How to Securely Sync ServiceNow Incidents with Google Sheets

Published in Unito on 08/08/2024.

This guide will show you how to connect a ServiceNow instance to Google Sheets so you can sync records and spreadsheet rows with a no-code, yet fully configurable workflow. In this tutorial, we’ll demonstrate an ITSM use case with Unito’s 2-way integration. So any ServiceNow admin will be able to follow these steps to quickly sync incident data to a spreadsheet and share it with non-technical users outside the ServiceNow ecosystem.

Here’s how it works:

Setup in ServiceNow

In order to sync ServiceNow records, you must connect to Unito with a ServiceNow account that has CRUD rights (create, read, update and delete) for the records and tables you plan on syncing.

For example, if this is an ITSM use case, you’ll need an account with the ITIL role in ServiceNow. If you’re not an admin, you can ask your IT department’s ServiceNow admin to create a service account for you with the right permissions.

Connecting ServiceNow to Unito for the first time

You’ll need a ServiceNow admin to connect your account to Unito. From there, you’ll have two options: connecting by OAuth 2.0 or with your username and password. Here’s our guide to connecting by OAuth 2.0.

Make sure to have on-hand the following information:

ServiceNow Domain URL: https://INSTANCENAME.service-now.com
OAuth 2.0: An OAuth Client ID and Secret
Username: Your ServiceNow username and password

Setup in Google Sheets

Before setting up a flow, you need to visit the Google Workspace Marketplace to add Unito Spreadsheet Sync, a Google Sheets add-on, to your sheet.

For Excel users: Unito also supports an integration for ServiceNow + Microsoft Excel Online with a separate add-in for Excel. The same steps outlined in this guide can be applied to Excel use cases with files stored on One Drive.

Once you’ve installed the add-on, the next step is to activate it. Click Extensions > Unito Spreadsheet Sync > Open Unito. Then, you’ll see this screen:

Click Add 2 columns. This inserts columns labelled Unito ID and Last Modified to your sheet. These tell Unito to sync data between these two columns.

You’ll also need a header row with the names of your incident fields.

Step 1. Connect ServiceNow and Google Sheets to Unito

Sign up for Unito if you haven’t already!
Navigate to the Unito App and select +Create Flow.
Select Start Here to connect ServiceNow and Google Sheets.
Then +Choose account for each tool and complete the authorization process.
Select a specific type of Salesforce object to include in your flow.
Click Confirm.

Screenshot of the Unito flow builder connecting Google Sheets and ServiceNow

Choose a ServiceNow table to sync

Unito can support any ServiceNow record type. But each flow can only sync one table at a time. But make sure that whichever account you connect to Unito has CRUD access to the same records and tables you plan on syncing in each flow.

Here’s how to set up a service account with the right permissions (click to expand):

Here’s more information about connecting tools to Unito for the first time.

Step 2. Pick a flow direction for new records and rows

Your Unito flow automatically creates new ServiceNow records and spreadsheet rows whenever someone in your organization manually adds records or rows in the other connected instance.

Select a flow direction with one of the three directional arrows to indicate: from Google Sheets to ServiceNow, ServiceNow to Google Sheets, or both.

Setting a flow direction in Unito to send ServiceNow records to Google Sheets — This example shows a 1-way flow that will create rows in Google Sheets synced to records in ServiceNow.

Learn more about flow direction.

Step 3. Set rules to keep specific records and rows in sync

Rules allow you to exclude specific ServiceNow records from syncing to Google Sheets. By default, Unito will sync all records created after you launch your flow. You can sync all historical data by removing the creation date filter.

Set rules in Unito to sync Google Sheets and ServiceNow in a 2-way integration — In this example, only ServiceNow records in our “Database” category (a choice field) will sync to Google Sheets.

Find out more about setting rules.

Step 4. Configure fields between ServiceNow and Google Sheets

Next, you can set individual relationships between fields in ServiceNow and columns in Google Sheets. Most fields can be assigned their own update direction which determines how real-time changes occur.

If you haven’t already created a header row, Unito can auto-populate the first row of your sheet if you have fewer than 50 fields in your ServiceNow table. If not, you’ll have to add a header row manually.