2.1.4. Next Experience Unified Navigation

💡 First Principle: A consistent and intuitive user interface enhances usability, simplifies navigation, and optimizes productivity for all users interacting with the ServiceNow platform, from end-users to expert administrators.

Scenario: Your organization has recently upgraded to a new ServiceNow release, and the user interface looks significantly different. Users are asking how to find their familiar modules and personalize their workspace.

ServiceNow continuously evolves its user experience (UX) to provide a modern, efficient, and personalized interface. The "Next Experience" is ServiceNow's contemporary user interface, designed to offer a unified, personalized, and intuitive experience across the platform. The fundamental 'why' behind this evolution is to improve user adoption, reduce training needs, and boost productivity by making the platform more engaging and easier to navigate for everyone, regardless of their role or technical expertise. It brings consumer-grade simplicity to enterprise software.

Key characteristics and benefits of Next Experience Unified Navigation:

• Modern Visual Design: Features a refreshed look and feel with a more intuitive layout, improved readability, and customizable themes.
• Unified Experience: Aims to provide a consistent navigation and interaction model whether you're in the Service Portal, Workspace, or the core UI, reducing cognitive load and improving user flow.
• Personalization: Users can customize their navigation menus, favorites, and dashboards to prioritize the information and tools most relevant to their roles, leading to a more efficient workflow.
• Search-Centric: Enhanced global search capabilities allow users to quickly find records, knowledge articles, and applications, acting as a primary entry point for many tasks.
• Workspaces: Modern, role-optimized interfaces designed for specific fulfiller roles (e.g., IT Service Management Workspace, CSM Workspace). These consolidate information and tools to streamline agent workflows, minimizing context switching.
• Favorites: Users can mark frequently accessed applications, modules, or records as favorites for quick access, mirroring browser favorite functionalities.
• App Shelf: A customizable strip of icons on the left side of the screen for quick access to frequently used applications and modules, providing a visually intuitive way to switch between tasks.

While the "Classic" UI is still present for some legacy functions or for specific administrative tasks, the Next Experience is the direction ServiceNow is moving towards. As an administrator, understanding how to navigate and personalize this new interface is crucial for supporting your users and optimizing their productivity. The exam will likely test your familiarity with this modern navigation paradigm.

💡 Tip: If you're working with an older instance, make an effort to explore a newer instance with Next Experience enabled (e.g., a Personal Developer Instance). Practice customizing the App Shelf, using the global search, and setting up favorites. Understanding the shift in user interaction is more important than memorizing every visual detail.

⚠️ Common Pitfall: Not understanding the purpose of Workspaces. They are designed to streamline the experience for fulfillers by consolidating information, not for end-users or general administrators.

Key Trade-Offs:

• Modernization vs. Familiarity: Adopting a new UI like Next Experience improves long-term usability but may require a short adjustment period for existing users.

Reflection Question: How does the "Next Experience" unified navigation contribute to both user productivity and a more consistent experience across different user roles in ServiceNow?