Auto-reminder and auto-close after 10 business days for pending approvals and On Hold tickets

[Deepika Gangra1]

Hi All,

I have a requirement to implement a scheduled job in ServiceNow for both Incidents and Request Items (RITMs) with the following logic:

Requirement:

1. For records in:
   • Pending Approval
   • On Hold
2. The system should:
   • Send reminders during the 10 business days
   • If no action is taken within 10 business days, then:
     • Auto-close the ticket

Business Rules:

• Business days = Sunday to Thursday
• Exclude weekends (Friday & Saturday)
• Exclude holidays (defined in schedule)
• Applies to:
  • Incident
  • sc_req_item (RITM)

Current Approach:

• I initially implemented a loop-based logic to calculate business days by excluding weekends
• However, this does not handle holidays
• I am now considering using GlideSchedule to:
  • Calculate business duration
  • Handle holidays properly

Challenges:

• How to accurately calculate 10 business days including holidays
• How to design reminder logic within those 10 days
• Ensuring performance efficiency in a scheduled job (avoiding heavy loops per record)
• Applying the same logic consistently across Incident and RITM
  
  Scheduled job:
  
  // ================= DAY CHECK =================

  var gdtToday = new GlideDateTime();

  gdtToday.setStartOfDay();

  
  

  var day = parseInt(gdtToday.getDayOfWeekLocalTime(), 10);

  
  

  // Run only Sunday–Thursday

  if (day != 5 && day != 6) {

  
  

      // ================= CALCULATE 10 BUSINESS DAYS =================

      var count = 0;

      var pastDate = new GlideDateTime(gdtToday);

  
  

      while (count < 10) {

  
  

          pastDate.addDaysLocalTime(-1);

  
  

          var d = parseInt(pastDate.getDayOfWeekLocalTime(), 10);

  
  

          // Skip Friday (5) and Saturday (6)

          if (d != 5 && d != 6) {

              count++;

          }

      }

  
  

      // VERY IMPORTANT → include full day

      pastDate.setDisplayValue(pastDate.getLocalDate() + " 23:59:59");

  
  

      gs.info("Auto-close running. Cutoff date: " + pastDate.getDisplayValue());

  
  

      // ================= INCIDENT =================

      var appr = new GlideRecord('incident');

      appr.addQuery('active', true);

      appr.addQuery('state', 3);

      appr.addQuery('sys_updated_on', '<=', pastDate);

      appr.addQuery('hold_reason', '6');

      appr.query();

  
  

      var incidentCount = 0;

  
  

      while (appr.next()) {

  
  

          gs.eventQueue('autocancel.incident', appr, "", "");

  
  

          appr.state = '8';

          appr.sys_updated_by = 'system';

          appr.comments = "This ticket has been automatically closed due to no activity over the past 10 business days (Sun–Thu). On Hold Reason: " + appr.getDisplayValue('hold_reason');

  
  

          appr.update();

          incidentCount++;

      }

  
  

      // ================= RITM =================

      var gr_SRonhold = new GlideRecord('sc_req_item');

      gr_SRonhold.addQuery('active', true);

      gr_SRonhold.addQuery('state', 17);

      gr_SRonhold.addQuery('sys_updated_on', '<=', pastDate);

      gr_SRonhold.addQuery('u_on_hold_reason', '2');

      gr_SRonhold.query();

  
  

      var ritmCount = 0;

  
  

      while (gr_SRonhold.next()) {

  
  

          var ritmSysId = gr_SRonhold.sys_id;

  
  

          // Reject approvals

          var notapproved = new GlideRecord('sysapproval_approver');

          notapproved.addQuery('source_table', 'sc_req_item');

          notapproved.addQuery('sysapproval', ritmSysId);

          notapproved.addQuery('state', 'requested');

          notapproved.query();

  
  

          while (notapproved.next()) {

              notapproved.state = 'rejected';

              notapproved.comments = "Auto-closed after 10 business days. On Hold Reason: " + gr_SRonhold.getDisplayValue('u_on_hold_reason');

              notapproved.update();

          }

  
  

          // Close RITM

          gr_SRonhold.state = '4';

          gr_SRonhold.comments = "This ticket has been automatically closed due to no activity over the past 10 business days. On Hold Reason: " + gr_SRonhold.getDisplayValue('u_on_hold_reason');

          gr_SRonhold.update();

  
  

          // Update Request

          var grReq = new GlideRecord('sc_request');

          grReq.addQuery('sys_id', gr_SRonhold.request);

          grReq.query();

  
  

          while (grReq.next()) {

              grReq.state = '4';

              grReq.update();

          }

  
  

          // Update Catalog Tasks

          var grtask = new GlideRecord('sc_task');

          grtask.addQuery('request_item', ritmSysId);

          grtask.query();

  
  

          while (grtask.next()) {

              grtask.state = '4';

              grtask.update();

          }

  
  

          gs.eventQueue('autocancel.requestItem', gr_SRonhold, "", "");

          ritmCount++;

      }

  
  

      // ================= LOG =================

      gs.info("Auto-close completed. Incidents: " + incidentCount + ", RITMs: " + ritmCount);

  
  

  } else {

  
  

      gs.info("Auto-close job skipped (Weekend)");

  
  

  }

[AlpUtkuM]

You could basically use flow designer to deliver this requirement.

Please refer to the following video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYCr1BcUhDI&list=PLzDI891zP4LVUuWhpEFFmNqfMl4KYdjnP&index=5

[Tanushree Maiti]

Hi @Deepika Gangra1 

Run a Daily scheduled job with following script:

Sample script:

var scheduleSysId = 'YOUR_SCHEDULE_SYS_ID_HERE';

var dc = new DurationCalculator();

dc.setSchedule(scheduleSysId);

var gr = new GlideRecordSecure('task');

gr.addEncodedQuery('sys_class_name=incident^ORsys_class_name=sc_req_item^stateIN-5,3'); // -5 = Pending Approval, 3 = On Hold (Adjust values to match your instance)

gr.query();

while (gr.next()) {

    var createdOn = gr.sys_created_on;

    var gdtCreated = new GlideDateTime(createdOn);

    var gdtNow = new GlideDateTime();   

    dc.calcDuration(gdtCreated, gdtNow);

    var elapsedSeconds = dc.getSeconds();

    var elapsedBusinessDays = elapsedSeconds / 86400; // 24 hours converted to seconds

    if (elapsedBusinessDays >= 1 && elapsedBusinessDays < 10) {

       if (elapsedBusinessDays == 3 || elapsedBusinessDays == 5 || elapsedBusinessDays == 8 ) //e.g remind on days 3, 5, and 8

            {

            gs.eventQueue('ticket.reminder', gr, gr.sys_id, '');  //Replace your actual notification name

        }

    }

       else if (elapsedBusinessDays >= 10) {

        gr.state = 7; // State value for 'Closed'

        gr.comments = 'Ticket automatically closed due to inactivity after 10 business days.';

        gr.update();

    }

}