Clarification on OOTB Behavior for RITM and Catalog Task State Updates in ServiceNow

[abhijee]

Hello Team,

I am working on the following requirement:

When the “Backup Required” field is set to “Yes,” three catalog tasks should be created in parallel. If two tasks are closed as “Close Complete” and the third task is closed as “Close Incomplete,” then the parent RITM should also move to “Close Incomplete.” In short, if any one of the catalog tasks is updated to “Close Incomplete,” the parent RITM should also be marked as “Close Incomplete.”

I have implemented this requirement, and currently the RITM state is updating correctly to “Close Incomplete.” However, I am facing an issue where Catalog Task 1 and Catalog Task 2, which were already closed as “Close Complete,” are automatically getting updated to “Close Incomplete” after Catalog Task 3 is closed as “Close Incomplete.”

Could you please confirm whether this is expected OOTB behavior in ServiceNow, or if there might be an issue with my implementation?

Thanks.

[Tanushree Maiti]

Hi @abhijee 

Exact issue we faced.  Sharing the root cause, validate at your end.

Check  if  you are setting any stage at that time.

Validate based on state/stage changes , if you have any existing BR (on sc_task) which is triggering and changing those SC_task to closed incomplete.

[abhijee]

@Tanushree Maiti @subhamsni92 Thank you so much The issue was occurring because the stage was set to “Request Cancelled” while the RITM state was “Close Incomplete.” in the backend, the “Close Tasks Due to Cancellations” business rule was running, which was automatically closing all catalog tasks related to the RITM.

[ayushraj7012933]

Hi  @abhijee ,

Based on the behavior you described, the RITM moving to “Closed Incomplete” when any one Catalog Task is closed as “Closed Incomplete” is expected as per your implemented logic.

However, the already completed Catalog Tasks getting updated from “Closed Complete” to “Closed Incomplete” is typically not desired behavior OOTB unless there is workflow/activity synchronization or custom logic updating all child tasks based on the parent RITM state.

I would recommend checking the following:

• Workflow/Flow Designer activities updating child task states

• Business Rules on sc_task and sc_req_item

• Any script that synchronizes RITM and Catalog Task states

• Task closure propagation logic

Usually, best practice is:

• Parent RITM → Closed Incomplete if any SCTASK is Closed Incomplete

• Completed SCTASKs should remain Closed Complete

• Only active/open tasks should be updated

Most likely, some custom logic or workflow activity is updating all associated catalog tasks after the RITM state changes.

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@abhijee 

My thoughts

-> this is not expected OOTB behavior

-> since you are using Workflow when you have parallel catalog tasks without a proper Join activity the workflow may end prematurely leading to Closed Incomplete

what debugging did you do?

is this happening for other catalog items's task as well?

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