how should we proceed if a form is taking time to load in prod instance.

[NegiSNOW]

1. how do i investigate the error if a form is taking time to load in prod instance.

2. let's say you are on incident form and on right clicking the header you see the context menu is not loading how should we proceed to resolve the issue.

[Dr Atul G- LNG · Accepted solution]

Hi @NegiSNOW 

If it is a native form, you can check the response time and performance details to identify which script is taking the most time to execute. This should help pinpoint the root cause of the delay.

2nd : https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0957355

[henry_collins · Accepted solution]

First check basics, browser dev tools to see if any API calls are slow/failing when the form loads. In prod, also compare with a fast instance to spot differences (data volume, scripts, plugins, etc.).

For slow form load, usually it’s either heavy backend queries or client-side scripts so isolate by testing with minimal data / disabling custom scripts if possible.

For the context menu not loading on right-click,  inspect console errors + check if any JS override/custom UI script is blocking the event. Also try reproducing in another browser or incognito to rule out cache/extensions.

If it’s consistent in prod only, treat it as performance + data issue first, then drill into logs/APM traces.

[Dr Atul G- LNG · Accepted solution]

Hi @NegiSNOW 

If it is a native form, you can check the response time and performance details to identify which script is taking the most time to execute. This should help pinpoint the root cause of the delay.

2nd : https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0957355

[henry_collins · Accepted solution]

First check basics, browser dev tools to see if any API calls are slow/failing when the form loads. In prod, also compare with a fast instance to spot differences (data volume, scripts, plugins, etc.).

For slow form load, usually it’s either heavy backend queries or client-side scripts so isolate by testing with minimal data / disabling custom scripts if possible.

For the context menu not loading on right-click,  inspect console errors + check if any JS override/custom UI script is blocking the event. Also try reproducing in another browser or incognito to rule out cache/extensions.

If it’s consistent in prod only, treat it as performance + data issue first, then drill into logs/APM traces.

[Tanushree Maiti · Accepted solution]

Hi @NegiSNOW 

Possibilities (I encountered this issue and want to share it with you.)

1. If a form contains a reference field (or any field that references another table), the form loading time can become significantly slower when the referenced table contains a very large volume of records.

Example: In our case, the reference field was pointing to the cmdb_ci table, which contained more than 1.5 million records (on the old environment). As a result, the form took a long time to load.

After applying an appropriate Reference Qualifier to filter the available records, the form loading issue was resolved

2. If a developer adds logic in a server-side script that queries the Audit [sys_audit] table (which is itself a very large table) to retrieve a field's previous value, it can severely impact system performance. Such queries may cause the system to become unresponsive or hang for several minutes, especially in environments with a high volume of audit records.

Next step : 

• Navigate to System Diagnostics > Slow Transactions. Filter by the table name (e.g., incident.do) and order by execution time to find the exact transaction URL choking the node.
• Navigate to System Diagnostics > Slow Queries to see if a dot-walked field or an unindexed field in a related list is forcing a full table scan.
• In a sub-production instance (or during low-traffic windows in prod), use System Diagnostics > Session Debug > Debug All. Impersonate an affected user, reload the form, and look at the logs at the bottom of the screen to isolate slow ACL evaluations or scripts
• You can run instance health scan as well ( check with your Servicenow Account Executive ) and get the report.