Greenfield - Looking to learn from your experiences

[RaniK3666699030]

Hello,

Has anyone here gone through a Greenfield implementation of ServiceNow within your organization?

We’re beginning to plan for this initiative and would appreciate learning from others who have taken a similar journey. I’m particularly interested in understanding the approaches you adopted, along with any lessons learned—what worked well, and what didn’t.

Thank you in advance for sharing your insights!

[Its_Azar · Accepted solution]

Hi @RaniK3666699030 

One common lesson is to stay as close to OOB functionality as possible and avoid heavy customization early on. Phased rollouts.

[Cassandra Kittl · Accepted solution]

One common lesson is to stay as close to OOB functionality as possible and avoid heavy customization early on. Phased rollouts.

 If this helped, please mark it as Helpful or Accept Solution so others can find the answer too.

In addition to the above - use starter stories for the appropriate products that will match the implementation.

[lesterheath · Accepted solution]

Hi @RaniK3666699030 ,

we are currently carrying out a Greenfield Implementation and have the daily challenge of trying to forget how things used to be, while trying to stay as close to OOB functionality as possible.

To achieve these objectives we are applying the following methods:
1. Strong Governance to ensure that any modifications to OOB functionality or processes are documented and evaluated by both technical and process governance before implementation.
2. Agile development is essential to allow rapid progress, but all modifications to OOB processes and functionality must be done in the form of Decisions, Risks and Technical Debt documentation, allowing for Governance review.
3. Process First - for each process being implemented, a process guide must exist clearly documenting any variations from OOB process which result in Technical Debt. Processes must include a clear documentation of Roles and Responsibilities to carry out the necessary process steps!
4. All implementations are done through the use of Process-Epics, and implementation Stories (Agile). Each Story must contain details on expected Business Value, Acceptance Criteria, and a detailed overview of the Technical Implementation carried out by Developers.

ServiceNow provides great documentation, guidelines, process guides and for some processes even a complete project plan including Stories and content.
https://mynow.servicenow.com/now/best-practices/home

There are several factors which definitely can negatively impact a Greenfield Implementation:
1. Trying to implement too many processes (products) at the same time.
2. Trying to implement too advanced features from the beginning.
ServiceNow provides guidelines for Implementation Sequences for all of the available products and processes. Not following them can result in implementation breakdown due to dependencies between products.

https://mynow.servicenow.com/now/best-practices/assets/service-operations-recommended-implementation...

Any modification to OOB processes and functionality can have consequences at a later stage.
Each of the available ServiceNow products/modules depends on data, functionality and process conformity in other modules.

My recommendation is to really take the time to read through ServiceNow best practices, thoroughly understand the available ServiceNow process guides, and do your best to involve stakeholders from the beginning so that objectives and applied methods are understood at all levels, not only by technicians and developers.

Good luck with the implementation!

If this helped, please mark it as Helpful or Accept Solution so others can find the answer too

[Its_Azar · Accepted solution]

Hi @RaniK3666699030 

One common lesson is to stay as close to OOB functionality as possible and avoid heavy customization early on. Phased rollouts.

[Cassandra Kittl · Accepted solution]

One common lesson is to stay as close to OOB functionality as possible and avoid heavy customization early on. Phased rollouts.

 If this helped, please mark it as Helpful or Accept Solution so others can find the answer too.

In addition to the above - use starter stories for the appropriate products that will match the implementation.

[lesterheath · Accepted solution]

Hi @RaniK3666699030 ,

we are currently carrying out a Greenfield Implementation and have the daily challenge of trying to forget how things used to be, while trying to stay as close to OOB functionality as possible.

To achieve these objectives we are applying the following methods:
1. Strong Governance to ensure that any modifications to OOB functionality or processes are documented and evaluated by both technical and process governance before implementation.
2. Agile development is essential to allow rapid progress, but all modifications to OOB processes and functionality must be done in the form of Decisions, Risks and Technical Debt documentation, allowing for Governance review.
3. Process First - for each process being implemented, a process guide must exist clearly documenting any variations from OOB process which result in Technical Debt. Processes must include a clear documentation of Roles and Responsibilities to carry out the necessary process steps!
4. All implementations are done through the use of Process-Epics, and implementation Stories (Agile). Each Story must contain details on expected Business Value, Acceptance Criteria, and a detailed overview of the Technical Implementation carried out by Developers.

ServiceNow provides great documentation, guidelines, process guides and for some processes even a complete project plan including Stories and content.
https://mynow.servicenow.com/now/best-practices/home

There are several factors which definitely can negatively impact a Greenfield Implementation:
1. Trying to implement too many processes (products) at the same time.
2. Trying to implement too advanced features from the beginning.
ServiceNow provides guidelines for Implementation Sequences for all of the available products and processes. Not following them can result in implementation breakdown due to dependencies between products.

https://mynow.servicenow.com/now/best-practices/assets/service-operations-recommended-implementation...

Any modification to OOB processes and functionality can have consequences at a later stage.
Each of the available ServiceNow products/modules depends on data, functionality and process conformity in other modules.

My recommendation is to really take the time to read through ServiceNow best practices, thoroughly understand the available ServiceNow process guides, and do your best to involve stakeholders from the beginning so that objectives and applied methods are understood at all levels, not only by technicians and developers.

Good luck with the implementation!

If this helped, please mark it as Helpful or Accept Solution so others can find the answer too

[RaniK3666699030]

Thank you!