Integrate with External Systems

Now that you have a workflow running inside Kinetic, it’s time to take it a step further: connecting it to an external system.

Integrating with third-party systems allows you to:

• Create tickets, incidents, or tasks
• Update external records based on workflow outcomes
• Keep systems in sync without manual effort

What You’ll Do

In this module, you'll:

• Build a simple integration with ServiceNow to create an incident ticket when an onboarding request is submitted
• Capture the external ticket ID inside your Kinetic form for tracking
• Learn patterns that you can reuse to integrate with any third-party system your organization uses

Important Context

You do not need to be a ServiceNow expert to complete this module.
We selected ServiceNow because it offers a free developer space for testing.

If you're unfamiliar with ServiceNow:

• You may need to research basic concepts like "creating an incident via API"
• Instructions here will focus on integration patterns that apply to any external system, not just ServiceNow.

If you already have another system you'd prefer to use (e.g., Jira, FreshService, Zendesk), the same approach applies, just swap the endpoints and fields.

Step 1: Set Up the ServiceNow Integration

First, you’ll create a new Connection and Operation in Kinetic to talk to ServiceNow’s API.

1. Create the Connection

From the Space Console:

1. Navigate to Configuration > Plugins
2. Click + New Connection
3. Enter the following:
   • Name: ServiceNow
   • Type: HTTP
   • Base URL:
     https://<your-instance>.service-now.com/api/now/v1
   • Authentication Method: Basic Authentication
     • Use your ServiceNow API user credentials
4. Click Save

🔐

Make sure the user account you use has API access permissions in ServiceNow.

2. Create the Create Incident Operation

After saving your connection:

1. Click into the ServiceNow connection

2. Click + Add Operation

3. Enter:

   • Name: Create Incident
   • Method: POST
   • Request Path: /table/incident

4. Under Headers, add:

   • Key: Content-Type
   • Value: application/json

5. Under Body, select Raw and paste:

{
  "short_description": "New employee onboarding requested for {{person}}"
}

 

6. Under Outputs, define:

• Key: sys_id
• Value: body.result.sys_id

This captures the ID of the created incident for future tracking.

7. Click Save Operation

Step 2: Add a Node to Your Workflow

You’ll now expand your existing onboarding workflow to create a ServiceNow ticket when the onboarding request is submitted.

To add the integration:

1. Open your Onboarding Request Form workflow

2. Find the last node (after Create Approval)

3. Click the + icon to add a new node

4. Select the Integration node type

5. Use the following settings:

   • Connection: ServiceNow
   • Operation: Create Incident
   • Node Name: Create ServiceNow Incident

6. Map the field for person using this expression:

<%= @values['First Name'] + ' ' + @values['Last Name'] %>

 

7. Click Finish.

Step 3: Capture the ServiceNow Ticket ID

Once the ServiceNow incident is created, you’ll want to store its unique ID (sys_id) back into the original onboarding submission. This allows you to track or update the external ticket later in the process.

To do this, you’ll create a new integration in Kinetic Data that talks back to Kinetic's own API — not to ServiceNow.

1. Create the "Submission" Integration

1. Navigate back to the Space Console > Configuration > Plugins
2. Click + New Connection
3. Fill in the following:

• Name: Submission
• Type: HTTP
• Base URL:
  https://<your-kinetic-instance>/app/api/v1
• Authentication: Basic Authentication
  • Use your integration user account

4. Click Save

🔐

Reminder: This connection talks to your Kinetic instance, allowing you to update form submissions with new data.

2. Create the "Update Submission" Operation

After saving your new Submission connection:

1. Open the Submission connection
2. Click + Add Operation
3. Fill in the following:

• Name: Update Submission
• Method: PUT
• Request Path: /submissions/{{submissionId}}

4. Under the Headers tab:

   • Key: Content-Type
   • Value: application/json

5. Under the Body (select Raw format), enter:

{
  "values": {
    "ServiceNow Incident ID": "{{incidentId}}"
  }
}

 

6. Save your operation.

📘

While we had you navigate through the Platform to build integrations for practice, you can also create new integrations directly from the workflow builder by selecting + New Integration when adding a node. This can save time once you're familiar with the process.

3. Add the Update Node to Your Workflow

Now that the "Update Submission" operation exists, it’s time to add it to your onboarding workflow.

To add the update node:

1. Open your Onboarding Request Form workflow
2. Click the + icon after the Create ServiceNow Incident node
3. Select the Integration node type. Fill in the following:

• Connection: Submission
• Operation: Update Submission
• Node Name: Update ServiceNow ID

Map the Parameters

Click Finish when you are done.

📘

By creating this node, you automatically update your onboarding form submission with the ServiceNow ticket ID immediately after it’s created — eliminating the need for manual tracking or later reconciliation.

Step 4: Save and Test

After building the new workflow nodes:

1. Save your workflow
2. Submit a test onboarding request through the Onboarding Request Form
3. Check your ServiceNow instance — you should see a new incident created
4. Check your onboarding form submission — the ServiceNow Incident ID field should now be populated with the external ticket ID

Recap

By completing this section, you:

• Built an external integration from Kinetic to ServiceNow
• Triggered an external action based on a form submission
• Stored external system IDs inside Kinetic for future updates

Expand Your Knowledge

• Understanding API Integrations in Kinetic
• Testing and Debugging API Connections

Next Up

Updating Submissions and Triggering Notifications — where you’ll update ticket statuses in ServiceNow and automatically notify managers based on approval decisions.