Mobile & Service Portal | ServiceNow CSA Part 1

Section 1

Three Ways to Access ServiceNow

ServiceNow is not a single interface — it provides three distinct experiences optimized for different user types. Understanding which interface serves which audience is a recurring exam topic.

Interface	Audience	URL Pattern	Best For
Next Experience (Polaris)	IT agents & admins	`instance.service-now.com`	Day-to-day IT work, record management, administration
Service Portal	End users (employees)	`instance.service-now.com/sp`	Self-service requests, catalog ordering, KB search
ServiceNow Mobile	Field techs, managers, employees	Native mobile app	On-the-go approvals, task updates, incident viewing

Core Concept: The CSA exam covers all three interfaces. Know which is for END USERS (Service Portal) vs AGENTS (Next Experience) vs MOBILE (both, but different apps). Confusing these is a common exam mistake.

Section 2

Service Portal Deep Dive

Service Portal is a consumer-grade, widget-based self-service web interface designed so that non-IT employees can interact with IT services without needing access to the full ServiceNow back-end.

What End Users Can Do in Service Portal

Submit service requests and report incidents
Track the status of their open tickets
Browse and search the Knowledge Base
Order items from the Service Catalog
Chat with virtual agents or live agents
View and manage approvals they need to take action on

Key Technical Facts

Default URL suffix: /sp — fully configurable by admins
Framework: Built with AngularJS (portal widgets are Angular components)
Responsive design: Works in mobile browsers, but is not the same as the mobile app
Authentication: Supports SSO, local login, and guest/public access if configured

Portal Hierarchy (Know This Structure)

Service Portal has a strict nesting hierarchy. The exam may test your knowledge of each level:

▶ Portal

▶ Pages (individual screens)

▶ Rows (horizontal layout bands)

▶ Columns (Bootstrap 12-col grid)

▶ Widgets (actual content blocks)

Key Portal Components

Portal Record

The top-level configuration record. Defines the portal URL suffix, home page, theme, and which Knowledge Base is linked.

Page

A distinct screen within the portal (e.g., sc_home for the Service Catalog home). Each page has a unique URL path under the portal.

Widget

A reusable AngularJS component that renders content — search boxes, catalog categories, ticket lists, KB articles, etc.

Widget Instance

A specific placement of a widget on a specific page, with its own configuration options (title, filter, display count, etc.).

Theme

Defines the visual appearance of the portal — colors, fonts, header/footer HTML, and CSS overrides applied globally to all pages.

User Criteria

Controls which catalog items, categories, and KB articles are visible in the portal to specific users or groups. Separate from ACLs.

Exam Trap: Service Portal uses User Criteria to control catalog item visibility. This is different from ACLs. ACLs control database-level access everywhere; User Criteria controls what appears in the portal UI. Both can apply simultaneously — a user must pass User Criteria to see an item, and ACLs to access the underlying data.

Section 3

Service Catalog in the Portal

The primary use case for Service Portal is enabling end users to order IT services through the Service Catalog — without needing to interact with the full ServiceNow back-end application.

How Catalog Ordering Works

User browses portal catalog — items displayed as cards organized in categories
User selects an item and fills out the request form (variables)
Items are added to a shopping cart — multiple items can be bundled
User submits the order — a Request (REQ) record is created
Each ordered item becomes a Requested Item (RITM) under the REQ
Fulfillment workflows or flows are triggered automatically per RITM

Analogy: Service Portal is like Amazon for IT. Users browse a catalog, add to cart, and submit. Behind the scenes, fulfillment workflows and Flow Designer flows do the heavy lifting — routing tasks, sending approvals, provisioning resources.

Other Portal Capabilities Beyond the Catalog

Knowledge Base

Users can search and read KB articles directly in the portal. The portal record specifies which KB is linked. Deflects tickets by surfacing self-help content.

Incident Submission

Users can report incidents via the portal without calling the help desk. Portal forms create records in the same Incident table agents use.

My Requests / My Tickets

A portal page where users track all their open requests and incidents. Eliminates status-check calls to the service desk.

Chat & Virtual Agent

Embedded chat widget can connect to a live agent queue or ServiceNow Virtual Agent (AI chatbot) for conversational self-service.

Remember: Data written through the portal goes into the same tables as data written through Next Experience. An incident submitted via portal creates a record in the incident table — the exact same table agents see in their queue. There is no separate "portal database."

Section 4

Configuring Service Portal

Admins configure Service Portal through a combination of the Portal record settings and the visual Page Designer tool. No coding is required for basic portal customization.

How to Access Portal Configuration

Portal records: Navigate to Service Portal > Portals in the filter navigator — opens the list of configured portals
Page Designer: Visual drag-and-drop editor for building and editing portal pages
Widget Editor: Code editor for creating or modifying individual widgets (HTML, CSS, JS, server-side scripts)

Key Portal Record Settings

Field	Purpose	Example
URL Suffix	The path after the instance URL that opens this portal	`sp`, `esc`, `hr`
Home Page	The page users land on when they visit the portal URL	`index` (the default home page record)
Login Page	The page shown when unauthenticated users access the portal	`login`
Theme	The visual theme record applied to all pages in the portal	Stock > Default theme
Knowledge Base	Which KB is searched when users search the portal	IT Knowledge Base
Catalog	Which Service Catalog is exposed to users in this portal	Service Catalog

Using the Page Designer

The Page Designer is a browser-based visual editor for building portal pages with a drag-and-drop interface.

How to access Page Designer:

Browse to the portal page you want to edit (e.g., /sp?id=index)
Right-click on the page header → select "Edit this page"
OR navigate to Service Portal > Pages → open a page record → click "Page Designer"

Page Designer workflow:

Add Rows to the page canvas (horizontal bands)
Set column layout per row (12-column Bootstrap grid: halves, thirds, quarters, etc.)
Drag Widgets from the right-hand panel into columns
Click the gear icon on a placed widget to configure its instance options
Save the page

Tip: The Page Designer is a visual, no-code tool for portal pages. You do NOT need to write AngularJS or HTML to build basic portal pages — it is fully drag-and-drop. Custom widgets require coding, but using existing widgets does not.

Core Concept: The Page Designer edits the layout (which widgets appear where). The Widget Editor (a separate tool) edits the behavior and content of a widget itself. These are two different tools with different purposes.

Section 5

ServiceNow Mobile Apps

ServiceNow provides native mobile apps for iOS and Android. There are two distinct apps targeting different user populations — not one universal mobile app.

App 1: Now Mobile (Agent App)

Target audience: IT agents, service desk staff, field technicians, managers

View, create, and update incidents and tasks
Review and action approvals on the go
Receive push notifications for ticket assignments and updates
Access catalog ordering (agent-configured items)
Limited offline capability — can read cached data without connectivity
Native iOS and Android app (not a mobile browser wrapper)

App 2: Employee Center / Now Mobile (Employee App)

Target audience: Non-IT employees (any staff member)

Submit service requests and report issues
Check the status of their own tickets
Read Knowledge Base articles
Access a mobile-optimized Service Catalog experience
Essentially a mobile-optimized version of the Employee Service Center portal

Mobile App Configuration (Admin Perspective)

Mobile Studio

The configuration environment in App Engine Studio where admins build and customize mobile app experiences — layouts, applets, navigation.

Applets

Mobile-specific mini-applications within the Now Mobile app. Each applet provides a focused capability (e.g., Approvals applet, My Tasks applet).

Push Notifications

Real-time alerts sent to a user's device. Requires Firebase Cloud Messaging (Android) and Apple Push Notification Service (iOS) setup by admins.

Offline Capability

Now Mobile caches certain data locally, allowing agents to view (not create) records when offline. Data syncs when connectivity is restored.

Exam Trap: "Now Mobile" (the native agent app) is NOT the same as viewing Service Portal in a mobile browser. They are entirely separate experiences. Service Portal is responsive and works in any browser. Now Mobile is a dedicated native app downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.

Section 6

Mobile vs Portal vs Next Experience — Full Exam Comparison

This comparison table synthesizes all three interfaces. High exam relevance — know the differences cold.

Feature / Dimension	Next Experience (Polaris)	Service Portal	Now Mobile
Primary Users	IT staff, administrators	End users, employees	Agents, field techs, employees
Access Method	Desktop/laptop browser	Any browser (responsive)	iOS / Android native app
URL Pattern	`instance.service-now.com`	`instance.service-now.com/sp`	Native app (no URL)
Customization Tool	UI Builder (Seismic), Form Designer	Page Designer, Widget Editor	Mobile Studio, App Engine Studio
Underlying Technology	Now Platform UI (Seismic)	AngularJS widgets	Native iOS/Android SDK
Service Catalog	Full admin/fulfiller view	Consumer/end-user view	Limited, applet-based
ACL Enforcement	Yes	Yes (plus User Criteria)	Yes
User Criteria	No	Yes — portal-specific	No
Offline Access	No	No	Limited (read-only cache)
Knowledge Base	Yes (admin/agent view)	Yes (user-facing)	Yes (read access)
Approvals	Yes (full workflow)	Yes (limited UI)	Yes (optimized for mobile)
Incident Creation	Yes (agent creates)	Yes (user self-reports)	Yes (agent creates)
Push Notifications	No	No	Yes (requires FCM/APNS)
Guest/Public Access	No	Yes (if configured)	No

Exam Traps & High-Priority Callouts

Exam Trap 1 — Technology Stack: Service Portal uses AngularJS widgets. Next Experience uses UI Builder (Seismic). These are completely different technologies built at different times. A widget built for Service Portal does NOT work in Next Experience and vice versa.

Exam Trap 2 — User Criteria vs ACLs: User Criteria is portal-specific. It determines who sees what catalog items and KB articles in the portal UI. ACLs apply everywhere — portal included. A user can be blocked from seeing an item by User Criteria (it won't appear) OR by ACLs (access denied error). They operate at different layers.

URL Tip: /sp is the default portal URL suffix but it is configurable. An organization might set it to /esc for Employee Service Center or /hr for an HR portal. The URL suffix is set in the Portal record's "URL Suffix" field.

Warning — Shared Database: Service Portal forms and Next Experience forms look completely different, but they write to the same database tables. An incident submitted through the portal and an incident created by an agent in Next Experience both land in the incident table. There is no data separation between interfaces.

Remember — Two Mobile Experiences: There are two mobile paths: (1) the Now Mobile native app (downloaded from app stores, for agents and employees) and (2) the mobile browser view of Service Portal (responsive web, works in any phone browser). These coexist and serve overlapping but distinct use cases.

Part 1 Wrap-Up: What the Exam Will Test

Part 1 Exam Strategy (7% of exam): Focus your review on these four areas:

Filter navigator tricks — using table.field notation, creating bookmarks, dot-walking in filters
List/breadcrumb filter behavior — how breadcrumb filters accumulate and how to clear them
sys_properties vs user preferences — system-wide settings vs per-user customizations, who can change what
Portal vs Next Experience audience differences — who uses what, User Criteria, AngularJS vs Seismic