question Re: For OnHold reason field when the state is on on hold in Virtual Agent forum

For OnHold reason field when the state is on on hold

nitinku — Tue, 26 May 2026 10:12:18 GMT

Hi, my question is, I want to know about the out-of-the-box functionality behind the on-hold reason field, like when I select the state "on hold," the on-hold reason populates, but when I put the state again in "work in progress" or any other state, the on-hold reason field disappears from the list view.

I have attached two pictures. In the first one, the yellow highlight shows a record that contains a value in the "on hold reason" because the state is "on hold," but in the second picture, you can see that the "on hold reason" field is empty in the list view when I change the state in the other.

So I want to know about the logic behind this.

Thank you.

Re: For OnHold reason field when the state is on on hold

Ankur Bawiskar — Tue, 26 May 2026 10:26:10 GMT

@nitinku

are you saying when you change the state the on hold reason field is gone from list view?

I don't think that happens OOTB.

what debugging did you do?

Does the list view remain the same?

💡 If my response helped, please mark it as correct ✅ and close the thread 🔒— this helps future readers find the solution faster! 🙏

Re: For OnHold reason field when the state is on on hold

Tanushree Maiti — Tue, 26 May 2026 10:35:58 GMT

Hi @nitinku

Check these 2 ui policies

When the State field changes to On Hold, the UI Policy triggers. It makes the On Hold Reason field visible and sets it as mandatory
When you change the state back to In Progress - the condition is no longer met. The UI policy reverses its action, hiding the field on the form

Re: For OnHold reason field when the state is on on hold

GlideFather — Tue, 26 May 2026 10:39:52 GMT

ahoy @nitinku,

when state is set On Hold, field On Hold Reason is displayed and mandatory to populate. When you select a value, it is displayed both form and list view:

but if you set any other state, On Hold Reason is no longer visible and the value is cleared:

It is cleared by this business rule Clear On Hold Reason

https://yourinstance.service-now.com/nav_to.do?uri=sys_script.do?sys_id=ac79b245c31b220035ae3f52c1d3ae77

Triggered when:

Action taken - clearing the value in On Hold Reason:

This makes the value empty and unavailable in list view.

Re: For OnHold reason field when the state is on on hold

Venky Kshatriy2 — Tue, 26 May 2026 10:40:56 GMT

Hi @nitinku
There is a business rule in the incident table that clears the on-hold reason. Please refer to the image below for your reference.

On Hold State (Use):
Used when work is temporarily paused due to dependency (waiting for user/vendor/info).

On Hold Reason (Use):
Captures why the work is paused (e.g., Awaiting user input, Vendor response, Change window).

When to set On Hold:
When you cannot proceed further until something external is completed.

Example:

An incident is raised: “User unable to access application”

You investigate and find that access depends on a vendor system

Action:

Set State = On Hold
Select On Hold Reason = Awaiting Vendor Response

Meaning: Work is paused because you are waiting for the vendor to fix or respond.

Once vendor responds → move it back to Work in Progress and continue.

If this response addressed your question, please mark it as Helpful and accept it as the solution.

Re: For OnHold reason field when the state is on on hold

Rakesh_M — Tue, 26 May 2026 10:42:55 GMT

Hi @nitinku ,
A before business rules[Clear On Hold Reason] clears the on hold reason value when state is not on hold.

Re: For OnHold reason field when the state is on on hold

GlideFather — Tue, 26 May 2026 10:50:51 GMT

please @Rakesh_M be careful ☝️ the trigger has 2 conditions:

State is NOT On Hold (as you said)
On Hold Reason is not empty (missing in your post)

The BR is triggered only when relevant, with your condition it would be triggered ALWAYS unless On Hold (New, In Progress, Resolve, ...)

Re: For OnHold reason field when the state is on on hold

Rakesh_M — Tue, 26 May 2026 11:09:11 GMT

Hello @GlideFather ,

You are right, I was giving a general explanation of what clears the field and did not include the complete trigger conditions. Thanks for pointing out the additional condition. I will make sure to be more specific in future community posts.

Re: For OnHold reason field when the state is on on hold

SUHEL AKTHER Md — Tue, 26 May 2026 11:19:16 GMT

Hi @nitinku ,

When you change the state to On Hold, then the following ui policy will run, which makes the on hold reason field Visible and Manadatory.

If you select the on hold reason as "Awaiting Caller" then the follwoing ui policy will run, which makes the Additional comments manadatory.

If you change the state from On Hold to any other state and Save/Update the Record. Then the following Business rule will run which makes the on hold reason empty.

“If this response helped resolve your confusion, please mark it as Helpful and Accept it as the solution.”

Re: For OnHold reason field when the state is on on hold

GlideFather — Thu, 28 May 2026 13:37:00 GMT

@nitinku could you explain choosing this as solution and mine reply not? What was wrong with my reply?

I shared the same business rules wirth more details

Thank you for your feedback