Context 

The client needed a comprehensive and reliable Event Management solution built entirely from scratch within the ServiceNow platform. The goal was to streamline how IT events are processed, reduce noise from alerts, and ensure meaningful incidents are raised and managed in a way that aligns with business requirements. The solution also had to integrate with an external on-call management system to ensure effective response coordination. 

Our Approach 

We implemented ServiceNow Event Management using recommended best practices, tailoring the configuration to meet specific business needs. The core functionality we delivered included: 

• Receiving events from various monitoring tools and processing them according to business rules 

• Processing alerts into groups  

• Creating incidents out of alerts that meet specified conditions  

• Managing the state of the associated incident throughout the lifecycle of the alert. 

• Setting up integration from ServiceNow incident created from alert to external on-call management system 

Technical components and methods used: 

• Pull connectors for importing events from external monitoring sources 

• Direct table API integration with the Event Management module 

• Event rules to process and classify incoming data 

• Alert management rules for filtering and qualifying alerts 

• Remediation flows to automate incident creation and management 

• Custom business rules executed on the alert table to control behavior and flow 

Challenges face: 

• Requirement to bind all types if CIs regardless of their class – Handled it by overriding default CI binding in an event rule. 

• Avoid creation of incident for CI with ongoing change – Handled it by automating a check if the configuration item of the alert is in the list of downtime CIs (CIs for which there is ongoing change). A filter was added to the alert management rule to avoid creation of incident for alert in maintenance mode. 

• Managing grouped alerts and the relation between primary and secondary alerts in terms of associated incident – handled all scenarios via alert management rule and the associated remediation flows. 

Results 

• A fully functioning Event Management system was delivered, capable of processing complex alert scenarios from multiple sources. 

• Incidents are now automatically and intelligently generated, reducing manual effort and false positives. 

• Ongoing incidents are better managed with synchronized state updates based on alert status. 

• Integration with the external on-call management tool allows timely escalation and incident ownership. 

• Custom logic enables precise control over CI binding and alert filtering, significantly improving event signal quality. 

Conclusion 

By combining ServiceNow best practices with custom-built logic and automation, we delivered a custom event management solution that met both operational complexity and business-critical needs. The result was a robust, scalable system that improves incident handling, supports proactive IT operations, and integrates smoothly with external tools-while remaining flexible for future development.