Major incident assignment

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Major Incident Assignment

    A major incident is automatically assigned to a group during its proposal and promotion stages based on the Major Incident Management Group property. This ensures that the appropriate group is tasked with resolving the incident. If the On-Call Scheduling plugin is activated, the incident can also be assigned to an individual on-call user based on availability.

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    Key Features

    • Automatic Assignment: Major incidents are assigned based on the property value if the assignment group is empty.
    • On-Call User Selection: When on-call is activated, the incident can be assigned to an available user during their shift.
    • Manual Promotion Handling: If a major incident is promoted manually, the incident's assignment adjusts based on the current assignment group's status.
    • Communication Plans and Tasks: When creating communication plans and tasks from major incidents, the assignment fields can either inherit values from the source incident or remain unchanged based on existing assignments.

    Key Outcomes

    ServiceNow customers can expect streamlined incident management where major incidents are efficiently assigned to the correct groups or individuals, facilitating quicker resolutions. Notifications are sent to relevant users regarding any changes in assignments, ensuring all stakeholders are informed and aligned throughout the incident lifecycle.

    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