Scoped apps - How to convert from using Studio to update sets?

[cynlink1]

We have some scope applications that were developed using Studio. We would like to use update sets moving forward. Is this possible? If yes, is there a conversion process?

[Aoife]

Actually I would maintain the Scoped Application, it is the preferred way to develop custom solutions for ServiceNow.  However, if you are wanting to use update sets to move the application that is simple:

1. Open the Application form from sys_app.list or clicking the icon next to the application picker
2. Scroll down to the Related Links and click on Publish as Update Set
3. Promote the update set as usual
4. Go into My Company Applications, find the app and click on Upgrade

Is there a particular reason you do not want to use the Scoped Application Publish and Upgrade method?  It works well and is easy to use.  

Aoife

[cynlink1]

We were experiencing intermittent problems publishing in Studio about one-half of the time. We also started experiencing issues after cloning. My peer worked with ServiceNow support but wasn't unable to resolve the issues permanently. 

I rarely work with scoped apps, my area of focus is global functionality. When using 'Publish as Upset Set', we would be capturing the entire app, right? Can we use separate update sets to capture individual changes (versus the entire app) similar to the way we do with the global changes?

[Aoife]

Correct, Publish as Update Set, creates an Update Set that contains the entire application.

Yes, technically, you can just use update sets against your application, but why?  Connect it to a GitHub repository, then you can Branch, Commit, etc. all within Studio.

I would try to move away from Global Changes if I were you.  Scoped Apps prevent collisions during instance upgrades.  Everything you do in Global runs the risk of encountering a collision during an upgrade and preventing you from getting the latest fixes and new functionality.

Also, if you have your Scoped App in a GitHub repos, then a clone from higher instance down does not impact it.  You can simply reload from the repos to get the updates back.

Scoped Apps help in so many ways and I use the exclusively now.  No need to ever be in Global, and if there's something that the Scoped App cannot do in Global (i.e. access data in certain tables) then you can create one Global scoped Script Include that your Scoped App can call to get at what it needs.  That Global piece would need to be promoted the traditional update set way, but it is a small piece vs the whole thing.

Scoped Apps also keep all the pieces unique to a solution together in one place and promote them all together so no more misses on update sets.  You can even add columns to global tables via your Scoped App and create custom forms, ui actions, etc against global tables.  That way your code won't get stomped out of existence by an upgrade or worse, the upgrade does not add new functionality because you already named something the same thing.  Scoped App scripts have a prefix so this is not an issue.

Aoife

[cynlink1]

Aoife,

Thank you for taking the time to share this valuable feedback. When I stated that I primarily work in GLOBAL, I was referring to updating and enhancing ITSM and ITOM functionality.

If it isn't obvious, I am an administrator/builder, not a developer. I assumed I needed to perform global changes to incidents, changes, etc. in the global scope. Based on your feedback that isn't the case, right?