Azure DevOps is a cloud-based development and operations platform that provides a comprehensive set of services for managing the entire application lifecycle. It allows developers to easily collaborate on projects, track progress, and deploy applications quickly and efficiently.
The process template flows (e.g. Basic, Scrum, Agile, CMMI) Azure DevOps provides are particularly helpful in an Agile development environment. Most companies are always on the lookout for ways to optimize their internal flows and operations, improve communication between their teams, and increase efficiency. As a sign of those trends, we see a very high demand for integrating Azure DevOps with other software solutions, such as ServiceNow and Jira.
ServiceNow is one of the most used ServiceDesk platforms. It enables its users to automate incident and issue management. Additionally, ServiceNow provides its users with access to real-life performance analysis. Also, the system offers visibility over different aspects of organizational and internal activities.
Azure Logic Apps can be very helpful in integration workflows that will help us to achieve a seamless data stream between Azure DevOps and ServiceNow. Azure Logic Apps is a cloud platform where you can create and run automated workflows with little to no code. By using the visual designer and selecting from prebuilt operations, you can quickly build a workflow that integrates and manages your apps, data, services, and systems.
Azure Logic Apps simplifies the way that you connect legacy, modern, and cutting-edge systems across cloud, on premises, and hybrid environments and provides low-code-no-code tools for you to develop highly scalable integration solutions for your enterprise and business-to-business (B2B) scenarios. You can refer Microsoft doc to know more about Logic apps and supported connectors - Overview - Azure Logic Apps | Microsoft Learn
One of the most common scenarios for our customers is to synchronize their newly created issues in Azure DevOps with ServiceNow as incidents. Below are some standard steps I followed to integrate.
Step 1: If you don't have a ServiceNow Developer Instance, you can follow the guidance published at the ServiceNow portal. Personal Developer Instances | ServiceNow Developers
Step 2: Log in to the Azure Portal and create a logic app instance.
Fill all the required details to setup logic apps.
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Step 3: Create a standard Logic Apps work flow
Step 4: After creating the blank workflow, we have to go to the Designer section to design the workflow and add the trigger condition. In this screenshot, you can choose the trigger operation and filter DevOps triggers. In our business case scenario, I want to create an issue in Azure DevOps and as a result, an incident in ServiceNow.
Step 5: When a work item is created in Azure DevOps and the work item type is “Issue”, the first thing we have to do is set up an Azure DevOps connection using the “Change connection” option shown in the following screenshots.
Once you have successfully set up a connection, you can select the organization, project, team, and work item type from the drop-down list. You can also specify the iteration and area path if you want to trigger a workflow for a specific project or team.
We can also specify the time to check the items in Azure DevOps; I specified 3 seconds, so it means that every 3 seconds my workflow will check for a new work item type “Issue” in Azure DevOps, and if it finds one, it will create the corresponding incident in ServiceNow.
Step 6: Next step is to "Add an Action"; in my case, the action will be creating a record (type incident) in ServiceNow.
Step 7: Fill all the required details in the given fields. The first thing we have to do is to set up ServiceNow connection by providing the developer instance URL, name, username, and password.
Step 8: In the third step of the previous process, we have to pass parameters to create a new record. The minimum parameter required is the Incident ID, which can be selected as type “Number” and should start with “INC”, for example INC0008115 (as shown in the screenshots). You can define as many parameters as you want to specify for the Incident.
Step 9: Now you can save your workflow.
Step 10: Now it's time to test our workflow; you can create a work item type issue in an Azure DevOps project. As soon as you create the work item, you will notice a successful status in your Workflow Run History (it will take 3 seconds, as we defined in Step 1). You can also manually trigger the run.
Step 11: Verify the result in ServiceNow. Log in to your developer instance, and go to the Incident menu on the left-hand side. You will find the Incident Number “INC0008115” in ServiceNow, which was created by the Logic Apps workflow.
Integrate with ServiceNow change management - Azure Pipelines support integration with ServiceNow to improve collaboration between development and IT teams. By including change management in release pipelines, teams can reduce the risks associated with changes and follow service management methodologies such as ITIL while taking full advantage of Azure Pipelines. We already have enough documentation at Microsoft site for topic so I suggest to look it for more information.
Control deployments by using ServiceNow - Azure Pipelines | Microsoft Learn
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