Legacy data migration into Servicenow custom app

[swathi Gadde]

Hello,

we are trying to replace a custom legacy application with ServiceNow. So we need to migrate the legacy data(project related data which are in progress) to servicenow custom app which uses Approvals and tasks. 

The challenge is old system doesnt use any approvals/tasks all the work is done through adding comments in worknotes. so how can we fit the old records with newprocess?

Any ideas? 

Thank you 

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @swathi Gadde 

As a BPC and Platform specialist, let me share my thoughts.

ServiceNow does not recommend migrating active transactions to a new system or instance. Instead, ServiceNow advises closing the records in the old system and using ServiceNow as a fresh start. The reasons are as follows:

1. If you migrate records from another system into ServiceNow, you will lose the complete history of those records.

   • All approvals and SLAs will start fresh.

   • Email notifications will be triggered again.

   • The creation date will change, which may confuse users.

   • New record numbers will be generated, even though users may still be following the old numbers.

Additionally, it is an overhead to map and cleanse the data in Excel and then use import sets or scripts to bring that data into ServiceNow.

The issue is mainly with Changes and Requests that are still in an open state and have approvals associated with them. Therefore, it is better to avoid migrating this data from the legacy system to ServiceNow.

[Its_Azar]

Hi there @swathi Gadde 

Do not try to recreate legacy approvals or tasks if they never existed.

Best practice is to migrate in-progress records in a baseline state (for example, In Progress or Migrated) and move all legacy history into Work Notes/Comments with a clear “Migrated from legacy system” marker. Use Import Sets + Transform Maps and suppress task/approval creation during migration.

From the cut-over date onward, let ServiceNow’s new approvals and tasks apply only to new or updated records. 

[eromlige]

@Dr Atul G- LNG @Its_Azar 

So you're saying;

1. Attempting to import active legacy data and connecting it to a new ServiceNow flow is not recommended.
2.  Importing {comments, work notes, field changes (Open, Work in progress, etc.)} is doable but should be labeled properly.

For further clarification, I was going to import historical data {comments, work notes, field changes} for completed (inactive) legacy items into a separate custom table,  Legacy History (x_somescope_legacy_history), sort of like the OOTB History (sys_history_line) table.

Then, I was going to add a related list on another form that accessed this data, so NewApp.Form { related-list : Legacy History }, to give users the ability to see these legacy {comments, work notes, field changes} and interact with them in the usual way on a SN list.

Additionally, 
For active legacy items I was going to import the legacy App data into the NewApp table, then attempt to identify where they are (process state) relative to the NewApp-Flow-Process, and create/assocate a NewApp-Flow to them.

Is this doable?