Need help in understanding the upgrade timelines and process

[Suggy]

We are currently on Yokohama and plan to upgrade only once a year, so we will skip Zurich.

Australia GA was on 5th May.

When should we schedule the upgrade process? What is the deadline to upgrade from Yokohama to Australia? We prefer not to use Zurich or Australia EA.

Do all customers use EA?

If a customer chooses not to use EA, then since Australia GA was on 5th May, does that mean we are non-compliant as of 6th May (N-2), the very next day?

How exactly all of you are doing the upgrade?  Use EA or GA for Non-PROD? and EA or GA for PROD?

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Suggy 

Yes, you can skip it and move directly to the latest version. That's completely fine. I've worked with many customers who have a policy of upgrading only once a year, and that approach is generally safe.

However, before upgrading, please review the release notes carefully, as the upcoming release includes many new and valuable features.

Also, this does not mean you are non-compliant. Many customers choose to remain on the General Availability (GA) release and upgrade less frequently based on their organization's policies and requirement.

The only caveat is that ServiceNow support may have limitations in assisting with issues if your instance version is older than the supported N-2 release policy. This can apply to both instance-related issues and security-related concerns.

It would be best to discuss this with your ServiceNow account manager to understand the support implications and determine the most appropriate upgrade strategy for your organization.

[Suggy]

Hi @Dr Atul G- LNG Thanks for replying.

I am not just focusing for my org. I am working in a service provider company. So we keep upgrading for multiple customer.

I just want to know the timeline/process that is "usually" followed by most of the people.

When you say "Many customers choose to remain on the General Availability (GA)", then Australia GA is 5th of May. the final GA release notes is available on this date right.

So ideally our planning of upgrading to Australia GA should start from 5th May right?

But ServiceNow says once N  is out, N-2 is not supported. 

Given that we have 3 instances, we need atleast 30 days to upgrade all the instances. Does that mean, we should stay non-complaint for 30 days?

Totally confused 🙂

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Suggy 

Sorry, I missed the detailed update. As per the standard process, ServiceNow provides a 60-day window, which should be counted from the GA date. Based on that, the target would be around the first week of July. Please ensure this is closed by the expected timeline as per the agreed dates.

[Suggy]

Hi @Dr Atul G- LNG 

May I know where is this stated "As per the standard process, ServiceNow provides a 60-day window, which should be counted from the GA date"