Undo Backed Out Update Set

[jmiskey]

Is there any way to get back and Update Set that was started in an environment, but then backed out of that same environment (so it was never exported/importerd into any other environment)?

Basically, I was working on some changes in our Dev environment where the team I was working wanted to totally change the request.  So I stopped my Update Set and backed it out.  Then they decided that since their new changes were going to take so long, that they actually changed their mind and wanted to implement the changes that I was working on and had just backed out (this all happened today).

Is there any way to get the original update set with those changes back, or am I out of luck?

Thanks

[Maik Skoddow]

Hi @jmiskey 

basically it makes no sense to back out an update set on DEV. The right approach would be to close an update set by setting it to "ignore" state. And in case you want to go on working with that update set, you can re-open it by setting to the state "In progress".

But to answer your question: I recommend installing the "Add to Update Set" utility from the ServiceNow Share platform: https://developer.servicenow.com/connect.do#!/share/contents/9824957_add_to_update_set_utility?v=7.4...

With the help of the related link on each record, you can add all your modifications to a new fresh update set.

Maik

[jmiskey]

The issue is that "Ignore" does not seem to ignore those changes you made in the update set - it does not automatically back them out!  I needed to get back to the "Original State" of my Form and Workflow, backing out all those "in progress" changes, and then start a new round of changes from my "Original State".

"Ignore" will not do that (I just tested it out and confirmed this).  You need to actually back out the changes if you want to get things back to the original state before the changes from the "In progress" update set were being made.

I will take a look at that link you provided and talk to my boss to see if we can implement that.

Thanks

[Maik Skoddow]

Hi

I'm sorry to tell you that you misunderstand the concept of update set completely. Please make familar with that topic and stop backing out update  sets  on a DEV instance. If you want to restore something you can load a previous version of the corresponding record.

See https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/tokyo-application-development/page/build/team-development/task/t_...

Maik

[jmiskey]

No, I don't think so.  I understand update sets quite well.  I have been using them and developing forms and workflows for 6 years using them!  I think you fail to understand the situation I am in or question I am asking, maybe because it is out of the ordinary, or not the typical way of doing things.

I rarely, if ever, back update sets out of the Dev environment.  This is a special situation where the following happened:

1. The requestor made a request to make some enhancements to an existing process.

2. I had starting making those requested changes to our DEV environment.

3. The requestor had then requested to get rid of all those request changes, and put in a new request for new requested changes to the same process.

4. I needed to get back to the "original state" of the form and workflow in DEV, therefore backed out the update set I had started in item 2 (despite what you recommended, changing the update set to "Ignore" does NOT undo those changes).

5. After the requestor realized that these changes would take a long time to make, they asked if we could go back and implement the original changes they had made in step 1 in the interim, and work on the new changes after those original changes are in place.

6. Now I am trying to get those original changes from my original update set back.

Obviously, this is not the typical life cycle for changes.  We are dealing with a requestor who keeps changing the requirements before we finish them.  In hindsight, I should have exported a copy of the original update set before I backed it out, so I would have had a copy of it, should I ever have need to refer back to it.  But as I said, this is a situation that we have never dealt with before.

We are in the process of getting a back-up of our Dev environment restored where I can export the original update set, so then I will be able to import into our current DEV environment.