Solution for Group approval in Change management

[Hari PN]

Hi Need a sollution for Change approval in Servicenow

Currently in our system, when a change is raised, the affected CI list of the change will be added with the respective environment (EV) related to the application impacted in the change along with the CIs. (For Ex: When ABC is the application impacted, the EV added to the list us EV_ABC). In order to notify/seek approvals from the related impacted applications, the used by applications in the CMDB are also added to the approvers list. (For EX: under EV_ABC the used by applications are EV_DEF, EV_GHI etc) . Hence if there are 20 EVs impacted to EV_ABC, then approvals from all those 20 EV approval groups will be added to change approval list. Is this a correct solution? If no, what is the recommended solution from ServiceNow and the industries that follow

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Hari PN 

I’ve worked as a Change Manager and currently serve as a BPC, and I’m happy to share my thoughts.

I agree that in a Change process, approvals are required — but adding too many approval steps can make the process more complicated and lengthy. In your case, if 20 approvals are needed, you can imagine how long it will take for a Change to move from New to Assess to Authorize.

Also, if even one approval is rejected — even by mistake — the entire approval cycle is triggered again, which adds unnecessary delay. So, what’s the solution?

Here’s a balanced approach:

• Trigger approvals based on the main CI only, not all CIs.

• Use Approval Groups linked to those main CIs or business-critical services.

• If you're still required to show more, limit impact to just one critical service (not individual CIs).

• Add logic so that approvals are only triggered for critical services, not every single item.

This approach simplifies the process and still fulfills your requirements effectively without introducing unnecessary complexity or delays.

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Hari PN 

is my answer helped you?