Understand the UI

Tip: 01 | Tip: 02 | Tip: 03 | Tip: 04 | Tip: 05 | Tip: 06 | Tip: 07 | Tip: 08 | Tip: 09

Introduction

Understanding the rationale behind how we have designed the UI for Discovery Admin will help you get instantly familiar with how to use Discovery Admin and seamlessly navigate to access the features and capabilities.

It is recommended to peruse this Knowledge Article while following along in your ServiceNow Instance (with the latest version of Discovery Admin).

Some of the tips will be more intuitive as you start using Discovery Admin.

If you are new to Discovery Admin, remember to revisit this article as you get more familiar with Discovery Admin.

Tip 01: Everything begins with Discovery > Status

The first place we go to, when we want to Troubleshoot ServiceNow Discovery Logs is Discovery > Status.

This is precisely why accessing Discovery Admin and all its operational features are available via Discovery > Status.

We also recommend you add the Discovery > Status Module to your favorites for easy access to Discovery Admin.

Tip 02: Identifying Discovery Admin UI Actions

All Discovery Admin UI Actions have { }

Example: { Discovery Admin }

This is an easy way to spot Discovery Admin functionality embedded in the out-of-the-box ServiceNow UI.

Tip 03: UI Action Placements on List Views

In addition to UI Actions in the top header on the List View (see { Discovery Admin } screenshot in Tip 2), we also have them under the Related Links at the bottom of the List View (see { Scheduled Troubleshooting } screenshot).

Tip 04: { Update } UI Action on Form navigates to the corresponding List View

Clicking { Update } UI Action on any Form on Discovery Admin Tables (for example: Troubleshooting, Scheduled Troubleshooting, Incident Error Code) navigates to the List View of the corresponding Table.

Tip 05: UI Action Placements on Forms

Discovery Admin UI Actions on Forms are placed where you would expect to see the out-of-the-box UI Actions.

They are always positioned on the left of the out-of-the-box UI Actions.

Tip 06: Everything that can have Hints, has Hints

All Attributes on the Discovery Admin Tables as well as all Discovery Admin UI Actions have detailed Hints which can be accessed with a simple mouse-over. These Hints provide attribute definitions and pointers for best practices (where applicable).

Tip 07: Intuitive context-sensitive Hints on List View and Forms

Intuitive context-sensitive Hints are automatically displayed on List Views and Form to provide additional information and assist in navigation, where applicable. Error Messages are also displayed as needed.

Tip 08: Seamless and Continuous Navigation via UI Actions

Including UI Actions where needed (for example: to navigate to Log Analysis from Incident Error Code) allows for Navigation without the need to Open Multiple Tabs, Click the Back Button or Use the Left Navigation.

Tip 09: UI Actions on List View Related Links

UI Actions on the List View Related Links allow for Navigation between the List Views of different Discovery Admin Tables (for example: to navigate from the Troubleshooting List View to the Incident Error Code List View) without the need to Open Multiple Tabs, Click the Back Button or Use the Left Navigation.

Tip 10: Purpose-built UI Actions

In addition to driving the Discovery Admin workflow, the UI Actions help provide contextual results.

Example: { View Log Analysis } will pre-filter results corresponding to this current Troubleshooting.

Tip 11: Context-sensitive UI Actions

Context-sensitive UI Actions perform different actions based on what is selected in the UI!

Example: { Discovery Admin } navigates to previous results and initiates new analysis.

Other UI Actions like { Scheduled Troubleshooting } and { Incident Error Code } also have dual capabilities, based on the Query Filters on their corresponding List Views.

Tip 12: Temporary Favorites

We recommend creating additional Temporary Favorites to help your workflow as needed. This way, items that temporarily need quick access are easy to get to.

The best way to do this is to create a Filter in the List View and Drag that to the Left Navigation to create the Favorite. These Temporary Favorites can then be easily removed, simplifying your Navigation.

The decision to not include additional Modules in the Left Navigation is because each User has a unique set of Filter Conditions on the corresponding List View which are better represented via the Favorites created by the individual User.

Additionally, these Filter Conditions often change for the same User, resulting in the need to create new temporary Favorites and remove Favorites that are no longer needed.

Tip 13: Discovery Admin in the Left Navigation

Everything begins with the Discovery > Status

So, the Discovery Admin Application only ships with two modules: Properties and Contact QuickNexus.

Additionally, the current version of Discovery Admin is appended to the Discovery Admin Application in the Left Navigation and updated to match every new version.