What type of application is a custom application developed to meet a specific business need?

A custom application developed to meet a specific business need is categorized as a scoped application. Scoped applications are designed to encapsulate functionality and data related to a particular business purpose or process, providing a defined boundary within the ServiceNow platform. This helps in organizing, securing, and managing application components effectively, ensuring that developers can create tailored solutions for unique requirements without impacting other applications or system-wide settings.

Scoped applications enable developers to create their own application scope, which is particularly beneficial in enterprise environments where multiple teams may be working on different applications. This isolation prevents conflicts and allows better control over access and permissions.

In contrast, global applications are not scoped and can potentially interact with any part of the ServiceNow instance, which could lead to a lack of modularity and increased complexity in management. Hybrid applications can mix elements of different scopes, but they don’t focus solely on custom, business-specific solutions like scoped applications do. Standard applications refer to the out-of-the-box functionalities provided by ServiceNow, which do not cater to unique, customized business requirements.