Label changes at child table changing parent table label

[Sashi K1]

Team

It has come to my notice multiple times across versions of ServiceNow that if we make changes to a child tables field, parent table overriden field label getting changed.

Say for example you have 'Name' field across cmdb_ci and cmdb_ci_server table. If you change the label of cmdb_ci_server.name to 'Server Name', I have seen parent table name getting changed to 'Server Name'. Another example Description/ShortDescription. We can't reproduce it. It was not consistent across instances. It happens very randomly which we cannot reproduce.

When reported to ServiceNow over Hi, they couldn't find a root cause for the issue. They could see the changes by same developer but they didn't know why parent label got changed. SN wants a quick report of the issue to see what happened in the transaction logs. Issue couldn't reported quickly as developer only concentrates on unit testing area of change but couldn't verify all parent tables for a label change. Since issue is not consistent, someone realizes in a later time when parent label found to be modified by a developer.

I have seen this issue across year across multiple clients.

Anyone has seen this problem or knew a fix/workaround, or reported to Servicenow please share your findings.

[Shiraz2]

Let me attempt to Answer that as I have gone through a similar issue.

The child table cmdb_ci_server is a table that extends from the parent table cmdb_ci. that means almost all the fields are extended (copied) to the child table. It NOT only copies the tables, it also copies any and all values such as Business Rules, Scripts, etc. That also includes "LABELS" so if you change the label on the child table you are basically changing the label of the parent table. To avoid this from happening, you use Dictionary Overrides in the child table field. so in your example, go to the Dictionary, in the related list, there is a table called Overrides, create a new Override for that field.

you can read up on this here: Dictionary Overrides - ServiceNow Wiki

I hope this helps.

[Sashi K1]

Thanks Shiraz for your quick attempt to provide me some guidance. If you look at my post first line, I mentioned my parent's overriden field got modified. That mean even your child table uses 'overrides' feature from OOTB sometimes inadvertently parent label getting changed. By default it shouldn't change parent label when overriden from parent field. I have multiple Hi tickets even ServiceNow couldn't find root cause due to expiry of transactions logs. SN wants me to report issue immediately to review what happened over Transaction logs.

I have seen this with multiple clients of ServiceNow. Trying to check if anyone on community has seen this!

Appreciate your help though!

[reginabautista]

Hi guys I actually came across similar issue with the Assigned to and Assignment group fields.

I did a dictionary override for the 'Default Value' of the field for the child table but for some reason the labels in the parent table changed to

Assigned to(assigned_to) and Assignment group(assignment_group) respectively (exactly like those with the field names beside the label name)

Where did that come from?? ctomasi

[Chuck Tomasi]

Hi Regina,

I've never seen that behavior before. I recommend reaching out to customer support. I'll be interested to hear what they have to say.

HI Service Portal - ServiceNow

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