Is it safe to add custom fields directly to the Catalog Item table?

[newhand]

HI everyone~！

Main purpose: I want to add additional information to each catalog item (similar to taxonomy topics), so that I can use them as facets in AI Search.

Why not use taxonomy topics: Although multiple taxonomy topics can be assigned to a single catalog item, only one of them is indexed by AI Search and be used as facets.（I hope my understanding is wrong.）

Here are two ways .

A: Create a new table that extends the Catalog Item table.
B: Modify the Catalog Item table.

question:   which is the best pratices ?  （Will this cause issues when ServiceNow is upgraded in the future?）

NEED HELP ！！
                     

[Brad Bowman · Accepted solution]

You can add custom fields to the sc_cat_item table the same as any other.  We have added a few fields to help with classification/reporting, and have not had any issues with this over 8 years of upgrades.

[GlideFather]

Hi @newhand,

you said "additional information" - what kind of information are we talking about? Is it a reference to existing stuff or what exactly?

[Brad Bowman · Accepted solution]

You can add custom fields to the sc_cat_item table the same as any other.  We have added a few fields to help with classification/reporting, and have not had any issues with this over 8 years of upgrades.

[Ankur Bawiskar · Accepted solution]

@newhand 

no need to create extended table as you might miss out important catalog features and functionality

It's ok to add new fields on OOTB tables to cater to customer requirements.

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