Patching and Upgrade Process/Activities

[Ysabel]

Hello. Our organization is new to ServiceNow. While we follow the recommended patching and/or upgrade activities, I am still wondering --
- what are the exact deadlines for the next versions? are the schedules published like months ahead? if it is published, where can i find a table or the timeline, please?
- what’s the process if we miss the deadline (1) for the quarterly patching and (2) for the version upgrade
- have there been instances patches/upgrades are missed?

Last but not the least, can anyone please share some best practices or your current patching/upgrade process and activities, please? Any checklist existing too?

Super thanks!

[Vik7]

Below are the few links for new release and best practices to follow,

Future Releases:

https://infocenter.io/servicenow-upcoming-releases-roadmap-new-features/

ServiceNow Release Cycle:

https://hi.service-now.com/kb_view.do?sysparm_article=KB0547244

How to manage and schedule instance upgrades:

https://hi.service-now.com/kb_view.do?sysparm_article=KB0541128

Steps to be followed to Upgrade your instance:

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/kingston-release-notes/page/release-notes/upgrades/concept/upgrades-overview.html

 

Cloning and upgrade best practice:

https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_question&sys_id=ce300f61db98dbc01dcaf3231f961944

Thanks,

Vik

[Ysabel]

Thank you, Vik. Sure helped

[Ecelik3 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

- You can find exact deadlines for versions on https://docs.servicenow.com you can search by "Available versions". (Select interested version. Example below shown as Kingston)

Example: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/kingston-release-notes/page/release-notes/available-versions.html

- Here is documentation regarding to process for quarterly patching and version updates:

 https://hi.service-now.com/kb_view.do?sysparm_article=KB0547244

This is also nice article for managing your upgrades:

https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_blog&sys_id=b9ac2625dbd0dbc01dcaf3231f96192b

As a best practice in my opinion read release notes and check which previous patch fixes including in release.

here is also documentation for checklist:

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/kingston-release-notes/page/release-notes/upgrades/upgrades-planning-checklist.html

Thanks

[Ysabel]

hey, ecelik. appreciate the pointers. could re-use the process. thanks a lot!!