What can go wrong by editing sys_update_xml ?

[Lauri Arra]

The system documentation repeatedly tells not to directly edit records in sys_update_xml :

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/rome-application-development/page/build/system-update-sets/reference/get-started-update-sets.html 

Is there something that could go seriously wrong, or is this just a housekeeping best practice so that dev and test envs don't get out of sync?

Asking because there are scenarios where system writes payloads incorrectly and committing them to test would make dev and test out of sync. And at least in the past the system would write payload for scope x to update set in scope y and just creating new update set to correct scope and moving changes there was way less hassle than trying to figure out how can you revert something when the latest update was in unexpected state.

[Anurag Tripathi]

Hi,

I recall a case where the payload would add lots of additional spaces on the scope and so when you preview it , it would throw a bunch of errors. So we worked with HI and concluded that this is a change we have do manually (later we created a button on target instance to remove the space and cleanse it). 

What I want to say is, yes there are cases when you might have to make a change but be sure that its approved by HI support and there is nothing that can be do to fix it. Also be sure that only designated folks makes the change as even a slight error can make it unusable to the least.

Hope this helps.

-Anurag.