Virtual Agent isn’t responding correctly in Teams, verify that the Virtual Agent topics are properly configured for Teams integration. Check that the necessary ServiceNow plugins are activated and up-to-date. For conversation flow problems, review the Virtual Agent Designer for any broken conversation paths or missing variables. Test the same topics directly in ServiceNow to isolate whether the issue is with the Teams integration or with the Virtual Agent configuration itself.

Conclusion

This tutorial provides a foundation for integrating ServiceNow with Microsoft Teams. By following these steps, you’ll create a unified workspace that enhances collaboration between your service desk and other departments, ultimately improving incident resolution times and team productivity.