difference between configuration and customization

[sasi]

Hi,

what is the difference between customization and configuration. and which one is the best to choose

Regards,

Sasikala.

[Jon Barnes]

Configuration is changing things like property values or configurable data in tables. Customization is more about changes to the data dictionary, code changes, etc. If you can accomplish what you need through configuration only, that is the safest / best approach. However, the power (and possibly danger) of the platform is that you can create almost anything through customizations.

[Jon Barnes]

Having said that, creating a completely custom standalone app isn’t as risky as customizing OOB tables /apps. But in every instance I have worked in, we had to customize. Clients rarely seem to want everything exactly the way it was built OOB, so often it is unavoidable.

[Allen Andreas]

Hi,

Not fully sure I know what context you're referring to but...

• Configuration in the basic sense means: you're applying settings from available options and maintaining a more "out of box" type experience.
• Customization: could sort of mean configuration, but then you venture outside the lines and begin to customize the instance to your liking and this could mean not following out of box methods, but features and additional options you create (through things like UI Actions, UI Pages, Widgets, etc.).

Which one is best to choose depends on your company and experience. The more customization you do, the more up-keep you'll have to do in the future.

Please mark reply as Helpful/Correct. Thanks!

[Sanjay Bagri1]

Hi , Please go through once this thread.. https://www.iqs.com/resources/white-papers/differences-and-benefits-of-software-configuration-versus-customization/ ServiceNow Community Community Toggle navigation ServiceNow Definition of Customization and Configuration - Developer Community Question ServiceNow Definition of Customization and Configuration by pierrondi created about a year ago (edited about a year ago) in Developer Community Definition of Customization and Configuration When considering enterprise software of any type, it is important to understand the difference between configuration and customization as well personalization in the right context. The crux of the difference is complexity. Configuration uses the inherent flexibility of the enterprise software to add fields, change field names, modify drop-down lists, or add buttons. Configurations are made using powerful built-in toolsets. Customization involves code changes to create functionality that is not available through configuration. Customization can be costly and can complicate future upgrades to the software because the code changes may not easily migrate to the new version. Wherever possible, Clients should avoid customization by using configuration to meet its goals. Clients also should understand their vendor's particular terminology with regard to this issue since words like "modifications" or "extensions" often mean different things to different vendors, such as ServiceNow. Customization A customization is a feature or extension or modification of a ServiceNow feature that requires custom coding and or some form of implementation outside the OOTB context. Any changes to the out of box object is considered to be customization and in ServiceNow and different objects are used for customization; Any new addition of the ServiceNow objects or changes to the existing ones an expected change in the functionality; Any new addition or changes to the existing objects mentioned below is considered as customized objects; Customization examples: Client Scripts UI Action UI scripts ACL's Business Rules Configuration A configuration is where we use native ServiceNow capabilities and tools in the system to change its behavior or features to address business needs. Any change to the configurable data which changes the functionality of the application is considered as a configuration change. Any configuration should be a data-driven change and should be easy to revert back without any changes to the ServiceNow code base. Configuration examples: Groups Support Groups Assignment rules Preferences within ServiceNow Notification / Email configurations Personalization Another advancement that has really changed is "Personalization". It used to be that you only allowed people to change their list view. Now they can change the form too, make reports, adjust their notification preferences, add themes, change how fields look, and all kinds of other features. This "user enablement" along with Self Service, Service Catalog, and Knowledge Management have instilled a "DIY" approach to issue resolution at many companies. Any change made to ServiceNow system and it applies only to the user changed is considered as personalization. Personalization will not have any impact on both configuration and customization. It's more of the personalized settings within ServiceNow for the user similar to the User Preferences. Personalization examples: Themes Lists Accessibility and Themes UI Look and Functionality Date Time Look, Time zone, and Format Form Fields, Tabbed Forms, Related List Loading Favorites and Tagged Records If it is helpful for you. Please mark as helpful and correct... Thanks and Regards Sanjay Bagri