ServiceNow PDI - Part 1 - Setup Your Playground
This is the first part of an article series on how to setup your PDI and use the power of ServiceNow to set it up even faster if it got reclaimed by ServiceNow or you want to refresh.
ServiceNow PDI Setup Series
- Part 1: Setup your Playground
- Part 2: Deploy your preferences the fast way
- Part 3: Enhance your setup with automated Plugins installation
As an autodidact who loves learning by himself by figuring things out via trial and error, ServiceNow offers something I haven’t seen by any of software vendor, at least in the area of ITSM tools. I know ServiceNow is way more than ITSM or a ticketing tool and at work we use it for all kind of processes like project management or risk managment. As product owner and solution architect I have to deal with a lot of different modules of the platform, therefore I really like what ServiceNow offers as a playground to their community.
If you are like me and want some hands on experience without breaking your work environment, you can get a fullblown ServiceNow instance for yourself called a personal developer instance (PDI). With this you can explore new areas of ServiceNow, new plugins or just play around with an out of the box setup.
This offer is something that really strengthens the community and skill set amongst interested people because you can actually work on an instance, do whatever you want and figure out how ServiceNow works. And all of this is for free!
Your way to a personal developer instance
In case you got excited and want to explore the world of ServiceNow and how things work, you can already register and join ServiceNow University and / or you can request your personal developer instance (PDI) to get started with exploring the platform on your own.
To setup your PDI:
- Create an account and login to https://developer.servicenow.com/
- Click on Request Instance.
- Select the release you want your instance running on.
- Wait until you get a notification that your PDI is ready.
- Login to your PDI and enjoy exploring
Once your PDI is ready you can login as admin and explore the System. You can create new records in any table, setup new workflows, explore the world of coding and so on.
This is just the starting point on your learning journey and as said, it is currently still for free so use it and share your experiences within the ServiceNow Community who is always willing to help!
In the next part of this series I will show you how I setup a custom app that helps me setting up my PDI faster and with my personal preferences. This can be useful in case of loosing your PDI for whatever reason or if you want to start from scratch.