Group approval for related applications in a change

[Hari PN]

Hi,

Need a sollution for Change approval in Servicenow

Currently When a change is raised, the environment (EV) added to the affected CI list is related to the application impacted in the change. (For ex: ABC is the application impacted then the environment starts with EV_ABC will be added to affected CI list). Since the application environment or EV is added, the used by applications approvals are also added to the approvers list. (For Ex: ABC_EV has 20 used by applications in the CMDB, Say EDF_EV, IJK_EV etc. So change group is seeking approvals from all these 20 EVs for approval.) Is this a correct logic? Also there will be further impacting applications under this used by applications which will eventually go to the end of CMDB. If this is not a correct solution what is the recommended solution from ServiceNow and the industries that follow

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Hari PN 

I’ve worked as a Change Manager and currently serve as a BPC, and I’m happy to share my thoughts.

I agree that in a Change process, approvals are required — but adding too many approval steps can make the process more complicated and lengthy. In your case, if 20 approvals are needed, you can imagine how long it will take for a Change to move from New to Assess to Authorize.

Also, if even one approval is rejected — even by mistake — the entire approval cycle is triggered again, which adds unnecessary delay. So, what’s the solution?

Here’s a balanced approach:

• Trigger approvals based on the main CI only, not all CIs.

• Use Approval Groups linked to those main CIs or business-critical services.

• If you're still required to show more, limit impact to just one critical service (not individual CIs).

• Add logic so that approvals are only triggered for critical services, not every single item.

This approach simplifies the process and still fulfills your requirements effectively without introducing unnecessary complexity or delays.