Handling Stale/Orphaned References in PPM Module

[Javeria]

In the ServiceNow PPM module, when a portfolio is referenced by a project and program, deleting these references can leave behind stale or orphaned records. What is the best practice to handle this? Should we prevent the deletion of parent records like portfolios and projects, or mark them as inactive to preserve data integrity?

[Vishal Savajia1]

Program, Portfolio and Project Records are generally less in number in any organization.  You should check with PMO about its relevancy.  

A) It is good practice to mark them as Inactive instead of deletion, if it thinks if it absolutely stale/orphaned there is no harm in deletion them, Make Sure with appropriate stakeholders before deletion

B) I believe when you try delete records cascaded records are also get deleted provided cascade delete option is checked in table. 

[Ravi54]

This is truly a business decision.

A Program to Project is a one-to-many reference. It is not advisable to delete a program every time you delete a reference. The Program may have additional Projects and still have the validity. So the deletes here have to be deliberate and thought through.

Also, the components of a Project (the budget, cost, resources, RIDAC, etc.) roll up to the Program. There are impacts that you will beed to consider before deleting. Automating this will be a future nightmare if not done properly.