Blink can act as the notifications engine for employees who use ServiceNow for HR case management. Once configured, employees receive real-time updates in their Blink feed whenever an HR service request is created or updated, and whenever a support agent leaves a comment on their request. This means frontline workers stay informed without needing to log in to ServiceNow directly.
This article covers the configuration steps required to enable ServiceNow notifications in Blink. It is intended for IT administrators who have access to both the Blink admin portal and the ServiceNow admin console.
Requirements
ServiceNow module: Human Resources Scoped App: Core
SSO between Blink and ServiceNow or another Identity Provider. Note down the
sys_idof the ServiceNow SSO configuration, as you will need it during setup.
For the most seamless user experience, consider setting up Blink as a SAML2.0 Identity Provider into ServiceNow.
Configuration
Step 1: Create a custom app on Blink
The first step is to create a custom app in Blink. This app acts as the channel through which ServiceNow notifications are delivered to employees' feeds.
In the Blink admin portal, go to Manage Apps and open the Created apps tab.
Click Create app.
In the app form, complete the following:
Upload an icon for the app.
Add a default post category. Set the ID to 1 and use "General updates" as the description.
Click Generate token and note down the token. You will need this later.
Enable the app and save the configuration.
Step 2: Import the Blink Update Set into ServiceNow
The Blink Update Set is an XML configuration file that tells ServiceNow which events to send to Blink and how to send them.
Download the Blink Update Set XML file. Your Blink contact can provide this.
Log in to ServiceNow as an admin.
Navigate to System Update Sets, then select Retrieved Update Sets.
Click Import Update Set From XML and upload the file.
Click Preview to review the contents, then click Commit to apply the changes. Once committed, this creates two Business Rules in your ServiceNow tenant:
Blink: HR case update notifications - triggers when an HR service request is created or updated, and sends a notification to the request author's Blink feed. It is linked to the
sn_hr_core_casetable.Blink: HR comment notifications - triggers when a support agent leaves a comment on an HR request, and sends a notification to the request author's Blink feed.
Optional: Customising the Business Rules
Both rules can be customised to suit your organisation's needs. You can adjust:
Which request statuses trigger a notification (useful if the defaults are too frequent).
Which types of HR requests trigger a notification.
Whether the rule applies only to specific user groups or departments.
The text, layout, links, or icons used in the notification (requires basic JSON/JavaScript knowledge).
Step 3: Configure ServiceNow properties
The final step is to connect the Blink app token and SSO configuration to ServiceNow.
In ServiceNow, type
sys_properties.listinto the search bar and press Enter. This opens the system properties list.In the Name column, type blink and press Enter to filter the results.
Open the
blink.app.tokenproperty. Paste in the token you generated in Step 1 and click Update. Note: the token may appear differently after saving as ServiceNow encrypts it automatically.
Open the blink.app.sys_id property. Enter the sys_id of your ServiceNow SSO configuration (if SSO is setup with Blink, provide the value for Blink-ServiceNow SSO integration) and click Update. This ensures that notification buttons use the correct SSO configuration when logging users in to ServiceNow.
Once these properties are saved, configuration is complete.
End user experience
After configuration, employees with access to Blink will automatically receive notifications in their Blink feed for any HR service requests they submit in ServiceNow. Specifically, they will see:
A notification when their HR request is created or its status changes.
A notification when a support agent leaves a comment on their request.
Employees do not need to take any action to enable this. Notifications appear in the Blink feed and may include a button to open the relevant request directly in ServiceNow, using SSO for a seamless login experience.
Note: by default, notifications are configured for the Core HR module only. If your organisation uses other ServiceNow modules, speak to your Blink contact about extending the configuration to cover those use cases.