Rule Builder lets you create and customize your own quality rules for ServiceNow without writing code. It embeds your organization’s internal governance standards and best practices directly into Quality Clouds scans, so custom checks run continuously alongside the standard ServiceNow ruleset.
Custom rules can be created, tested, refined, and published directly within the platform, giving teams full control over how quality is defined and enforced across their ServiceNow instances.
You can create custom rules from two places: the Quality Clouds Admin Portal or Quality Center for ServiceNow, directly inside your ServiceNow instance.
Why This Matters #
- No-code rule creation: define and enforce governance rules without technical complexity.
- Built-in validation: test rules live against a real instance before publishing.
- Flexible governance: refine and adapt rules as internal policies evolve.
- Consistent quality enforcement: organizational standards are automatically applied to every scan.
- Reduced risk: catch violations early and prevent non-compliant changes from going unnoticed.
Prerequisites #
Rule Builder add-on: must be enabled for your organization to use Rule Builder from within Quality Center for Salesforce.
Rule Creator toggle: An admin must enable this for your user in the Admin Portal, on the user’s form, under Access Control. Without it, you will not be able to create custom rules from either the Admin Portal or Quality Center.
Creating a Rule from the Admin Portal #
- Access Rule Builder: from the Quality Clouds Admin Portal, open the Ruleset section and click Add.
- Define the rule: select the element types and describe, in plain language, the custom rule you want to generate.
- Review the rule metadata: based on your description, Rule Builder automatically generates the rule name, severity, impact area, rule impact, actions, and remediation time. Review this and approve it before continuing.
- Automatic rule condition generation: once approved, Rule Builder generates the underlying rule condition automatically.
- Test the rule: provide an Org ID and a Configuration Element Name. A live test run executes against that org, and results are displayed immediately.
- Iterate or modify: continue testing, modify the rule, or move on to publish it.
- Publish the rule: once testing confirms the rule behaves as expected, publish it to your Quality Clouds account.
- Activate the rule: published custom rules are added in a deactivated state by default. To activate one, go to Ruleset → search and select the rule and enable the new custom rule. Once enabled, it starts identifying issues in upcoming scans.
Creating a Rule from Quality Center #
Rule Builder is available directly inside ServiceNow, from the Development Tracking view in Quality Center.
The New Rule option only appears for users who have the Rule Creator toggle enabled in Quality Clouds Admin Portal. If you don’t see it, ask your admin to enable it for your user (see Prerequisites above) and import configuration again.
- Open Development Tracking. In Quality Center, make sure the view selector at the top reads Development Tracking.
- Go to the Best Practices tab, in the Quality Center sidebar.
- Click New Rule, in the top right of the Best Practices table. This opens the Rule Builder dialog.
- Select the Element Type: use the searchable dropdown to pick the configuration element type the rule applies to (for example, Access Control, Action Type, AI Agent, AI Now Assist Skill, AI NowAssist Prompt, AI Tool, AI Use Case, and others).
- Describe the rule: in the Description field, explain in plain language the conditions, thresholds, and expected behaviour you want the rule to check.
- Click Generate Rule Draft. Rule Builder generates the rule metadata and logic from your description, the same review and test flow described for the Admin Portal above (rule summary, technical preview, and live testing).
- Submit for approval. Once you are satisfied with the draft, submit it. The rule moves into the Pending Approval Rules list in the Quality Center sidebar.
Reviewing a Pending Rule #
Anyone with the right permissions can open a rule from the Pending Approval Rules list to review it before it goes live:
- Rules cannot be approved by the requester. Another user with the appropriate permission needs to review it and approve it.
- The Rule Info tab shows the rule’s Severity and Time to Fix (in minutes), both editable, along with the Rule Details: Rule ID, Name, Impact, and Action. Any of these can be adjusted using the edit icon before the rule is approved.
- The Rule Tests Results tab shows the results of the tests run against the rule before submission.
This keeps rule creation open to developers while giving whoever holds approval permissions full visibility and edit control before a custom rule starts applying to scans.
Use Cases #
- Protecting critical configuration elements from unauthorized modifications.
- Applying different governance rules per application or environment.
- Extending standard Quality Clouds rules with organization-specific best practices.
- Supporting internal compliance, audit, and security policies.
Summary #
Rule Builder gives you full ownership of your quality standards for Salesforce.
By enabling no-code rule creation, live testing, and controlled activation from either the Admin Portal or Quality Center, it helps teams move from reactive issue detection to proactive, continuous governance.
