Can ITIL users work on problem and problem tasks?

[Viknesh Pannirs]

Hello Experts,

As per the ServiceNow docs, ITIL users can work on problem tickets however the system is allowing users with problem coordinator roles users only to work on problem tickets.  This is because the dictionary override on the problem forms 'Assigned to' field reference qualifier is set as 'roles=problem_coordinator'. Similarl override is found in Problem Task as well.

As the expectation from the customer is all ITIL users should be able to work on all tasks including Problem and Problem Tasks, can I remove this dictionary override?

For that, I would like to understand below.

1)  Is modifying this dictionary override against the ServiceNow policy?

2) Why this dictionary override has been created by ServiceNow?

3) Has this been created to have any license impact?

4) Are there any recommendations/best practices regarding this?

itil	Can perform standard actions for an ITIL helpdesk technician. Can open, update, close incidents, problems, changes, configuration management items. By default, only users with the itil role can have tasks assigned to them.

[Tony Chatfield1]

Hi, you don't mention where in the documentation it states that 'ITIL users can work on problem tickets', 
but sounds like an outdated doc as the legacy behavior was superseded with problem plugins like 'Problem Management Best Practice — Madrid plugin' being activated OOB rather than being an optional 'enable'.

https://dev66696.service-now.com/sys_metadata_list.do?sysparm_query=sys_package%3D358cc8fd21d20110a8...

1/ Updating the OOB ref qual's will result in a slightly increased technical debt, and another customization that needs to be tested at upgrade, but it is a very low risk change.

2/ ServiceNow makes best practice 'enhancements' to platform functionality on a regular basis.
3/ I don't believe there is any impact to licensing, as the users are already licensed and the plugin is an OOB activation.

4/ My recommendation would be to leave the ref qualifiers OOB and add the new license to your existing user base,
this minimizes customization - also I expect there will also be role specific ACL's involved.

[Viknesh Pannirs]

Hi, thanks for the response.

Here is the link from Tokyo that says users with ITIL can work on the problem.

https://docs.servicenow.com/en-US/bundle/tokyo-platform-administration/page/administer/roles/referen...

In point #3, did you mean the ITIL license that users are already licensed?

Aside, Is the Problem coordinator role introduced for licensing purposes? For example, 100 licenses need to be purchased so that 100 users can be given the problem coordinator role. The problem is the purpose of this plugin/role was not defined in terms of the license that's why this question arises.

Thank you!

[Oliver Stammler · Accepted solution]

Hey @Viknesh Pannirs,
I am with Tony - I would not recommend to change out of the box functionalities. 
You want to stick as close to the standard as possible, so that ServiceNow can support you, these records won't be handled as skipped elements through the next update and so on.

The easiest way from my point of view is to add the problem_coordinator role to the ITIL role, so all ITIL user will automatically receive the problem_coordinator role once they get the ITIL role assigned. This is also the most common way for my projects since this situation is available for quite a time now.

Normally there is no licensing problem with the problem_coordinator role. Neverthless nobody here can answer this question. You can find this information in your licence agreement with ServiceNow and if you are not sure the only person who can definitely answer this question is your individual ServiceNow Account Manager. 

Best regards

Oli