Major incident assignment

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Major incident assignment

    This feature automates the assignment of major incidents and related communication tasks in ServiceNow's Zurich release. The assignment logic depends on specific conditions such as whether the assignment group is predefined, the activation of the On-Call Scheduling plugin, and the action triggering the incident state (proposal, promotion, or creation).

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    Major Incident Assignment Logic

    Major incidents are assigned automatically based on the Major Incident Management Group property. The assignment behavior varies as follows:

    • If the Assignment Group is empty: The group is set based on the property value. If On-Call Scheduling is enabled and a user is on shift, the incident is assigned to that user; otherwise, the "Assigned to" field remains empty.
    • If the Assignment Group is not empty: The current group assignment remains unchanged.
    • During manual promotion to a major incident: If the group is empty, it is set from the property value and the "Assigned to" is set to the user promoting the incident. If the group is not empty, reassignment to the property-based group occurs, with notifications sent to previous groups and assigned users.
    • When a major incident is created: If no assignment group exists, it is set from the property value and the creator is assigned. If the group exists, no changes occur.

    Incident Communication Plan and Task Assignment

    When communication plans or tasks are created from a major incident:

    • If the assignment group is empty, values are copied from the source incident or communication plan.
    • If the assignment group is not empty, the existing assignments are retained without changes.

    Practical Impact

    This automated assignment process ensures that major incidents and their communications are consistently routed to the appropriate groups and users, improving response times and accountability. The integration with On-Call Scheduling allows for dynamic individual assignment during active shifts, enhancing operational efficiency during critical events.

    A major incident is assigned to a group automatically at the time of proposal and promotion based on the value of the property Major Incident Management Group (sys_id) to whom the Major Incident should be re-assigned on promotion to 'Major Incident' (sn_major_inc_mgmt.major_incident_management_group). The assigned group works on the major incident and resolves it.

    The incident is assigned to an individual if the On-Call Scheduling plugin (com.snc.on_call_rotation) is activated and a shift is defined for the group. The following table illustrates the different conditions under which a major incident is assigned to a group and a user.

    Table 1. Assignment of major incident
    Action Condition Assignment group Assigned to
    Incident is proposed as a candidate manually or based on major incident trigger rules Assignment Group is empty Group based on the property value
    • If on-call is activated, shift is defined and a user is available on-call then the incident is assigned to the on-call user
    • If on-call is not activated, the Assigned to field remains empty
    Assignment Group is not empty No change - incident retains the current value of the assignment group No change - incident remains with the current value in the Assigned to field
    Incident is manually promoted to a major incident Assignment Group is empty Group based on the property value The value for the Assigned to field is the user who promoted the incident to a major incident
    Assignment Group is not empty
    • Incident reassigned to group based on the property value
    • Send a notification to the original Assignment Group members about the latest incident reassignment.
    • Assigned to value is overwritten by the user who promoted the major incident candidate
    • Send a notification to the user to whom the major incident was previously assigned
    Major incident is created Assignment Group is empty Group based on the property value The value of the Assigned to field is the user who has created the major incident
    Assignment Group is not empty No change - incident retains the current value of the assignment group No change - incident remains with the current value in the Assigned to field
    Table 2. Assignment of incident communication plan and communication task
    Action Condition Assignment group Assigned to
    Incident communication plan is created with source as major incident Assignment Group is empty The value for the Assignment group field is copied from the source incident The value of the Assigned to field is copied from the source incident
    Assignment Group is not empty No change - incident communication plan retains the current value of the assignment group No change - incident communication plan retains the current value of the Assigned to field
    Incident communication task is created from incident communication plan whose source is major incident Assignment Group is empty The value for the Assignment group field is copied from the incident communication plan The value of the Assigned to field is copied from the incident communication plan
    Assignment Group is not empty No change - incident communication plan retains the current value of the assignment group No change - incident communication task retains the current value of the Assigned to field