Brownfield implementation Approach

[Sujit Agrawal]

Brownfield implementation refers to modernizing an existing ServiceNow (or legacy ITSM) environment already in use—often heavily customized—rather than starting fresh (“greenfield”). Brownfield projects typically deal with reversing customizations, standardizing processes, and realigning to ServiceNow best practices and configurations.

Let us do it with a heavily customized Incident Management process:

• Dozens of non-standard fields and business rules

• Custom state model

• Scripted notifications

Configuration Approach:

• Leverage ServiceNow’s Upgrade Center and Health Scan tools to expose technical debt hotspots

• Catalog each customization.

• Map to OOTB: Does the new ServiceNow release offer required functionality natively?

• For needed unique fields, evaluate re-adding as configurable options, not hard code.

• Align process to ITIL (OOTB) Incident flow; manage edge cases with minimal scripting or UI Policies.

• Communicate changes, retrain service desk, and use ATF scripts to validate expected user journeys.

Deployment Approach:

• Pilot OOTB processes with a targeted user group, then scale

• Use smart coding to run both solutions (legacy and new) in parallel for a defined period 

• Lock new incident creation is legacy and only allow in new ootb solution

• Close all in progress transaction in legacy and minimize any data migration effort

Key Risks and Best Practices to address these:

• Customization creep: Establish ongoing governance to prevent the customization repeat.

• Risk of loss of essential business logic: always map process requirements before removal.

• User pushback: engage SMEs early, show OOTB benefits.

• Underestimating hidden dependencies: leverage Automated Testing and careful documentation review.

• Best Practice: Adopt “configure, don’t customize” mindset. Use ServiceNow’s App Engine for any truly unique needs.