Quebec

Today, Chuck Tomasi, Kreg Steppe and Jeremy Duncan from TechNow (ServiceNow) gave us a short but very interesting introduction to the new Quebec Release. If you are interested, try it on your own! Request your own PDI (personal developer instance) on the Developer Portal (all free).

Quebec Platform features:

UI Builder

With the UI Builder you can now design and personalize configurable workspaces and portals to improve the overall Now Experience! With the new designer, the ‘what you see is what you get’ approach immediately shows the final design and you can reuse the components you created, over and over again. It’s easier to configure and you have more possibilities. It also supports domain separated environments, so other entities will also benefit.

Data Classification

The new release allows you to increase the platform security wth data classification.
Data classification enables you to categorize fields as internal, restricted, confidential, etc. and lets you report very quickly on field categorization for regulatory compliance. It allows you also to manage fields via Rest and script APIs.

AI Search

With this improvement you’ll benefit from consumer-grade search experience, powered by AI. You (or your employees/customers) get relevant and actionable results, based on user context. Simply ask questions using natural, everyday language. One configuration allows you to reuse across different interactions. AI Search is now a native ServiceNow technology and available on all, Platform, Portal, and also Virtual Agent and Mobile Apps.

Process Optimization

This is part of the core platform, but only activated with the ITSM or CSM package. Process Optimization allows you to mine process flows to identify areas for improvement. Enable governance and controls based on process optimization roles. Track the business value of process improvements.

Virtual Agent enhancements

The Virtual Agent itself is also improved to allow you faster time to value with guided setup with recommendations and advanced authoring Tools. Improve business outcomes with automatically resolved incidents, actionable notifications and password reset while interacting and not even need to contact an agent. It also allows you to use AI-powered experiences with conversational analytics, NLU, workbench & intent discovery and AI search integration.

NLU Workbench

While NLU isn’t new, the NLU Workbench is. The Workbench allows you to manage models across apps and languages with a single unified view. You can create modules in sixteen languages quickly with dynamic vocabulary source tables and lists. Automatically identify topics to activate or build based on user data with intent Discovery.

Regression Framework

‘Regression Framework is part of Predictive Intelligence and is available with Pro or Enterprise packages. This new feature allows you to set better expectations with end users like, ‘based on workload, your could take X days to deliver’. You can estimate ranges with upper and lower values and improve planning by forecasting estimates.

Natural Language Query

This is not completely new, but completely improved. You can ask questions using natural, everyday language and get quick answers in the form of lists, values and charts. It’s very useful for ad hoc information. Easily filter and search your data for further outcome customization. You can now pin common or most used queries. Natural Language Query is now available in English, German, Japanese, Spanish and French and is part or a pro or analytics Q&A package.

Performance Analytics enhancements

One of the most useful improvements is the support for flexible calendars, like fiscal year requirements.

Reporting enhancements

Not only PA is improved, also the classic reporting gets an upgrade. Quickly perform calculations on specific fields while in report designer. Tailor reporting with multiple formatting options to highlight what’s most important.

Mobile Experience enhancements

The mobile apps also got new features with the Quebec release. As already mentions, AI Search is available on mobile, a smart and intuitive search experience across apps, people and workflows. Deeplink to seamlessly transitions to third-party apps with all relevant data coming to you. Card actions are also improved to reduce clicks and get work done quicker with dynamic on-card action prompts (like green checkmark or red x). In addition, the new version brings some new administrative improvements, such as a redundant logout and login to update metadata. With ITBM it’s also possible fo manage time sheets and also copy from another timesheet, like if you’re working for the same project all day to reduce effort.

Mobile Developer Tool enhancements

To improve mobile experience, also the Mobile Developer Tool was improved. With mobile Card Builder you can create custom templates and cards with presets and components in an intuitive designer. UI Rules (comparable with UI Policies) lets you apply field value calculations and UI styling to UI elements to simplify custom use cases. There is also a possibility for user impersonation, this makes developing mobile solutions easier.

IntegrationHub enhancements

Within IntegrationHub you’re now able to simplify inbound integrations with REST API trigger. You can also manage complex bi-directional process integrations with remote Sync. Perform data mapping with new modern UX for codeless ETL. Retrieve data easily with the JDBC data stream. Send one or more files to your instance with SFTP. Choose a specific MID server for your integration.

Flow Designer enhancements

Flow Designer got many improvements behind the scenes. The UX was revised and now resembles the workspace theme. Enhancements are made to OOTB flow actions with support for variable set and record producer. Greater developer support for performance, usability and security. When you create a new flow, you now get a guided tour which assists you in creating your flow. If you’re creating a flow and use the same actions multiple times, you can select them from the most recent action while adding a new action to the flow. You also have the chance to select the new action ‘Send notification’, this let’s you select one notification from the central notifications table and use it within your flow.

App customization

Within Studio, you can now customize scoped/OOTB or apps from the store to meet your requirements. However, not all apps are editable.