Scheduled Jobs for ServiceNow

Scheduled Jobs automate recurring tasks, batch processing, and maintenance operations.

Job Types

Type Table Purpose

Scheduled Script Execution sysauto_script Run custom scripts

Report Scheduler sysauto_report Generate and email reports

Table Cleaner sys_auto_flush Delete old records

LDAP Refresh ldap_server_config Sync LDAP data

Discovery discovery_schedule Network discovery

Scheduled Script Execution (ES5)

Basic Scheduled Job

// Table: sysauto_script // Name: Close Stale Incidents // Run: Daily at 2:00 AM

// Script (ES5 ONLY!): ;(function executeScheduledJob() { var LOG_PREFIX = "[CloseStaleIncidents] " var closedCount = 0

// Find incidents inactive for 30 days var staleDate = new GlideDateTime() staleDate.addDaysLocalTime(-30)

var gr = new GlideRecord("incident") gr.addQuery("state", "IN", "1,2,3") // New, In Progress, On Hold gr.addQuery("sys_updated_on", "<", staleDate) gr.addQuery("active", true) gr.query()

gs.info(LOG_PREFIX + "Found " + gr.getRowCount() + " stale incidents")

while (gr.next()) { gr.state = 7 // Closed gr.close_code = "Closed/Resolved by Caller" gr.close_notes = "Auto-closed due to 30 days of inactivity" gr.update() closedCount++ }

gs.info(LOG_PREFIX + "Closed " + closedCount + " stale incidents") })()

Scheduled Job with Error Handling (ES5)

// Name: Sync User Data // Run: Every 6 hours

;(function executeScheduledJob() { var LOG_PREFIX = "[SyncUserData] " var stats = { processed: 0, updated: 0, errors: 0, }

try { // Get users needing sync var gr = new GlideRecord("sys_user") gr.addQuery("u_needs_sync", true) gr.addQuery("active", true) gr.setLimit(1000) // Process in batches gr.query()

while (gr.next()) {
  stats.processed++
  try {
    var updated = syncUserFromSource(gr)
    if (updated) {
      stats.updated++
    }
  } catch (e) {
    stats.errors++
    gs.error(LOG_PREFIX + "Error syncing user " + gr.user_name + ": " + e.message)
  }
}

gs.info(LOG_PREFIX + "Sync complete: " + JSON.stringify(stats))

// Send summary email if errors
if (stats.errors > 0) {
  sendErrorSummary(stats)
}

} catch (e) { gs.error(LOG_PREFIX + "Job failed: " + e.message) notifyAdmins("User sync job failed: " + e.message) }

function syncUserFromSource(userGr) { // Sync logic here userGr.u_needs_sync = false userGr.u_last_sync = new GlideDateTime() return userGr.update() }

function sendErrorSummary(stats) { gs.eventQueue("user.sync.errors", null, JSON.stringify(stats), "") }

function notifyAdmins(message) { gs.eventQueue("system.job.failure", null, message, "") } })()

Batch Processing Job (ES5)

// Name: Process Large Dataset // Run: Weekly on Sunday at 1:00 AM

;(function executeScheduledJob() { var LOG_PREFIX = "[BatchProcessor] " var BATCH_SIZE = 500 var MAX_RUNTIME = 3600000 // 1 hour in ms var startTime = new Date().getTime()

var processed = 0 var hasMore = true

while (hasMore && !isTimeExceeded()) { hasMore = processBatch() }

if (hasMore) { gs.warn(LOG_PREFIX + "Job stopped due to time limit. Processed: " + processed) // Re-queue for next run queueContinuation() } else { gs.info(LOG_PREFIX + "Job complete. Total processed: " + processed) }

function processBatch() { var gr = new GlideRecord("u_large_table") gr.addQuery("u_processed", false) gr.setLimit(BATCH_SIZE) gr.query()

if (!gr.hasNext()) {
  return false
}

while (gr.next()) {
  processRecord(gr)
  processed++
}

return true

}

function processRecord(gr) { // Processing logic gr.u_processed = true gr.u_processed_date = new GlideDateTime() gr.update() }

function isTimeExceeded() { var elapsed = new Date().getTime() - startTime return elapsed > MAX_RUNTIME }

function queueContinuation() { // Queue another run var job = new GlideRecord("sysauto_script") if (job.get("name", "Process Large Dataset - Continuation")) { job.next_action = new GlideDateTime() job.update() } } })()

Schedule Configuration

Run Frequencies

Frequency Cron Example

Every 5 minutes 0 */5 * * * ?

Health checks

Hourly 0 0 * * * ?

Data sync

Daily at midnight 0 0 0 * * ?

Cleanup

Weekly Sunday 0 0 0 ? * SUN

Reports

Monthly 1st 0 0 0 1 * ?

Billing

Custom Various Specific needs

Create Scheduled Job (ES5)

// Create scheduled job programmatically (ES5 ONLY!) var job = new GlideRecord("sysauto_script") job.initialize() job.setValue("name", "Nightly Cleanup") job.setValue("active", true)

// Schedule: Daily at 2:00 AM job.setValue("run_type", "daily") job.setValue("run_time", "02:00:00") // Or use explicit schedule job.setValue("run_dayofweek", "daily")

// Script job.setValue( "script", "(function executeScheduledJob() {\n" + ' var gr = new GlideRecord("sys_audit_delete");\n' + ' gr.addQuery("sys_created_on", "<", gs.daysAgo(90));\n' + " gr.deleteMultiple();\n" + ' gs.info("Cleanup complete");\n' + "})();", )

// Run as system job.setValue("run_as", "") // Empty = System

job.insert()

Conditional Execution

// Job that checks conditions before running (ES5 ONLY!) ;(function executeScheduledJob() { var LOG_PREFIX = "[ConditionalJob] "

// Check if job should run if (!shouldRun()) { gs.info(LOG_PREFIX + "Skipping execution - conditions not met") return }

// Execute main logic executeMainTask()

function shouldRun() { // Check business hours var now = new GlideDateTime() var hour = parseInt(now.getLocalTime().getByFormat("HH"), 10)

// Only run outside business hours (before 6am or after 8pm)
if (hour >= 6 && hour < 20) {
  return false
}

// Check for active change freeze
var freeze = new GlideRecord("change_request")
freeze.addQuery("type", "freeze")
freeze.addQuery("state", "implement")
freeze.query()

if (freeze.hasNext()) {
  gs.info(LOG_PREFIX + "Change freeze active")
  return false
}

return true

}

function executeMainTask() { // Main job logic here gs.info(LOG_PREFIX + "Executing main task") } })()

Job Monitoring

Check Job Status (ES5)

// Query scheduled job history (ES5 ONLY!) var history = new GlideRecord("sys_trigger") history.addQuery("name", "CONTAINS", "Nightly Cleanup") history.orderByDesc("sys_created_on") history.setLimit(10) history.query()

while (history.next()) { gs.info( "Job: " + history.getValue("name") + " | State: " + history.getValue("state") + " | Next: " + history.getValue("next_action"), ) }

Job with Metrics (ES5)

// Job that records performance metrics (ES5 ONLY!) ;(function executeScheduledJob() { var LOG_PREFIX = "[MetricsJob] " var startTime = new Date().getTime() var metrics = { startTime: new GlideDateTime().getDisplayValue(), recordsProcessed: 0, errors: 0, }

try { // Main processing var gr = new GlideRecord("incident") gr.addQuery("active", true) gr.query()

while (gr.next()) {
  processRecord(gr)
  metrics.recordsProcessed++
}

} catch (e) { metrics.errors++ gs.error(LOG_PREFIX + "Error: " + e.message) } finally { // Record metrics metrics.endTime = new GlideDateTime().getDisplayValue() metrics.duration = (new Date().getTime() - startTime) / 1000 recordMetrics(metrics) }

function processRecord(gr) { // Processing logic }

function recordMetrics(metrics) { var metricsRecord = new GlideRecord("u_job_metrics") metricsRecord.initialize() metricsRecord.setValue("u_job_name", "MetricsJob") metricsRecord.setValue("u_start_time", metrics.startTime) metricsRecord.setValue("u_end_time", metrics.endTime) metricsRecord.setValue("u_duration", metrics.duration) metricsRecord.setValue("u_records_processed", metrics.recordsProcessed) metricsRecord.setValue("u_errors", metrics.errors) metricsRecord.insert()

gs.info(LOG_PREFIX + "Metrics: " + JSON.stringify(metrics))

} })()

MCP Tool Integration

Available Tools

Tool Purpose

snow_schedule_job

Create scheduled job

snow_find_artifact

Find existing jobs

snow_execute_script_with_output

Test job script

snow_get_logs

Check job execution logs

Example Workflow

// 1. Create scheduled job await snow_schedule_job({ name: "Daily Report Generator", run_type: "daily", run_time: "06:00:00", script: "/* report generation script */", active: true, })

// 2. Test the script await snow_execute_script_with_output({ script: "/* test job script */", })

// 3. Check logs await snow_get_logs({ filter: 'message CONTAINS "Daily Report"', limit: 50, })

Best Practices

• Logging - Comprehensive logging for debugging

• Error Handling - Try-catch with notifications

• Batching - Process large datasets in batches

• Time Limits - Check runtime to prevent timeouts

• Off-Peak - Schedule during low-usage periods

• Idempotent - Safe to run multiple times

• Monitoring - Record metrics and status

• ES5 Only - No modern JavaScript syntax