Migrating to ITSM Standard

[Sherridan Maitl]

We need to migrate from ITSM Express to ITSM Standard. Has anyone else recently made this change and did you use a partner? What was your experience?

[Laveena-Agarwal]

Hi @Sherridan Maitl 

I haven’t made this change myself. I reviewed multiple articles and videos but couldn’t find anything that directly fits your requirement. In general, for this type of migration activity, it’s best to seek proper guidance from ServiceNow

[Sherridan Maitl]

Thanks Laveena, I will reach out to our Account Manager

[Matthew_13 · Accepted solution]

I think migrating from Express → Standard is worthwhile and largely beneficial (especially if you've outgrown Express), but it’s rarely just a “click to upgrade.” It behaves more like migrating from a “starter” to “enterprise-grade” ITSM suite. The fact that people report spending months (or years) and still struggling with data migration warns that without careful scoping and a good partner, the process can stall or cost much more than expected.

 

If I were you: I’d go into it with a “transformation mindset” (process review, data cleanup, re-architect some things) — not just “let’s keep everything the same but on Standard.”

If you go this route (with or without a partner), you should at minimum:

1. Ask if the partner has recent experience doing Express → Standard (in past 12–24 months). Because tooling, plugin sets, platform behavior changes over time.

2. Confirm data-migration strategy: exactly which tables, records, comments, attachments, custom fields will migrate. Also decide what gets archived or dropped.

3. Include regression testing / UAT for all existing workflows, integrations, and customizations.

4. Plan training / change management for users + admins. The “Standard world” often brings more capability but also more complexity.

5. Allow contingency — these migrations tend to drag if you underestimate scope (especially data + customizations).

[Sherridan Maitl]

Great points for decisioning Matthew! Thanks