Bonds
Bonds store the data necessary to link your ServiceNow record to an external system.
In most integrations each system knows just enough about the other to facilitate correlation and a semblence of process. On task records in ServiceNow this has normally been done using the Correlation Display and Correlation ID fields. If you want to integrate non-task records, then you would need to add fields like these to the table. If you wanted to use one record with many integrations, then you have even more to do.
In Unifi, correlation has been normalised for global use through the use of the Bond record.
Purpose
Bond records are used for much more than just storing correlation data; they are the glue that links everything together and ensures that you can maintain a high level of control in all your integrations. In addition to this, all transactions and attachments reference a bond making it easy to track communications.
A Bond record’s primary functions are:
To store the internal and external references
To give state control to each integration instance
To provide insight into the health of the bond
To track which system ‘owns’ the bond
To store a running commentary of the bond history
To ‘contain’ all transactions and attachments for the lifetime of the bond
To track attachment totals
Document References
The references necessary for integration are stored on the bond. You do not need to store any integration data on the integrated record itself.
Internal reference
The display value of the reference field from the ServiceNow record. This is automatically captured based on the Reference field specified in the Process which the integration belongs to.
External reference
The reference used by the external system.
You must have at least one reference (either internal or external) to form a bond to another system. It is recommended to store both references wherever possible.
State Control
In complex integration processes it is often useful (or necessary) to track the state of the bond. This is mainly used to allow or prevent messages from being sent and received, but is also helpful to analysts who can quickly gain insight into what is happening without any additional configuration.
| State | Description |
|---|---|
New | The bond is created but not yet inserted. |
Pending | The bond has been created and the system is waiting for confirmation from the external system. |
Open | Message exchange is available. |
Suspended | Message exchange has been suspended by the internal process. |
Vendor suspended | Message exchange has been suspended by the external process. |
Closed | Message exchange has been terminated. |
Every Message can be conditioned using the Bond state. Messages will check that the bond meets the bond condition specified before processing.
The Bond state can be set using the Set bond state inbound and Set bond state outbound fields on the Message. It can be also set manually in the Source to Stage (outbound) and Stage to Target (inbound) Message Scripts.
Health
Bond health can be determined by the Status field. This is constantly updated as transactions are flowing between the integrated systems.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
OK | All transactions have completed. |
Awaiting | A request has been made and is awaiting completion. |
Error | A transaction has failed. |
Process Ownership
Ownership is not always used, but is extremely helpful in complex ticket integrations, especially where many systems might be involved (SIAM/Multi-vendor).
The Owner flag is used to track which system is currently in charge of the ticket. This allows complex security and process logic to take place, creating a much more robust integration.
The Owner flag can be set inbound and/or outbound using the Set bond owner inbound and Set bond owner outbound fields on the Message.
Transactional Data Cleanup
Automatic Cleanup
Unifi has a unique transactional management approach that is accomplished through the bond: all transactional data is stored against the bond until the bond state changes to Closed, at which point it is deleted. This balance gives integration admins full insight to view and debug integration issues while maintaining table efficiency.
Once the bond is closed, a scheduled job is created in the future using the Integration property Bond cleanup, which specifies how many days to wait before running the cleanup process.
The cleanup process deletes all Transaction and Bonded Attachment records.
Manual Cleanup
Some integrations may need to maintain an open bond for a significant amount of time, or even indefinitely. In this case, a traditional scheduled cleanup job should be created to run periodically to clear out historic records.
| Name | Table |
|---|---|
Transaction |
|
Bonded Attachment |
|
Cascade Delete
Deleting the Transaction record will cascade delete all Stage and HTTP Request records.
Debugging
You can view the Unifi logs from the Bond record by navigating to the 'Unifi Activity Logs' related list. Activity Logs are particularly helpful to ShareLogic when debugging Unifi itself and will be populated if logging is enabled when debugging.
Activity logs
The logs that can be viewed from the Bond are for the Bond itself and the Transactions that relate to that Bond.
In addition to the Transaction logs (for details of those click here), you will also see the following:
Business rule: <Your Trigger Business Rule>
These logs are defined in the Trigger on the process table being integrated.
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