Configure households in Public Sector Digital Services

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated February 1, 2026
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Configure Households in Public Sector Digital Services

    The household entity in Public Sector Digital Services is designed to represent groups of constituents who typically share a common address and utilize services together. This system allows for the storage of household details, including member relationships and associated cases, entitlements, or contracts. It's important to note that while a household has a shared address, individual constituents can have their own different addresses.

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    Key Features

    • Create and manage households by adding constituents as members.
    • Establish relationships among household members to authorize case management on behalf of one another.
    • Designate a "Head of Household" who can manage cases and access household information and products.
    • Track various information like sold products, contracts, and entitlements associated with households.
    • Maintain historical records of household membership with start and end dates for each member.
    • Support complex relationships and streamline engagement through assigned agents for households.

    Key Outcomes

    Using the household configuration, ServiceNow customers can effectively manage constituent relationships and shared services, leading to quicker resolution of issues. The ability to view collective account histories for households enhances service delivery, while the structured relationships empower designated members to act on behalf of others, thereby facilitating better case management and streamlined support.

    The household entity represents a group of constituents that usually share a common address and use services as a group Service Model Foundation uses the household form to store details about a constituent household, including its members, their relationships, and any cases, entitlements, or contracts associated with them.

    A household is made up of constituents who have been added as members of that household.
    Note:
    A household has an address and constituents have their own addresses. These addresses don’t need to be the same to add a constituent or user as a member to a household.
    Configuring households view in PSDS

    Support complex constituent/household relationships. Resolve issues related to shared services faster with access to the entire household's account history. Provide easy and secure authorized access to identified persons for streamlined engagement. Assigning a specific agent for handling all issues for a given household.

    With the household entity, you can:
    • Create households and add constituents as household members.
    • Create cases for households and household members.
    • Create relationships between household members. These relationships authorize one household member to manage cases on behalf of another member.
    • Create relationships between staff members and households or household members that enable the staff members to manage cases for those households and members.
    • Track information for households, including sold products, contracts, and entitlements.

    Constituents can be modeled into households and exist in relationships with each other (and with specific agents). Each household can have a “Head of Household” who is able to open and manage cases on behalf of the other members of the households Note: Public Sector Digital Services specific responsibilities can be created if standards out-of-the-box responsibilities (i.e., Authorized Representative) do not fit the use case.

    A household can have one member designated as the head of household. A constituent who is added as the head of household is automatically added as a member of the household.

    The head of household has access to all of the cases and information for the household and the other household members. The head of household can also see:
    • The sold products for the household.
    • The sold products and install base items for household members.

    Households can have multiple members. These members can be either constituents or constituent users. constituents can also belong to multiple households.

    Membership in a household is defined by the Start Date and End Date on the Household Member form. A household member is considered to be a current member if:
    • The Start Date field is empty or is filled in with today's date.
    • The Start Date field is filled in with a past date and the End Date field is empty or is filled in with today's date or a future date.
    Only one record with current membership dates is allowed for each constituent in a household. A constituent can leave and rejoin a household multiple times. This information is recorded using the start and end dates. As members are added or removed from a household, the member history is retained. You can find this information in the following related lists on the Household form.
    • Current Members: the constituents currently in the household.
    • All Members: current and past members of a household. This list provides a history of the household. Members can appear multiple times in this list.
    On the Household form, you can also find information about household cases and products in the following related lists:
    • Cases: the cases that have been created for all of the members within a household
    • Sold Products: the products owned by the household. These products can be owned or shared by multiple household members.

    The following types of relationships can be created for households and household members. These relationships are included in the following related lists on the Household form:

    • Member Relationships: relationships that have been established between household members. These relationships are created using the Authorized Representative responsibility. Household members that have an Authorized Representative relationship with another household member can act on behalf of that member and can manage cases and information for that member.
    • Household Team: relationships that have been established between an agent and a household. These relationships are created using the Relationship Manager responsibility. Agents that have a Relationship Manager relationship with a household can manage all of the cases for that household.