question Changing the Status Field values in Developer forum

Changing the Status Field values

tekkytommy — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 15:44:48 GMT

Hi,

We have a requirement to change the status values in ServiceNow in one of the applications.

If I change the status names or values, will this break anything?

In the Form Design, I see Draft [-5] and again Draft [-6]. What does this mean?

Re: Changing the Status Field values

Pradeep Sharma — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 15:54:06 GMT

Hi Tom,

If you change the existing label value then make sure corresponding change is done in any script which might be using this field.

Re: Changing the Status Field values

Stijn Verhulst3 — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 15:58:23 GMT

Hi Tom,

I can only agree with Pradeep but also take into account which tables make use of the status field. It can be that for example 5 tables all use the same status field. So changing the value can cause wrong statuses across multiple applications.

Also there's a possible impact on all kinds of OOB scripts which look at the value of status fields.

Sometimes it's a good option to define new choices on a choice list for a particular table/field. This way you override the existing choices.

Plus; keep in mind of redefining your active/inactive states in case of changing/add new values: TaskStateUtil - ServiceNow Wiki

Kind regards,

Stijn

Re: Changing the Status Field values

tekkytommy — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 17:02:53 GMT

The Status fields I am referring to are in Release Management. To modify the Status field, I selected: Configure, then Form Design.

When I see Draft [5], On Hold[11] - what does the number mean? Does the number indicate that 5 tables reference the <Draft Status>? Should I hide the out-of-box Status and create a new Status field?

Is there a way to find out if there are any OOB scripts associated with this field?

Re: Changing the Status Field values

Pradeep Sharma — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 17:07:40 GMT

HI Tom,

Number here indicates the choice value for the state field. However you can make the field "State" choice value inactive and create a new choice values in the same field state.

Re: Changing the Status Field values

Stijn Verhulst3 — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 09:07:36 GMT

Hi Tom,

there sure is a way to find out. A trick I apply to find scripts which affect a certain field is searching for Business Rules, Client Scripts, etc... which have the name of the field defined in their condition/script fields. Or you can also search for the number, which represents the value of the state field, in the mentioned fields.

Sometimes however you need to check manually; for example Business Rule can alter certain fields via the Actions tab in case you're not using a script.

Stijn

Re: Changing the Status Field values

Kalaiarasan Pus — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 09:16:48 GMT

And before you set any existing state value as inactive, please check once if any of the records is having the same status value. The status value will not be lost but it would appear in blue in list view of the table...