The application development process in App Engine Studio (AES) begins with your idea for the next effective app. Careful planning is the key to creating a successful app that is beneficial to your business.

Fit for the ServiceNow AI Platform

Consider the characteristics of your application to help determine whether it is suited for the ServiceNow AI Platform.
Good fit Poor fit
  • Simple forms
  • Task management
  • Request management
  • Spreadsheet-driven processes
  • Repeatable processes
  • Third-party integrations
  • Orchestration of multiple systems
  • Single experience from functions in multiple systems
  • Web and mobile access to the same apps and data simultaneously
  • Unstructured data
  • Unrepeatable processes
  • Content that needs graphics processing
  • Streaming audio or video
  • Highly customized user interface

Plan before you build

In order to build your application, you need access to a ServiceNow instance and an admin or delegated developer role in that instance. If you have delegated developer permissions, you can develop applications but have fewer privileges than an admin.

Essentially, an application is a digital program that supports user tasks. As you plan your app, consider the questions in the following table.

The answers to these questions can help you decide whether you want to base your application on a predefined template or create your app from scratch.

Irreversible considerations

Some actions you take when building an application might be irreversible. Be aware of these actions and plan for them in advance.

Application Intake process

Any member of your organization can submit ideas for app development through a process called Application Intake. After the idea has been submitted and approved, developers can begin building the app with a guided, intuitive app development environment in App Engine Studio.

The Application Intake request process benefits your organization as follows:

  • Simplifies the process to request, approve, track, and store app ideas.
  • Improves planning by providing visibility into all app ideas.
  • Provides an efficient process to filter out repetitive requests.

For more information, see Submit your idea for app development.

  • The intake request form is available through the standard Service Catalog. For information about how you can modify this form, see Service catalog items.
  • The intake request process uses Flows in Workflow Studio to determine the approval flow. To adjust the approval flow, see Flows.
  • Admins review intake application requests in App Engine Management Center . For more information, see Managing app development using the App Engine Management Center.

Application templates

An application template provides predefined content to support a certain purpose. For example, the Travel Request template provides application content for submitting and approving employee travel requests. Choose the template that most closely fits your application goals.

If the available templates don't fit your application goals, you can create your app from scratch and control all aspects of the development process.

Additional resources for planning your app development

Learn more about planning app development ServiceNow resources

ServiceNow provides additional resources on planning your app development

Launching an effective Citizen Development program