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Version: Latest (4.6.0)

Cross-Scope Privileges

Guide for creating ServiceNow Cross-Scope Privileges using the Fluent API. Cross-scope privileges declare that your application needs to access resources (tables, script includes, scriptable objects) owned by a different application scope.

When to Use​

  • Your application needs to read, write, or execute resources from another application scope
  • Debugging "operation against ... not allowed" errors at runtime
  • Pre-authorizing cross-scope access so it works without manual admin approval
  • Your scoped app needs to call script includes or access tables owned by another scope

Instructions​

  1. Identify the target resource: Determine the exact table, script include, or scriptable object your app needs to access, and which scope owns it.
  2. Choose the right operation: Tables support read, write, create, delete. Script includes and scriptable objects only support execute.
  3. Set status to allowed: For pre-authorized access in your application package. Use requested if you want admin approval at install time.
  4. One privilege per operation per target: Create separate CrossScopePrivilege records for each operation. If you need read and write on a table, create two records.
  5. Use the correct targetType: sys_db_object for tables, sys_script_include for script includes, scriptable for scriptable objects.

Key Concepts​

When Cross-Scope Privileges Are Needed​

  • Your business rule queries a table owned by another scoped app
  • Your script include calls a script include from another scope
  • Your scheduled script updates records in another scope's table

Without these declarations, the platform blocks cross-scope operations at runtime.

Status Values​

  • allowed -- Access is pre-authorized. The platform permits the operation without admin intervention.
  • requested -- Access requires admin approval after installation. Use when you cannot guarantee the target scope will be present.
  • denied -- Explicitly blocks the operation. Rarely used in application code.

Relationship to Table Access Settings​

Tables also have their own cross-scope controls via accessible_from and caller_access properties on the Table API. Cross-scope privileges work alongside these settings -- both must permit the operation for it to succeed.

Avoidance​

  • Never use execute for table operations -- tables use read, write, create, delete; only script includes and scriptable objects use execute
  • Never assume cross-scope access works by default -- scoped apps are isolated; any cross-scope operation needs an explicit privilege
  • Avoid over-requesting -- only request the specific operations you actually need on each target

API Reference​

For the full property reference, see the crossscopeprivilege-api topic.

Examples​

Execute a Scriptable Object in Another Scope​

import { CrossScopePrivilege } from '@servicenow/sdk/core'

CrossScopePrivilege({
    $id: Now.ID['cross_1'],
    status: 'allowed',
    operation: 'execute',
    targetName: 'Script type',
    targetScope: 'x_snc_example',
    targetType: 'scriptable',
})

Read and Write a Table in Another Scope​

import { CrossScopePrivilege } from '@servicenow/sdk/core'

// Read access
CrossScopePrivilege({
    $id: Now.ID['cross_read_incidents'],
    status: 'allowed',
    operation: 'read',
    targetName: 'incident',
    targetScope: 'global',
    targetType: 'sys_db_object',
})

// Write access (separate record)
CrossScopePrivilege({
    $id: Now.ID['cross_write_incidents'],
    status: 'allowed',
    operation: 'write',
    targetName: 'incident',
    targetScope: 'global',
    targetType: 'sys_db_object',
})

Execute a Script Include from Another Scope​

import { CrossScopePrivilege } from '@servicenow/sdk/core'

CrossScopePrivilege({
    $id: Now.ID['cross_exec_utils'],
    status: 'requested',
    operation: 'execute',
    targetName: 'SharedUtils',
    targetScope: 'x_partner_shared',
    targetType: 'sys_script_include',
})