Managing upgrade risk

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Managing Upgrade Risk

    Managing upgrade risk is crucial for ServiceNow customers who have customized applications or plugins. Upgrades can lead to conflicts due to customizations in skipped metadata files. Notifications will alert users to potential conflicts through UI messages on metadata file form pages, especially concerning high-priority, customized files.

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    Key Features

    • UI Messages: Alerts users about potential complications during upgrades, indicating the severity of file modifications.
    • Risk Categories:
      • High Risk and Customized: Reversion to Base System is recommended to avoid conflicts.
      • Medium Risk and Customized: Similar to high-risk files, reverting to Base System is advised.
      • Medium Risk and Non-Customized: Generally safe to be updated, modification is not recommended unless necessary.
      • High Risk and Non-Customized: Likewise, best to avoid modifications unless absolutely required.
      • Non-Risky: No warnings are issued for both customized and non-customized files.
    • High Risk Customizations Menu: Displays conflicts between ServiceNow's risk files and user customizations, stored in a virtual table.
    • Risk Files Storage: High and medium risk files are found in the sysmetadatavolatility table, which is updated automatically during upgrades.

    Key Outcomes

    By managing upgrade risks effectively, ServiceNow customers can minimize conflicts during upgrades, ensuring smoother transitions and maintaining system integrity. Understanding the risk levels associated with metadata files helps in making informed decisions about modifications and customizations.

    You will be notified of the possible conflicts that might result due to several customizations in a skipped metadata file, with a new UI message on the form pages of the metadata files.

    One of the major conflict areas during an upgrade is resolving conflicts for skipped metadata files that are released by ServiceNow® but have been customized. These conflicts result from multiple users updating the same files. ServiceNow might update the code in the files which you have customized over time. Whenever you install an application or a plugin, you often customize them as per your requirements. During the next upgrade, you might have several skipped records depending on the previous customizations.
    Important:
    Avoid modifying the high risk and medium risk (if possible) skipped metadata files that can potentially cause conflicted skipped metadata files in your next upgrade. You can edit the files if the modifications are absolutely required.

    The purpose of the UI message is to inform you about potential complications that might arise during the upgrade process, especially if any high-priority files have been modified. The notification is of the form of UI messages on the form pages of the metadata files.

    The UI message varies based on the severity of the files.
    • Medium risk and non-customized: The medium risk files that are not customized might be updated in future releases. It is recommended not to modify these files unless necessary.

      Image showing medium risk warning

    • High risk and non-customized: The high risk files that are non-customized might be updated in future releases. It is recommended not to modify these files unless necessary.
      Image showing high risk warning
      Note:
      You can proceed to modify these files if the changes are absolutely required. The following modal shows up.

      Image showing File Customizations modal

    • High risk and customized: The high risk files that are customized might be updated in future releases. It is recommended to revert them to the Base System to avoid conflicts.

      Image showing high risk warning

    • Medium risk and customized: The medium risk files that are customized might be updated in future releases. It is recommended to revert it to the Base System to avoid conflicts.

      Image showing medium risk warning

    • Non-risky and non-customized: You don’t see any warning for this condition.
    • Non-risky and customized: You don’t see any warning for this condition.

    High Risk Customizations menu

    The High Risk Customizations menu item presents the overlap between ServiceNow's high and medium risk files and your customizations.

    Image showing High Risk Customizations menu item

    They are stored in a virtual table called v_metadata_customization_risk, and is refreshed after a set period of time or when you select the Refresh on the list view.

    Image showing the list of risk files

    Risk files storage

    The high risk and medium risk files are stored in the new sys_metadata_volatility table.
    Note:
    It is recommended not to modify the sys_metadata_volatility table and is automatically updated for every family upgrade. The sys_metadata_volatility table is not a part of the menu item in the navbar.

    Image showing the volatility level

    Note:
    Risk is determined by the likelihood of a given metadata file being modified, which is predicted based on trends in updates from recent releases. Some files that may not currently exist in the system will be present in the table to account for future installation of apps/plugins.