ServiceNow Assessment Tests

ServiceNow Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a junior data engineer. You have been asked to compare two database tools on cost, speed and support, and to recommend one. You have used the more expensive one for years and much prefer working with it. On the three measures you were given, the cheaper one comes out ahead on cost and support and they are level on speed. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Recommend the tool you know, since your familiarity with it is worth real money in delivery time, and weight the three measures so that it comes out ahead.
   2. Recommend the cheaper tool on the three measures, and say nothing about the fact that you have years of experience with the other one.
   3. Decline to make a recommendation and hand over the comparison on the three measures, so that somebody without a history with either tool decides it.
   4. Recommend the cheaper tool on the three measures you were given, and note that you have years of experience with the other and would personally prefer it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Recommend the cheaper tool on the three measures you were given, and note that you have years of experience with the other and would personally prefer it.

   Least effective: A. Recommend the tool you know, since your familiarity with it is worth real money in delivery time, and weight the three measures so that it comes out ahead.

   A: Decides a neutral assessment for your own benefit: the weighting is chosen after the answer is known, and nobody reading the recommendation can see that.

   B: Reports the measures and hides the relevant fact: your familiarity is a genuine consideration and the decision is made without knowing it exists.

   C: Steps aside rather than declaring: the team loses the only person who has used one of them, over something a sentence would have handled.

   The most effective response is to recommend the cheaper tool on the three measures you were given, and note that you have years of experience with the other and would personally prefer it. It answers the question on the criteria you were given, and declaring the preference lets whoever decides weigh it consciously. It beats recommending the cheaper tool and saying nothing about your experience with the other, because that experience is a real consideration and hiding it means the decision is made without a fact that could change it. It beats declining to recommend and handing over the comparison, because standing aside costs the team its only person with hands-on experience. The least effective response is recommending the tool you know and weighting the measures so it comes out ahead: it is worse than either of the other two, because both report the measures accurately, while this chooses the weighting after knowing which answer it produces. The principle: answer on the criteria you were given, declare the preference you hold, and never choose the weighting to reach the conclusion you wanted.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a junior business analyst. For six weeks you have argued that a report the team builds is not what the customer asked for, and you have been told each time to leave it. You are worn down by it. Today you are alone on a call with that customer, who mentions in passing that the report is not quite what she expected. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Ask her to describe exactly what she expected, write it down, and take her own words back to the team as evidence rather than as your opinion again.
   2. Tell her you have been saying this internally for six weeks, so that she raises it formally and the team finally has to take the point seriously.
   3. Agree with her that it is not quite right and say the team is looking at it, then raise it internally one more time after the call has finished.
   4. Note what she says and leave it there, since six weeks of raising it has changed nothing and there is no reason to think a seventh attempt would be different.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Ask her to describe exactly what she expected, write it down, and take her own words back to the team as evidence rather than as your opinion again.

   Least effective: B. Tell her you have been saying this internally for six weeks, so that she raises it formally and the team finally has to take the point seriously.

   B: Recruits the customer into an internal argument: it uses her to win six weeks of disagreement, and she is put in the middle of a team dispute.

   C: Promises movement you have no reason to expect: six weeks of being told to leave it is not the team looking at it, and she will take you at your word.

   D: Lets the strongest evidence yet go unused: the customer has just described the gap herself, which is exactly what the previous six weeks lacked.

   The most effective response is to ask her to describe exactly what she expected, write it down, and take her own words back to the team as evidence. Six weeks of your opinion has not moved anything, and the customer describing the gap in her own words is a different kind of evidence, which is precisely what has been missing. It beats agreeing that it is not quite right and saying the team is looking at it, because that is not true and she will plan on it. It beats noting what she says and leaving it there, because her account is the strongest thing you have ever had. The least effective response is telling her you have been saying this internally for six weeks: it is worse than either of the other two, because both keep the disagreement inside the company, while this tells a customer her supplier has been arguing about her report for six weeks in order to win the argument. The principle: under a long-running internal disagreement, take the customer’s own words back as evidence, and never recruit her as an ally against your own team.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a security analyst. A project has finished and left eleven unused software licences that nobody has asked about. Two colleagues have already taken one each for personal machines and told you it is normal. The licences cost the company four hundred pounds each per year and renew automatically next month unless somebody cancels them. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Cancel the nine that are left before the renewal and say nothing about the two that have already gone, so that the money is saved without anybody being named.
   2. Take one of the licences for your own use as the others have, and cancel the rest before the renewal date, which still saves the company most of the money.
   3. Tell whoever owns the project budget that eleven licences are renewing next month and that two are already on personal machines, so that they decide what happens to all eleven.
   4. Raise it with the two colleagues and ask them to hand theirs back, then cancel all eleven before the renewal without involving anybody else in it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell whoever owns the project budget that eleven licences are renewing next month and that two are already on personal machines, so that they decide what happens to all eleven.

   Least effective: B. Take one of the licences for your own use as the others have, and cancel the rest before the renewal date, which still saves the company most of the money.

   A: Solves the cost and buries the rest: four hundred pounds a year is still walking out on two machines and the practice is left described as normal.

   B: Takes an advantage the role forbids: you are the person who saw the licences, and the saving does not buy you one of them.

   D: Settles it privately with the people who took them: it may work, and the budget holder still never learns that eleven licences nearly renewed unnoticed.

   The most effective response is to tell whoever owns the project budget that eleven licences are renewing next month and that two are already on personal machines. The renewal is a real deadline, the budget holder can act on it, and the two already gone are part of the same fact rather than a separate accusation. It beats cancelling the nine that are left and saying nothing about the two, because two are still being paid for and the practice goes unexamined. It beats asking the two colleagues to hand theirs back and cancelling all eleven yourself, because that may resolve today without anybody learning that eleven licences sat unnoticed. The least effective response is taking one of the licences for your own use as the others have: it is worse than either of the other two, because both end with you holding nothing, while this has the person who spotted the problem taking a share of it. The principle: when you find something valuable that nobody is watching, the finding goes to whoever owns it, and finding it earns you none of it.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a release coordinator. A customer has waited three weeks for a fix to a fault that stops her staff exporting their reports. The engineer who owns it says only that the cause is still not understood. The customer’s contact emails you asking for a date. Your team meets on Thursday and may know more then. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reply today saying the cause is still being worked on, that you cannot give a date yet, and that you will come back to her on Thursday either way.
   2. Wait until Thursday so that your reply can carry something definite, rather than writing now with nothing useful to tell her about the fault.
   3. Reply that the fix is on its way and should reach her shortly, which is the answer she is hoping for and buys the engineer a little more time.
   4. Send her email over to the engineer who owns the fault so he can answer her directly, since he is the only person who knows where it currently stands.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Reply today saying the cause is still being worked on, that you cannot give a date yet, and that you will come back to her on Thursday either way.

   Least effective: C. Reply that the fix is on its way and should reach her shortly, which is the answer she is hoping for and buys the engineer a little more time.

   B: Delays the decision: it treats having no news as a reason to send nothing, and leaves a customer who has already waited three weeks waiting in silence.

   C: Over-promises: it converts an unknown cause into a near-certain date, so when the fix does not arrive she has been misled by you rather than merely kept waiting.

   D: Passes responsibility to others: the engineer did not agree to write to customers, and the person she wrote to is the one who owes her the reply.

   The most effective response is to reply today saying the cause is still being worked on, that you cannot give a date yet, and that you will come back to her on Thursday either way. She needs to plan, knowing there is no date is something she can act on, and a promised Thursday reply gives her something to hold you to. It beats waiting until Thursday so your reply can carry something definite, because three weeks of waiting is what makes silence expensive. It beats sending her email to the engineer who owns the fault, because she wrote to the person who owns the release, and moving her adds a step without adding an answer. The least effective response is replying that the fix is on its way and should reach her shortly: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave her with an accurate picture, late or second-hand, while this leaves her with a false one she will plan around. The principle: when you have no date, say so and commit to a next contact, rather than lending a customer a certainty you do not have.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are an incident coordinator. You and a colleague disagree about whether last week’s outage should be recorded as a supplier failure or as one of the team’s own. The disagreement has been going on for days. A customer who was affected rings you today and asks, in passing, what caused it. Your colleague is not on the call. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her the cause is still being agreed internally and that she will have the finished account this week, so that she has a date, and settle it with your colleague after.
   2. Give her both accounts and let her make up her own mind, since she was the one affected and has as much right to the facts as anybody inside the team.
   3. Tell her you cannot discuss the cause at all and end the conversation there, so that nothing is said which might contradict the final write-up.
   4. Give her your version of the cause and mention that a colleague sees it differently, so that a customer's view carries some weight in settling it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell her the cause is still being agreed internally and that she will have the finished account this week, so that she has a date, and settle it with your colleague after.

   Least effective: D. Give her your version of the cause and mention that a colleague sees it differently, so that a customer's view carries some weight in settling it.

   B: Hands a customer an unfinished argument: she now has two conflicting causes from one supplier and no way at all of choosing between them.

   C: Refuses a question you can partly answer: that the account is being finalised is itself true, useful and safe to say.

   D: Recruits the customer into an internal argument: it puts a person outside the company into a dispute between two colleagues in order to win it.

   The most effective response is to tell her the cause is still being agreed internally and that she will have the finished account this week, and settle it with your colleague afterwards. She asked a fair question and the honest answer is both true and useful, while the disagreement belongs with him. It beats giving her both accounts and letting her make up her own mind, because two conflicting causes from one supplier is worse than none. It beats telling her you cannot discuss the cause at all, because that withholds something you can safely tell her. The least effective response is giving her your version and mentioning that a colleague sees it differently: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the disagreement inside the company, while this uses a customer as leverage against a colleague who is not on the call. The principle: tell the customer honestly where the account stands, and never reach outside the team for weight in an argument inside it.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are an information security assistant. A customer’s request to remove a former employee’s access has sat for three weeks because it needs a signature from a manager who himself left the company last month. You are the only person who has worked out why it is stuck. The customer stopped chasing a fortnight ago. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Email the customer a short update saying the request is still open and that you are working out who can approve it, and keep looking for the right approver yourself.
   2. Tell your supervisor today that the approver left the company and the request has been stuck three weeks, and ask who signs in his place.
   3. Leave the request in the queue without telling anybody why it has stalled, since the customer has stopped chasing and an approver leaving is not something you caused.
   4. Close the request and ask the customer to raise a fresh one, so that it enters the queue again with a current approver attached to it from the start.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell your supervisor today that the approver left the company and the request has been stuck three weeks, and ask who signs in his place.

   Least effective: C. Leave the request in the queue without telling anybody why it has stalled, since the customer has stopped chasing and an approver leaving is not something you caused.

   A: Keeps the customer informed and the block unmoved: the update is honest, and three weeks becomes four while you hunt for something your supervisor already knows.

   C: Stays silent on the only explanation that exists: a former employee still has access, and the reason nobody can fix it lives nowhere but in your head.

   D: Restarts the clock instead of removing the block: it is transparent and it costs the customer another wait for a problem that would simply recur.

   The most effective response is to tell your supervisor today that the approver left the company and the request has been stuck three weeks, and ask who signs in his place. The block is a named absence, she holds the list of alternative signatories, and one conversation converts three lost weeks into a signature. It beats emailing the customer a short update while you keep looking for the right approver yourself, because an honest update does not move a request and the person who can has still not been asked. It beats closing the request and asking the customer to raise a fresh one, because that meets the same missing approver. The least effective response is leaving the request in the queue without telling anybody why it has stalled: it is worse than either of the other two, because both put something in front of somebody, while this leaves a former employee holding access and keeps the only explanation in your own head. The principle: when a block is somebody’s absence and you can see the way round it, the customer going quiet is not permission to stop.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are an operations analyst. A colleague told you in confidence that she is applying for a job elsewhere and asked you not to say anything. Your team is now planning who covers the on-call rota for the next six months, and the plan being drawn up assumes she is on it throughout. You are the only person who knows. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her the six-month rota is being drawn up around her, and ask her to say something to the planner herself, or to let you say that her availability is uncertain.
   2. Tell the person drawing up the rota that she may not be here in six months, and the six-month plan is then built on something realistic rather than an untested assumption.
   3. Say nothing and let the rota be drawn up as it stands, since her application may come to nothing and the plan can be changed if it does not.
   4. Suggest to the planner that six months is too long a horizon for any rota, and press for a three-month plan without giving any reason for it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell her the six-month rota is being drawn up around her, and ask her to say something to the planner herself, or to let you say that her availability is uncertain.

   Least effective: B. Tell the person drawing up the rota that she may not be here in six months, and the six-month plan is then built on something realistic rather than an untested assumption.

   B: Breaches a confidence because repeating it would be useful: it was given to you privately, and passing it on may cost her the job she currently has.

   C: Leaves a plan built on a fact only you hold: six months of cover is being committed on an assumption you know may not survive the month.

   D: Argues for a change you cannot justify: the reasoning stays hidden, so the planner weighs an odd request rather than a real risk.

   The most effective response is to tell her the six-month rota is being drawn up around her, and ask her to say something to the planner herself or to let you say her availability is uncertain. The confidence is hers to lift and the rota problem is real, so the move that respects both is to let her choose how it is handled. It beats saying nothing and letting the rota be drawn up as it stands, because a six-month commitment is being made on a fact only you know. It beats pressing the planner for a three- month horizon without giving any reason, because that asks them to weigh a preference instead of a risk. The least effective response is repeating what she told you so the plan rests on something realistic rather than an untested assumption: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave her confidence intact, while this passes on a private disclosure and may cost her the job she currently holds. The principle: when a confidence collides with a plan, take it back to the person who gave it and let them choose, rather than deciding on their behalf in either direction.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a product assistant. Five weeks ago a customer asked for a change to how a report is filtered. You logged it and never went back to her. She has not chased. Today you are choosing which four requests go into next month’s work, and hers is one of eleven candidates with no recent activity against it. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Email her today asking whether the request still matters and how much, and use the answer when you choose the four rather than guessing from the silence.
   2. Put her request into next month's four on the basis that five weeks is too long to have waited, whether or not she still needs it now.
   3. Leave hers out of the four, since five weeks without a chase almost certainly means she found another way round it or it was never that important.
   4. Ask the support team whether she has raised it again through any other route, and decide about next month once you hear back from them.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Email her today asking whether the request still matters and how much, and use the answer when you choose the four rather than guessing from the silence.

   Least effective: C. Leave hers out of the four, since five weeks without a chase almost certainly means she found another way round it or it was never that important.

   B: Buys back the delay with the wrong currency: a place in next month's four may go to something she no longer wants, and three other customers lose it.

   C: Assumes the silence away: she stopped chasing because nobody replied, and the request is now dropped on the strength of your own failure to answer.

   D: Checks the wrong side of the silence: she can tell you today whether it still matters, and the support team can only tell you whether she asked twice.

   The most effective response is to email her today asking whether the request still matters and how much, and use the answer when you choose the four. Only she can say whether it is still live, one email settles it, and next month’s four should be chosen on what customers currently need. It beats putting her request into next month’s four because five weeks is too long to have waited, since a slot given out of guilt may go to something she has stopped wanting while three others lose their place. It beats asking the support team whether she has raised it again elsewhere, because they can only report whether she asked, and she can tell you whether she needs it. The least effective response is leaving hers out because five weeks without a chase means she found another way round it: it is worse than either of the other two, because both act on the request, while this reads her silence as her having stopped needing it, when the likelier cause is that nobody answered her. The principle: five weeks of silence after you failed to reply is evidence about you, not about how much the customer wants it.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are an operations analyst. Clearing space on a shared drive at two in the morning during an incident, you deleted a folder of test data belonging to another team. You have just realised it was not yours to delete and there is no copy. Nobody has noticed. You have been awake for nineteen hours and your shift ends in an hour. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Wait until you have slept and tell them tomorrow afternoon, when you can explain what happened properly and are far less likely to get the detail wrong.
   2. Try to rebuild the folder from whatever you can find before anybody arrives in the morning, and mention it to them only if you cannot manage it.
   3. Say nothing and hope nobody has noticed by the time the incident is written up. Nineteen-hour shifts are precisely how this sort of thing comes about.
   4. Tell the other team and your own supervisor before you go home, and write down exactly what you deleted and when, so that whoever rebuilds it knows what is missing.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell the other team and your own supervisor before you go home, and write down exactly what you deleted and when, so that whoever rebuilds it knows what is missing.

   Least effective: C. Say nothing and hope nobody has noticed by the time the incident is written up. Nineteen-hour shifts are precisely how this sort of thing comes about.

   A: Delays a warning past the point it helps: the other team may spend tomorrow morning hunting for data you already know is gone for good.

   B: Discloses only on failure: a rebuild you assembled at three in the morning may be wrong in ways nobody is told to look for, because nobody is told at all.

   C: Conceals your own fault: the other team owns that data and will plan around it existing, and every day this survives makes the discovery more expensive.

   The most effective response is to tell the other team and your own supervisor before you go home, and write down exactly what you deleted and when. The expensive thing is not the deletion, it is another team working on the assumption that their data exists, and the record written while it is fresh is what makes a rebuild possible. It beats waiting until you have slept and telling them tomorrow afternoon, because they may spend the morning searching for something you know has gone. It beats trying to rebuild the folder before anybody arrives, because a folder reassembled at three in the morning by somebody nineteen hours awake may be wrong in ways nobody has been warned to check. The least effective response is saying nothing and hoping nobody has noticed: it is worse than either of the other two, because both end with the other team learning what happened, while this leaves them planning around data that is not there. The principle: exhaustion explains a mistake and does not excuse holding it, and the cost of holding it is what other people spend.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a security analyst. Last week you gave the number of accounts with administrator rights as forty for a report going to the board this afternoon. Since then a clear-out has taken it to twenty-six. You are the only person who knows. You are also mid-way through an urgent access review your manager wants finished by four o’clock today. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Send a two-line correction to whoever is compiling the report now, so that the board sees twenty-six, and go straight back to the access review afterwards.
    2. Finish the access review without telling anybody the figure has changed, since the board will not act on a headcount and the review is what your manager wants today.
    3. Send the correction with a full explanation of the clear-out and what it means, which takes half an hour out of an access review due at four.
    4. Mention it to your manager when you next see her and let her decide whether the report is worth stopping for a difference of fourteen accounts.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: A. Send a two-line correction to whoever is compiling the report now, so that the board sees twenty-six, and go straight back to the access review afterwards.

    Least effective: B. Finish the access review without telling anybody the figure has changed, since the board will not act on a headcount and the review is what your manager wants today.

    B: Withholds a correction while the report goes out: the board reads forty this afternoon, and the only person who could have stopped that was busy elsewhere.

    C: Spends thirty minutes where two lines would do: the board needs the number corrected, not the history, and the review is the thing with a deadline today.

    D: Routes a two-minute fix through somebody else's diary: she is not compiling the report, and the correction is not a decision that needs making.

    The most effective response is to send a two-line correction to whoever is compiling the report now, so the board sees twenty-six, then go back to the access review. Two lines is a trivial cost against a board paper going out with a number you know to be wrong. It beats sending the correction with a full explanation of the clear-out and what it means, because the board needs the corrected figure rather than the story, and half an hour is real against four o’clock. It beats mentioning it to your manager when you next see her, because the correction is not a judgement anybody needs to make. The least effective response is finishing the access review without telling anybody the figure has changed: it is worse than either of the other two, because both get the number corrected today in some form, while this lets a board read forty when the figure is twenty-six and only you could have said so. The principle: a two-minute correction to a document about to be published outranks an hour of anything else.