<h2>Catalog Builder</h2><br/><div style="overflow-x:auto"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"><head><meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><meta name="copyright" content="(C) Copyright 2025" /><meta name="DC.rights.owner" content="(C) Copyright 2025" /><meta name="generator" content="DITA-OT" /><meta name="DC.type" content="concept" /><meta name="DC.title" content="Catalog Builder" /><meta name="abstract" content="You can create or edit a catalog item (catalog item or record producer) using a visual and guided experience along with specified restrictions. The Catalog Builder experience enables you to delegate the creation and maintenance of the catalog." /><meta name="description" content="You can create or edit a catalog item (catalog item or record producer) using a visual and guided experience along with specified restrictions. The Catalog Builder experience enables you to delegate the creation and maintenance of the catalog." /><meta name="DC.relation" scheme="URI" content="../../../product/service-catalog-management/concept/service-catalog.html" /><meta name="DC.relation" scheme="URI" content="../../../administer/general/concept/capabilities-bundle-landingpage.html" /><meta name="DC.relation" scheme="URI" content="../../../administer/general/concept/manage-services.html" /><meta name="DC.relation" scheme="URI" content="../../../product/service-catalog-management/task/set-up-cat-builder.html" /><meta name="DC.relation" scheme="URI" content="../../../product/service-catalog-management/task/create-cat-item-template-cat-builder.html" /><meta name="DC.relation" scheme="URI" content="../task/t_SetUpAServiceCatalog.html" /><meta name="DC.creator" content="ServiceNow" /><meta name="DC.date.created" content="2023-08-03" /><meta name="DC.date.modified" content="2025-01-30" /><meta name="page-type" content="platform" /><meta name="DC.format" content="XHTML" /><meta name="DC.identifier" content="catalog-builder" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../../CSS/commonltr.css" /><title>Catalog Builder</title></head><body id="catalog-builder"> <div class="breadcrumb"><a class="link" href="../../../administer/general/concept/capabilities-bundle-landingpage.html" title="Extend the ServiceNow AI Platform with additional applications and features.">Extend ServiceNow AI Platform capabilities</a> > <a class="link" href="../../../administer/general/concept/manage-services.html" title="Give your customers tailored catalogs for products, and create portals for service requests, using the ServiceNow Service Catalog app.">Manage service capabilities</a> > </div> <h1 class="title topictitle1" id="ariaid-title1"><span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span></h1> <div class="body conbody"><p class="shortdesc">You can create or edit a catalog item (catalog item or record producer) using a visual and guided experience along with specified restrictions. The <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span> experience enables you to delegate the creation and maintenance of the catalog.</p> <p class="p">You can also create a template that can be used to create catalog items. While creating the template, you can specify values or restrictions for items created using the template, for example, restrictions to catalogs, categories, variable types, and portal settings.</p> <div class="p">From the home page of the <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span>, you can do the following:<ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_d5p_2fn_f4b"><li class="li">Create a catalog item</li><li class="li">Create a catalog item template</li><li class="li">View the available catalog items</li><li class="li">View the available catalog item templates</li><li class="li">View catalog items that are recently updated</li><li class="li">View the configured content that describes the catalog building process in your organization.</li></ul> </div> <div class="section" id="catalog-builder__section_zgh_hws_h4b"><h2 class="title sectiontitle">How does the <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span> work</h2> <p class="p">Catalog administrator creates templates for a business or service group. The business owner or service owner gathers catalog requirements and creates catalog items from these templates. All advanced capabilities are added by the catalog administrators or developers.</p> <p class="p"><span><span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span> overview</span> </p> <div class="p"><div class="fig fignone" id="catalog-builder__fig_pgh_z42_h4b"><span class="figcap"><span class="fig--title-label">Figure 1. </span>Catalog item creation process</span> <img class="image" id="catalog-builder__image_qgh_z42_h4b" src="../image/catalog-builder.png" alt="Catalog item creation process in Catalog Builder" /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="section" id="catalog-builder__section_yj5_h1t_h4b"><h2 class="title sectiontitle">Catalog item states</h2> <p class="p">A catalog item goes through various states during the item creation and maintenance process.</p> <div class="p"> <div class="tablenoborder"><table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" id="catalog-builder__table_r12_k1t_h4b" class="table" frame="border" border="1" rules="all"><caption><span class="tablecap"><span class="table--title-label">Table 1. </span>Catalog item states</span></caption><colgroup><col /><col /></colgroup><thead class="thead" style="text-align:left;"><tr class="row"><th class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d107685e134">State</th><th class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d107685e137">Description</th></tr></thead><tbody class="tbody"><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d107685e134 ">Draft</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d107685e137 ">A catalog item is in the Draft state in one of these scenarios: <ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_i3k_l1t_h4b"><li class="li">A new item is being created in <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span>.</li><li class="li">An existing published item has been checked out for editing in <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span>. When the item is being edited, <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span> checks out the item and creates a copy of the item and its associated records(variables, UI policies, client scripts). The item copy is in the Draft state. The published item remains in the Published state and the <span class="ph uicontrol">Checked out</span> field is set to <span class="ph uicontrol">True</span>. Once the editing is done and the item is submitted, the edits to the draft item are merged with the associated published item and the draft item is deleted.</li></ul> <div class="note"><span class="notetitle">Note:</span> <ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_hcp_dct_h4b"><li class="li">You can only edit a draft item but not a published item that has been checked out.</li><li class="li">A draft item is always inactive and does not show up in the search or browse experience.</li><li class="li">You cannot modify the <span class="ph uicontrol">Active</span> flag of a draft item.</li><li class="li">Any changes to the draft item are not available until it is submitted.</li></ul> </div> </td></tr><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d107685e134 ">Publishing</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d107685e137 ">A catalog item is in this transient state for a while just after its submission and before its state changes to Published. You cannot check out an item in the Publishing state.</td></tr><tr class="row"><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d107685e134 ">Published</td><td class="entry cellrowborder" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d107685e137 ">When a new item is submitted, the item finally moves to the Published state. This state indicates that it is the item version being used by the application and available in the catalog. <p class="p">When you edit a published item, it is checked out in <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span> and the item’s draft copy is created.</p> </td></tr></tbody></table> </div> </div> </div> <div class="section" id="catalog-builder__section_n4v_4ct_h4b"><h2 class="title sectiontitle">Limitations</h2> <p class="p"><span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span> is designed to support the most common and simple use cases so that it can easily be used by business users, while the complex functionality can be added to the item in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span> by catalog administrators.</p> <p class="p">When creating a record producer in a specific scope, you can select tables in that scope and tables in other scope if the objects from the other application scope are given read and create access for selecting a record submission table. For more information on making a table accessible to other applications, see <a class="xref" href="../build/applications/reference/r_TableApplicationAccessFields.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Table design and runtime settings</a>.</p> <div class="p"><span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span> does not allow creation and editing of the following entities, but they can be set in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span> either for a draft item or a published item that has not been checked out.<ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_lvg_zct_h4b"><li class="li">Catalog item<ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_c25_xz2_34b"><li class="li">Meta tags</li><li class="li">Execution plans. If an item is assigned an execution plan, the process engine cannot be changed in the <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span>.</li><li class="li">Price settings</li></ul> </li><li class="li">Variable settings<ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_cz4_jdt_h4b"><li class="li">Tool tips</li><li class="li">Advanced and dynamic reference qualifiers. If a variable has advanced or dynamic reference qualifiers, then the reference qualifier cannot be edited in the <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span>.</li><li class="li">Attributes</li><li class="li">Permissions</li><li class="li">Availability</li><li class="li">Lookup label field (defaults to lookup value field)</li><li class="li">Lookup price fields</li><li class="li">Unique values only</li><li class="li">Always expanded help</li><li class="li">Help text</li><li class="li">Advanced reference qualifiers</li></ul> </li><li class="li">Question types. The following questions are supported in <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span>, and they are grouped into types and subtypes. For the unsupported question types, you can view the questions but not edit them:<ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_psw_gl2_g4b"><li class="li">Text <ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_qsw_gl2_g4b"><li class="li">Single-line. This is the Single-line text variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li><li class="li">Multi-line. This is the Multi-line text variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li><li class="li">Rich text. This is the HTML variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span></li></ul> </li><li class="li">Option<ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_ssw_gl2_g4b"><li class="li">Check box. This is the Check box variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li><li class="li">Yes/No. This is the Yes/No variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li></ul> </li><li class="li">Choice<ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_vsw_gl2_g4b"><li class="li">Dropdown (fixed values). This is the Select Box variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li><li class="li">Dropdown (values from a table). This is the Lookup Select Box variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li><li class="li">Record reference. This is the Reference variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li><li class="li">Radio. This is the Multiple Choice variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li><li class="li">Multi-select. This is the List Collector variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li></ul> </li><li class="li">Date/Time<ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_ysw_gl2_g4b"><li class="li">Date. This is the Date variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li><li class="li">Date &Time. This is the Date and time variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li></ul> </li><li class="li">Display label<ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_atw_gl2_g4b"><li class="li">Plain text. This is the Label variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span>.</li><li class="li">Rich text. This is the Rich Text Label variable type in <span class="ph">ServiceNow AI Platform</span></li></ul> </li></ul> </li><li class="li">Catalog UI policy<ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_yrd_rdt_h4b"><li class="li"><span class="ph uicontrol">On Load</span> field (defaults to true)</li><li class="li"><span class="ph uicontrol">Script</span> field. When a catalog UI policy has a script, it does not show up in the question's behavior settings list in the <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span>.</li><li class="li"><span class="ph uicontrol">Reverse if false</span> field. By default, it is set to true.</li><li class="li">Multiple actions. When a catalog UI policy has multiple actions, it does not show up in the question's behavior settings list in the <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span>.</li></ul> </li><li class="li">For a catalog item, the questions cannot be viewed and edited in the <span class="ph">Catalog Builder</span> in the following scenarios:<ul class="ul" id="catalog-builder__ul_i1r_5gg_34b"><li class="li">It has more than two levels of containers.</li><li class="li">It has a two-column question set or two-column container within a container.</li></ul> </li><li class="li">Catalog client scripts</li><li class="li">Data lookup rules</li></ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="related-links"> <ul class="ullinks"><li class="link ulchildlink"><strong><a href="../../../product/service-catalog-management/task/set-up-cat-builder.html">Setting up the Catalog Builder</a></strong><br /> Set up the catalog item building process.</li><li class="link ulchildlink"><strong><a href="../../../product/service-catalog-management/task/create-cat-item-template-cat-builder.html">Creating or editing catalog item template</a></strong><br /> Pre-specify values or provide restrictions for attributes such as catalogs, categories, variable types, and portal settings, which are applicable during the catalog item creation or editing process. You can create a template for a catalog item or record producer.</li></ul> <div class="familylinks"> <div class="parentlink"><strong>Parent Topic:</strong> <a class="link" href="../../../product/service-catalog-management/concept/service-catalog.html" title="Use the ServiceNow Service Catalog application to create service catalogs that provide your customers with self-service opportunities. Customize portals where your customers can request catalog items such as service and product offerings. You can also standardize request fulfillment to ensure the accuracy and availability of the items in the catalogs.">Service Catalog</a></div> </div> <div class="linklist relinfo reltasks"><strong>Related tasks</strong><br /> <ul class="linklist"><li class="linklist"><a class="link" href="../task/t_SetUpAServiceCatalog.html" title="To set up a Service Catalog, plan the way your organization defines and maintains Service Catalog items, and how it fulfills them.">Set up a service catalog</a></li></ul></div> </div> </body></html></div>