---
sourceDocument: Australia Governance, Risk, and Compliance
sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/governance-risk-compliance

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    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia Governance, Risk, and Compliance

ft:clusterId :

    - grc

bundleId :

    - grc

workflow :

    - Technology


---

# Question bank

# Question bank {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated September 3, 2026  
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## Summary of Question bank

A question bank is a centralized repository for creating, managing, and reusing questions with preconfigured settings in ServiceNow's Assessment Workspace.
It enables you to share questions across multiple assessment templates, avoiding the need to recreate them.
The question bank supports all question types available in assessment templates and introduces dedicated user roles and a publishing workflow to manage questions independently from any single template.
Show full answer Show less  
The Question Bank Hub serves as the central landing page where you can access, create, and manage question banks and their lifecycle. You can also migrate classic question banks or existing assessment templates into the new question bank structure. This feature has been available since Australia Patch 2.

## Access and Roles

Access to question banks requires two role types:

* **Base question bank role** (e.g., `questionbankmanager` or `questionbankreader`) to create or view question banks generally.
* **Category role** specified for the category associated with the question bank, which controls access to question banks within that category.

These roles ensure secure and organized management of question banks at both a global and category-specific level.

## Question Lifecycle

Questions in a question bank progress through a defined lifecycle of four states:

* **Draft:** Question is being created or edited and is not available for template inclusion.
* **Ready to publish:** Question is complete and awaits approval from a question bank manager.
* **Published:** Question is available for template managers to add to assessment templates.
* **Retired:** Question is no longer available for new imports but remains functional in existing templates.

Authorized users can manage state transitions individually or publish multiple questions simultaneously to streamline workflow.

## Limitations and Supported Features

Since question bank questions are not tied to a specific template, certain features are unavailable in the question bank stage:

* No support for conditional visibility, response automation, scoring, or post-assessment actions while in the question bank.
* Supported condition types that carry over when added to templates include justification conditions, attachment conditions, and preferred answer conditions.

## Question Bank and Template Independence

When a template manager adds a question from the question bank to an assessment template, an independent copy of the question is created within that template. This independence means:

* Changes to the original question in the question bank do not affect existing copies in templates.
* Changes made to a question copy within a template do not affect the original question or other copies.
* Template managers can customize copies further---for example, by adding scoring or conditional visibility---without impacting the question bank or other templates.

This design provides flexibility for template managers to tailor questions while maintaining centralized question management.  
A question bank is a centralized repository for creating, managing, and reusing questions with preconfigured settings. Use it to share questions across multiple assessment templates without re-creating them.

## Question bank overview {#question-bank__question-bank-overview}

The question bank supports the same question types as assessment templates and adds dedicated user roles and a publishing workflow for managing questions independently of any single template. The question bank hub is the central
landing page within the Assessment Workspace. From this hub, you can access every question bank that you have access to, create question banks, and manage the question lifecycle across your organization. You can also migrate a classic question
bank or an existing assessment template into a question bank. See [Migrate a classic question bank or assessment template](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/l30Cq_fsONtleNAgG4hIyQ "Migrate an existing classic question bank or the sections and questions of an assessment template into a new or existing question bank.").  
Note:  
This feature is available starting with Australia Patch 2.
Figure 1. Question bank hub

## Access to question banks {#question-bank__question-bank-roles}

Access to a question bank depends on both a base question bank role and a category role. A base question bank role, such as question_bank_manager or
question_bank_reader, lets you create or view question banks in general. You also need one of the roles configured in that category's Question bank category roles field, which controls
access to question banks associated with that specific category. For more information, see [Roles installed in Smart Assessment Engine](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/LDenk~QpkhHSlsvfSq4XmQ "Roles determine the permissions and access in the Smart Assessment Engine application.") and [Create an assessment template category](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/g5~UJpVWKj5qbY5jPq8YoQ "Create an assessment template category in the Smart Assessment Engine application so that you can organize and grant access to the assessment templates that are related.").{#question-bank__question-bank-roles-para-1}

## Question lifecycle {#question-bank__question-lifecycle}

Questions in a question bank follow a structured lifecycle with four states:{#question-bank__question-lifecycle-para-1}
{#question-bank__table_qb-question-states__entry__2}

| State | Description |
|-|-|
| Draft | The question is being created or edited and isn't available to add to templates. |
| Ready to publish | The question is complete and waiting for a question bank manager to publish it. |
| Published | The question is available for template managers to add to assessment templates. |
| Retired | The question is no longer available for new imports but continues to work in templates that already added it. |
[Table 1. Question bank question states]

{#question-bank__table_qb-question-states}

Each question card includes a state menu that authorized users use to move a question through these stages. You can also select multiple ready-to-publish questions and publish them together. For more
information, see [Publish questions in a question bank](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/zrNIw5_lKk5XKg2HQPAvAA "Move a question through the draft, ready to publish, and published lifecycle stages so that it becomes available for template managers to add to assessment templates.").{#question-bank__question-lifecycle-para-2}

## Limitations of question bank questions {#question-bank__section_question-bank-limitations}

A question bank question isn't tied to a single assessment template, so some question attributes aren't available while the question lives in a question bank:

* Conditional visibility isn't supported on question bank questions, because it depends on other questions in a specific template.
* Response automation isn't supported on question bank questions.
* Scoring isn't supported on question bank questions.
* Post-assessment actions aren't supported on question bank questions.

The following condition types are supported on question bank questions and carry over when a template manager adds the question to a template:

* Justification conditions
* Attachment conditions
* Preferred answer conditions

## Question bank and template independence {#question-bank__section_question-bank-independence}

When a template manager adds a question from a question bank to an assessment template, the system creates an independent copy of the question in the template. After the copy is added:{#question-bank__question-bank-independence-para-1}

* Changes to the original question in the question bank don't affect any copy that was already added to an assessment template.
* Changes to a copy in an assessment template don't affect the original question in the question bank or copies of that question in other assessment templates.

Each copy is independent. Template managers can further configure a copy, such as adding scoring or conditional visibility, without affecting the question bank or other templates that use the same question.{#question-bank__question-bank-independence-para-2}