Resolve skipped updates after a patch?

ebrooks · ‎04-19-2017

We upgraded our DEV instance from Fuji to Istanbul in February and I had to review almost 900 "Skipped Updates" because we have some customized modules.

Our DEV instance was just patched with Istanbul Patch 3, and the number of Skipped Updates is close to 1,200.

Can someone clarify if I need to follow the same post-upgrade processes for a patch that I do for a full-version upgrade?

robpickering · ‎04-19-2017

In theory? You should.

In practice? If your environment is operational and passing your UAT and/or Regression testing, you should be fine.

The real issue with Skipped Updates is that the ServiceNow upgrade process found that you had modified "out of box" functionality, there was an update to that same functionality, and we left your changed version in place and skipped our update. Just reviewing doesn't resolve the skipped update, unless you actually revert to the out-of-box functionality. If you don't, then it will always be skipped in future upgrades, so the number will continue to grow.

The important part of this exercise is to understand WHY you have customized the functionality and whether you can now, at this point, revert back to the out-of-box functionality and leverage it natively, rather than as a customization.

Most of these are probably Form and List View changes, as those are the most common configurations a customer would do.

The ones to focus on are Business Rules, Client Scripts, Script Includes, Workflows, etc.

A best practice is to actually copy out-of-box artifacts, set the out-of-box one to inactive, and then modify your copy. That way the out-of-box artifact will always get upgraded (and left inactive) so you can revert easily at any point.

-Rob

View solution in original post

robpickering · ‎04-19-2017

In theory? You should.

In practice? If your environment is operational and passing your UAT and/or Regression testing, you should be fine.

The real issue with Skipped Updates is that the ServiceNow upgrade process found that you had modified "out of box" functionality, there was an update to that same functionality, and we left your changed version in place and skipped our update. Just reviewing doesn't resolve the skipped update, unless you actually revert to the out-of-box functionality. If you don't, then it will always be skipped in future upgrades, so the number will continue to grow.

The important part of this exercise is to understand WHY you have customized the functionality and whether you can now, at this point, revert back to the out-of-box functionality and leverage it natively, rather than as a customization.

Most of these are probably Form and List View changes, as those are the most common configurations a customer would do.

The ones to focus on are Business Rules, Client Scripts, Script Includes, Workflows, etc.

A best practice is to actually copy out-of-box artifacts, set the out-of-box one to inactive, and then modify your copy. That way the out-of-box artifact will always get upgraded (and left inactive) so you can revert easily at any point.

-Rob

shivanipatel · ‎04-21-2017

Eric,

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