--- sourceDocument: Australia Governance, Risk, and Compliance sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/governance-risk-compliance Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia Governance, Risk, and Compliance ft:clusterId : - grc bundleId : - grc workflow : - Technology --- # Factors affecting compliance score for citations # Factors affecting compliance score for citations {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated March 12, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 3 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Factors affecting compliance score for citations This guide explains how compliance scores for citations in ServiceNow are dynamically calculated and updated based on changes to controls, control objectives, and citation associations. It highlights the impact of system properties, manual actions, and automatic updates on citation compliance scores, enabling customers to understand how their compliance metrics reflect the current control environment accurately. Show full answer Show less ## Property Dependency and Formula Changes * **Enable association of Citations to Controls Mapping OFF:** Compliance scores use the old formula: average of child citations plus average of associated control objectives. * **Enable association ON:** Compliance scores use the new formula: the average of child citations plus the average of directly linked controls, divided by two. * After enabling the property, customers must run the scheduled job *Calculate All Citations and Authority Documents Compliance Score* to recalculate scores and disable the *Compliance Score V2* periodic job during recalculation to avoid conflicts. ## Manual Actions Affecting Compliance Scores * **Adding or removing controls from citations:** Updates the citation's compliance score using the current formula, reflecting compliant and non-compliant controls. * **Adding or removing citations to controls:** Triggers recalculation of the citation's compliance score, updating it based on the status of linked controls. ## Control-Related Changes Impacting Compliance * **Control creation:** When new controls are created due to adding entities to control objectives linked to citations, these controls are automatically associated with linked citations, updating scores. * **Control deletion:** Removing a control from a control objective linked to a citation recalculates that citation's compliance score accordingly. * **Control status changes:** Changing a control's status (Compliant, Non-Compliant, Not Applicable) recalculates all associated citation scores. * **Control weight changes:** If weighted averages are enabled, adjusting control weights affects citation compliance scores proportionally. * **Control activation/deactivation:** Activating or deactivating controls triggers recalculation, as it changes the set of controls considered for the citation. ## Citation-Related Changes Impacting Compliance * **Citation deletion:** Deletes all citation-to-control associations without recalculating scores for the deleted citation; authority document scores may update internally. * **Associating or disassociating citations with control objectives:** Adds or removes controls automatically, recalculating compliance scores. Manually associated controls remain even after disassociation and are flagged to prevent auto-deletion. ## Additional Key Notes * Manual associations are flagged as *Associated Manually = True* and are preserved through disassociations. * When controls move outside the hierarchy due to disassociation, the system provides informational messages for user review. * All compliance breakdowns, dashboards, and widgets now source data from the many-to-many (M2M) table rather than the control objective hierarchy, ensuring accurate and consistent reporting. Compliance scores for citations dynamically change based on changes to controls and control objectives. ## Property dependency {#factors-affecting-compliance-score-for-citations__section_enn_lsh_khc} * When the system property Enable association of Citations to Controls Mapping isturned off, compliance scores are calculated using the old formula: Average of child citations + Average of associated control objectives. * When the property is turned on, compliance scores use the new formula: (Average of child citations + Average of directly linked controls) ÷ 2. * After enabling the property: * Run the scheduled job Calculate All Citations and Authority Documents Compliance Score to recalculate scores. * Disable the periodic job Compliance Score V2 during recalculation to avoid conflicts. {#factors-affecting-compliance-score-for-citations__ul_grl_5sh_khc} {#factors-affecting-compliance-score-for-citations__ul_nt1_ssh_khc} ## Manual actions {#factors-affecting-compliance-score-for-citations__section_bsq_1cl_3hc} When the system property is enabled, the following manual actions affect compliance score for citations: 1. Adding a control to a citation: Adding a control directly to a citation recalculates the citation's compliance score using the new formula.Example: A citation currently has two controls, and both are compliant, so its compliance score is 100%. When you add a non-compliant control, the new score becomes the average of the two compliant controls and one non-compliant controls: (100% + 100 + 0%) ÷ 3 = 33%. 2. Removing a control from a citation: Removing a control triggers recalculation based on remaining controls.Example: A citation has three controls: two compliant and one non-compliant, giving it a compliance score of 66%. If you remove the non-compliant control, the score recalculates to 100% because only the two compliant controls remain. 3. Adding a citation to a control: Adding a citation to a control updates compliance scores for that citation.Example: A citation initially has no controls, so its compliance score is 0%. When you link a compliant control to it, the score updates to 100%. 4. Remove citation from a control: Removing a citation from a control recalculates compliance scores.Example: A citation has two controls, and both are compliant, resulting in a compliance score of 100%. If you remove one of the compliant controls, the score remains 100%, as the remaining control is still compliant, though fewer controls are associated. {#factors-affecting-compliance-score-for-citations__ol_qxn_fcl_3hc} ## Changes to controls {#factors-affecting-compliance-score-for-citations__section_ckp_fdl_3hc} 1. Control creation due to adding entity or entity types to control objectives: When a new control is created for a control objective that is directly linked to a citation, it is automatically associated with all citations linked to that control objective.Example: Adding an entity to a control objective generates new controls. These controls are auto-linked to all citations associated with that control objective, updating their compliance scores. 2. Control deletion: When a control is deleted from a control objective that is associated to a citation, the compliance score of all the associated citations changes.Example: A citation is linked to one control objective that has two controls: one compliant and one non-compliant (score = 50%). Deleting the non-compliant control updates the score to 100%. 3. Control status: Changing a control's status (Compliant, Non-Compliant, Not Applicable) recalculates compliance scores for all associated citations.Example: When a citation has only one control with compliant status, the compliance score is 100%. When the status changes to non-compliant, the new score is 0%. 4. Control weight change: If weighted average is enabled, changing a control's weight impacts compliance score.Example: A compliant control with weight of 100 and a non-compliant control with weight 10 changes the compliance score. So compliance score = (100 ÷ 110) × 100 = 91%. 5. Control active flag change: Activating or deactivating a control recalculates compliance scores for associated citations.Example: Deactivating a compliant control reduces the citation's score because fewer controls remain in calculation. {#factors-affecting-compliance-score-for-citations__ol_x1y_b2l_3hc} ## Changes to citations {#factors-affecting-compliance-score-for-citations__section_xdv_gdl_3hc} 1. Citation deletion: When a citation is deleted, all the citation-to-control associations are deleted. No recalculation of compliance score for the citation itself, as it's deleted. Authority document scores may update internally. 2. Citation associated to a control objective: When a citation is associated to a control objective, all the L1 controls from the control objective are added to the citation and the compliance score is recalculated.Example: Linking a citation to a new control objective adds its controls, changing the citation's compliance score. 3. Citation disassociated from a control objective: When a citation is disassociated from a control objective, automatically added controls are deleted. The manual controls (flagged as "outside hierarchy") are not deleted. The compliance score is recalculated.Example: Removing a control objective association deletes automatically-added controls but keeps manually added controls, updating the citation's compliance score accordingly. {#factors-affecting-compliance-score-for-citations__ol_atm_k2l_3hc} ## Additional notes {#factors-affecting-compliance-score-for-citations__section_wb3_3sh_khc} * Manual associations are flagged as Associated Manually = True and are never auto-deleted. * When controls go outside hierarchy due to disassociation, the system displays an info message listing those controls for user review. * All compliance breakdowns, dashboards, and widgets now source data from the M2M table instead of control objective hierarchy. {#factors-affecting-compliance-score-for-citations__ul_g3c_ksh_khc}