Manage large numbers of documents more efficiently with the ServiceNow™
Employee
Document Management product. Employee Document Management provides storage space, a filing system, the ability
to easily retrieve documents, defining who can view sensitive documents, and when to purge
documents.
Your company asks employees to complete and return documents related to benefits, payroll,
employee relations, access to internal systems, and other services. Employee Document
Management is cloud-based, efficient, secure, and it reduces compliance risks.
Streamline management of employee documents
With Employee Document Management, you can:
- Centralize files that are currently stored on multiple cases.
- Automatically or manually move employee documents from a case to the employee
file.
- Find documents using metadata tags.
- Place legal holds on all documents for an employee (HR profile), or for all documents
by document type.
- Define who can access what documents.
- Define retention policies that determine how long to retain employee documents and
prevent purging for legal holds.
- Define when to purge documents.
Configure employee document management
The base system provides pre-configured records that can be used immediately to expedite
the configuration of Employee Document Management.

Employee document definitions
To use Employee Document Management, you must define the following:
- Document type: Defines how documents are categorized and are associated with Center of
Excellence (COE), topic categories, and topic details. For example, you can create a
document type for all documents related to Total Rewards or for each benefit. Document
types also determine who can access, how long to retain, and if a legal hold is in effect.
- Retention periods: Defines how long to keep an employee document based on regulations or
company policy.
- Retention policies: Combined with a retention period and criteria, determines how long
to retain an employee document.
- Security policies: Determines who can view, create, move, or authorize to purge employee
documents.
You can configure employee documents to automatically move to the document repository when
an HR case is completed and closed.
Administrator, agent, and employee access to Employee Document Management
There are multiple levels of access for Employee Document Management.
- Administrators configure the Employee Document Management application.
- Agents upload employee documents on behalf of employees or as part of a case.
- Employees who can upload and view their documents.
Employee Document Management administrators assign appropriate roles to employees who
require access to employee documents. The security policy determines access and purge
authorization.
The document type and the associated retention policy and retention period determine when
to purge employee documents. The security policy can require approval to purge. The security
policy requires a user to belong to the group that has purge authorization.
Legal holds can be placed on HR profiles. Legal holds prevent employee documents from being
purged. You can also place and manage legal holds by document type. Managing by document
type provides bulk-processing for increased efficiency.
Employee Document Management for agents
Employee Document Management agents can:
- Search for existing employee documents using different filters.
- Place or upload employee documents directly into the repository.
- When your company is also using HR Service Delivery, you can move
employee documents from the HR case form to the repository. Employee documents can also be
configured to automatically move when an HR case is closed.
Employee access
Employees can view their own employee documents when the document type provides employee
access. Employee documents are also available on HR cases and the Service Portal or Employee
Service Center profile page. See Define policies for a document type.