# ServiceNow Inbound Integration

We see integration as an essential foundation to facilitate complex automation scenarios. ServiceNow provides a great platform to bring different IT systems together. Avantra provides the possibilities to drive automation in the SAP world directly in and out of ServiceNow.

The first type of ServiceNow integration is specifically for ServiceNow CMDB, to bring in server records. This integration is particularly useful during onboarding to track which servers still need to install the Avantra Agent. An alternative to importing server records from ServiceNow CMDB is to use our latest rapid installation features.

The import of servers is available again via Administration → Synchronisations. Choose inbound synchronization, then specify the table name you want to read data from, for example, `cmdb_ci_linux_server` followed by an optional query on a specific tag to ensure you only import servers you want.

The second type of inbound integration is a generic one based on the Avantra SOAP API. It has been used with the ServiceNow Integration Hub for several scenarios. Again, usage is easy. You simply pull in the Avantra Web Service Description Language XML specification to ServiceNow, and the whole API is accessible - ready to be used with the Integration Hub Low-code platform.

Use cases are: trigger an Avantra automation, such as startup or shutdown systems, or set maintenance windows for SAP systems and servers directly out of ServiceNow. For the second use case, there is an Integrating ServiceNow video available in our Avantra series. Especially when it comes to automation, the Avantra SOAP API provides an easy way to extend ServiceNow workflows to the SAP world.