ServiceNow Data Action failing with 400 when creating Outbound Campaign

General Discussion
1

Could use a hand troubleshooting this specific integration failure between Genesys Cloud and ServiceNow. We are attempting to automate the creation of Outbound Campaigns via a ServiceNow Data Action. The flow involves a webhook from ServiceNow triggering a Data Action in Genesys Cloud, which then calls the POST /api/v2/outbound/campaigns endpoint.

The issue is consistent. We receive a 400 Bad Request response. The error message in the Genesys Cloud logs is generic: Validation failed. However, the payload we are sending matches the schema defined in the Genesys Cloud API documentation exactly. We have verified the JSON structure using a Postman collection against the same environment, and it works perfectly. The problem only arises when the payload is passed through the ServiceNow REST message and then into the Genesys Cloud Data Action.

Environment details:

  • Genesys Cloud Version: 2023-12.1
  • ServiceNow Version: Washington DC (2305)
  • Data Action Type: Outbound Create Campaign

We suspect there might be an issue with how the Data Action serializes the nested objects, specifically the contact_list and predictive_dial configurations. Has anyone seen similar serialization issues when passing complex nested JSON from ServiceNow to Genesys Cloud Outbound APIs via Data Actions? Any insights on debugging the exact field causing the validation error would be appreciated.

2

If I recall correctly, the issue often stems from how ServiceNow structures the JSON payload before sending it to the Data Action. The Genesys Cloud POST /api/v2/outbound/campaigns endpoint is extremely strict about schema validation. A common mistake is including null values for optional fields or using incorrect data types for numeric IDs.

Try logging the raw request body in the ServiceNow script include before the HTTP call. Compare it directly against the JSON example in the Genesys Cloud API explorer. Specifically, check the campaignType and contactListId fields. They must be strings, even if they look like numbers. Also, ensure the name field is present and not empty.

Here is a minimal valid payload structure to test with:

{
 "name": "Test Campaign SNOW",
 "description": "Automated test",
 "campaignType": "CALL",
 "contactListId": "your-contact-list-id-here",
 "dialerType": "progressive",
 "state": "DRAFT"
}

If the error persists, enable debug logging on the Data Action. The 400 error usually contains a details array in the response body that points to the exact field causing the validation failure. ServiceNow often strips or modifies headers, so verify the Content-Type is strictly application/json.

Another thing to check is the API user permissions. The service account running the Data Action needs outbound:campaign:create permissions. If it lacks this, it might return a 403, but sometimes middleware errors bubble up as 400s depending on the integration layer.

Note: Ensure the timezone in your ServiceNow instance matches the expected format for any datetime fields if you include them. Mismatched timezone formats are a frequent cause of silent validation failures in outbound campaigns.

3

Have you tried stripping null values from the payload before sending? The outbound API rejects them even if optional. Check the raw JSON in ServiceNow.