About OOTB users in development instances.

[M_Tomy]

Dear Expert.

Tell us about it.
Please tell me about the original OOTB users in the development instance.

Question.

1. Is it safe to physically delete OOTB users?
If so, what are the consequences?

2. If there is a problem, what conditions should be used to exclude OOTB users?

▼Remarks.
A development instance is a contract instance.
It is not a PDI.

Best regards.

[ersureshbe · Accepted solution]

Hi,

There is an option available in Hi-Portal to eliminate the demo or dummy data. If you wish to proceed with the removal, you may utilize this feature. However, I recommend that if you are encountering issues in a non-production environment, it is preferable to disable the data rather than delete it, as it may be useful for testing in other scenarios. When utilizing the Demo Hub, this data can be beneficial. Conversely, if you are addressing a situation in a production environment, it is advisable to remove the data through a Hi-Portal ticket.

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @M_Tomy 

Question.

1. Is it safe to physically delete OOTB users?

Atul: Yes. you can delete, those are demo users not the actal one. 
If so, what are the consequences?

Atul: No issues.

2. If there is a problem, what conditions should be used to exclude OOTB users?

[ersureshbe · Accepted solution]

Hi,

There is an option available in Hi-Portal to eliminate the demo or dummy data. If you wish to proceed with the removal, you may utilize this feature. However, I recommend that if you are encountering issues in a non-production environment, it is preferable to disable the data rather than delete it, as it may be useful for testing in other scenarios. When utilizing the Demo Hub, this data can be beneficial. Conversely, if you are addressing a situation in a production environment, it is advisable to remove the data through a Hi-Portal ticket.

[Robbie · Accepted solution]

Hi @M_Tomy,

As ServiceNow is based on a relational database, the effects of deleting users would be breaking or loosing the relationship data.

This is probably best explained with the example of where an Incident record has been created with a caller and OOB user record of Fred Luddy. If you were to delete the Fred Luddy OOB user record, the caller field within the said record(s) would be blank. This could cause further issues as certain fields storing relational data could be mandatory. There of course could be more related data points such as comments made by said user and other actions that are recorded.

However, I do completely understand the ask here. It would be assumed that if you were to delete the users, you would probably want to remove the OOB 'dummy data' as well so as to give your org a clearer picture and more relatable data. It makes perfect sense and would be a one off.

As this is a Dev instance, I would advise this does not cause any issue or set off any alarm bells.

There is no real issue with removing this data. The Best Practice advise wherever possible would be to look to deactivate records rather than delete, however in this case, it does not seem appropriate.

I like the advice @ersureshbe has advised re removing the dummy data. I have not used this functionality myself, but it seems a good option.

I hope that helps clear the question you have.

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Thanks, Robbie

[ersureshbe]

Hi,

Just to re-iterate it again  dummy or demo data- I explained as OOB point of view. ServiceNow wont take ownership or support for your custom data / custom workflows.