How to integrate ServiceNow and Azure DevOps in 10 mins

ServiceNow and Azure DevOps

Let’s start with answering the question why we would want to integrate ServiceNow and Azure DevOps in the first place. Both ServiceNow and Azure DevOps are not point solutions. They support a wide range of applications/modules for all sorts of use cases. Although there is some overlap between their use cases, their focus is different. By combining them, you have the best of both worlds. So, how are they different then? We’ve listed some strong areas of both:

Pick a use case

If you want to integrate ServiceNow (SN) with Azure DevOps (ADO), there is probably a use case to solve. There is quite a long list of potential use cases for integrating ServiceNow and Azure DevOps, but these three are by far the most common:

• Synchronize work (tasks) between ServiceNow and Azure DevOps Boards. This allows (self-steering) teams to work on their own Azure boards, which are connected to other DevOps tools. For this use case, the Agile module of ServiceNow needs to be integrated with Azure Boards.

• Consolidate information and updates from the DevOps delivery process (Coding, Building, Testing, Deploying). This will provide insights into progress and helps to build a case for Change Approvals. For this use case, ADO Boards, ADO Repos and ADO Pipelines need to be integrated with SN DevOps.

• Auto create changes from Azure Pipelines, and automatically deploy them once a change is (auto) approved. For this use case, ADO Pipelines needs to be integrated with SN Change Management.

3 Principles to keep your integration simple

With modern cloud-native solutions like ServiceNow and Azure DevOps, integrations can be straightforward and easy. Many integrations can be set up by applying reusable plug-ins or packages that allow you to set up a working integration in a matter of minutes. Yet, integrating different tools and systems in an enterprise IT organization is rarely perceived as an easy and painless exercise. If you adhere to the following three principles, it can in fact be easy:

• Stay out-of-the-box (OOTB)
  Though platforms like ServiceNow and Azure DevOps are highly flexible, it is important to remember that the fact that you can customize applications does not mean you should. In fact, the opposite is true. If you use the pre-defined structure of attributes, state flows, processes, etc., you can leverage predefined mappings when setting up integrations. You’ll find that these standards are often based on industry best practices and actually support your processes really well.

• Do not overcomplicate
  With archaic, monolithic applications that were difficult to integrate and building integrations was error-prone, middleware concepts like Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) were introduced to make life easier. However, modern, cloud-native systems typically have excellent integration capabilities (e.g. REST APIs and web hooks). Hence, introducing additional links in the chain only adds complexity and dependencies, and does not add any value.

• Do not try to eat the elephant at once
  Due to endless possibilities, a common pitfall is to want everything at once. By scoping MVPs, you can quickly add value by solving the most impactful problems first. Next, you add the second most important features in an iterative way, allowing for continuous improvement and delivery of value.

Let’s show some integration action!

Now, let’s show you how easy it is to set up an integration in just 10 mins. We picked the integration Epics and Stories between Azure DevOps Boards and ServiceNow Agile from this overview of the most common integrations between ServiceNow and Azure DevOps:

Watch the video to see how it’s done!