ServiceNow Platform Active Directory Integration for Single Sign-On

Summary

A UAE retail and leisure enterprise needed to spare its employees from juggling separate credentials across multiple work systems, and to bring its HP UCMDB configuration items into ServiceNow-based ITSM processes. INNERLUXES integrated ServiceNow with Active Directory (via LDAP and ADFS) to make it part of a broader single sign-on system, and integrated ServiceNow with HP UCMDB so the company can manage UCMDB configuration items in full-scale ServiceNow ITSM workflows.

About the Client

The Client is a UAE-based retail and leisure enterprise that employs more than 40,000 people and has stores and hotels in 15 countries.

The Challenge

The Client's employees use multiple systems and platforms at work, and it was highly inconvenient for them to keep different credentials for each system and log into each separately. To help employees work more efficiently, the Client needed to integrate ServiceNow with Active Directory and ensure single sign-on across several related systems.

In addition, the Client struggled to apply ITSM processes (Incident Management in particular) to its configuration items in HP UCMDB. So it also needed to integrate ServiceNow with HP UCMDB to use UCMDB configuration items in full-scale ServiceNow-based ITSM processes.

The Solution

To achieve both integrations, INNERLUXES carried out consulting, platform setup, and production rollout.

First, INNERLUXES's ServiceNow experts analyzed and clarified the Client's requirements, proposed several possible solutions, and — working jointly with the Client's team — selected the most suitable integration options.

To integrate ServiceNow with Active Directory, the team first configured the ServiceNow LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) module to exchange information with the Client's Active Directory server. Then ADFS (Active Directory Federation Services), a part of AD, was configured to grant access to the Client's user identity information. Finally, the team configured the Client's ServiceNow and established the connection with ADFS from the ServiceNow side, integrating the two systems and making ServiceNow part of a broader single sign-on (SSO) system.

For the integration of ServiceNow with HP UCMDB, the Client provided an Import Set configuration setup to be used in the process. By adjusting it, INNERLUXES ensured the required integration: data exported from UCMDB was transformed and stored in intermediary staging tables until ServiceNow loaded it into its own database.

The Results

• INNERLUXES successfully integrated Active Directory with ServiceNow, making the Client's ServiceNow platform an element of a broader collection of related systems with single sign-on.
• With the ServiceNow–HP UCMDB integration, the Client is now fully able to manage UCMDB configuration items in ServiceNow.
• Thanks to the fulfilled integration needs, the Client's employees can now perform their duties more efficiently.

Technologies and Tools

ServiceNow, Active Directory, HP UCMDB.