Scoped App vs Update Set

[williambusb]

I'm looking for documentation from ServiceNow that outlines best practices for deciding whether deliverables should be developed as scoped apps or update sets. Anyone know of such an animal?

Just want to add some clarification of what I'm looking for. I fully understand the difference between update sets and scoped apps. Though technically, scoped apps are really just continually merged update sets using a named scope instead of Global. My challenge is I have devs who still believe update sets are considered best practice for use in all cases. I've taken over a new team and am reviewing their coding methodologies and finding that some of their deliverables really should have been scoped apps. Instead of just stating they need to make a determination of whether to use update sets or scoped apps every time they take on a new story, I'd rather have vendor documentation that provides guidance of when it's appropriate to use which approach.

[GlideFather]

ahoy @williambusb,

what animal are you referring to? 😉 

There's no universal answer to this, if you do small changes you can capture them in update set of that particular scope, if more scopes are moving, then you can create a parent in global and associate the update sets of scoped apps to it and then you deploy a single (parent) update set. This allows you to move only some particular changes, so it is more granular.

Or you can deploy it as the whole scoped app, but that will move everything from that scope.

It really depends on your conventions as well as what is being deployed between environments... even for the same instance the approach can vary each time depending on the nature as explained above.

Let me know if you have any particular scenario or situation to help you choose better between the two

[AndersBGS]

Hi @williambusb 

Scoped apps and update sets are to very different things - and what about global apps? In general this is very much based on use case.

[williambusb]

I fully understand the difference between update sets and scoped apps. Though technically scoped apps are really just continually merged update sets using a named scope instead of Global. My challenge is I have devs who still believe update sets considered best practice for use in all cases. I've taken over a new team and am reviewing their coding methodologies and finding that some of their deliverables really should have been scoped apps. Instead of just stating they need to make a determination of whether to use update sets or scoped apps every time they take on a new story, I'd rather have vendor documentation that provides guidance of when it's appropriate to use which approach.

[Tanushree Maiti]

Hi @williambusb 

Scoped Applications

• Best for: New business logic, enterprise applications, and independent tools distributed via the ServiceNow Application Repository or the ServiceNow Store. 
• Pros: Provide isolated data/tables, strict role-based access, and clean version control

Update Sets

• Best for: Minor feature additions, Global application changes, UI modifications, and minor workflow alterations. 
• Pros: Granular tracking of specific configuration modifications. 
• Best Practice: Always batch related sets together and test thoroughly before migrating. Preview and resolve all collisions on the target instance before committing

Refer:  Advantages of Scoped Application vs Global Applications 

Scoped Apps vs Global: Lessons from Real Upgrade Nightmares

https://www.servicenow.com/community/developer-forum/advantages-of-scoped-application-vs-global-appl...

https://youtu.be/hGQiIdbXKQI?si=MmA7Rwgidd3QtZGl

https://www.servicenow.com/community/developer-forum/what-is-the-difference-among-global-plugin-vs-s...

KB0657356 How choice updates behave differently in scoped applications versus update sets