Case action status

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Case Action Status

    The case action status feature in ServiceNow enhances customer service efficiency by providing visual indicators of case statuses in the Case list. This allows customer service agents to quickly identify which cases require attention, streamlining case management processes.

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    Key Features

    • Action Status Column: Displays colored indicators and brief status messages, such as:
      • Blue: Needs attention - Indicates cases awaiting input or review.
      • Red: Blocked - Signifies cases blocked internally or by customers, typically due to open related tasks or pending customer feedback.
    • Actionable Case Flows: Automatically determines case action statuses and manages blocking tasks based on agent actions.
    • Blocking Tasks: Tasks that hinder progress towards case resolution, triggered by various agent actions.
    • Blocked By Related List: Displays blocking tasks and reasons in the workspace view of the Case form, enabling agents to understand the cause of the blockage.
    • Notifications: Agents receive alerts via their preferred channels when blocking tasks are resolved or when cases need attention.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing the case action status feature, ServiceNow customers can expect improved visibility into case management, quicker resolution times, and enhanced communication regarding case statuses. This facilitates a more proactive approach to customer service, ultimately leading to better customer satisfaction.

    The case action status feature displays the status of cases in the Case list. With this feature, customer service agents can easily identify cases that need attention.

    Figure 1. Action status column on the Case list
    The Action status column on the Case list displays color-coded indicators and messages for cases that are blocked or need attention.

    Action status column

    The case action status feature provides visual indicators in the Action status column on the My Cases and My Open lists to highlight case status. In addition to the colored indicators, the Action status column also displays a brief status message.

    Table 1. Action status column indicators and messages
    Indicator Status message Description
    Blue Needs attention A blue indicator highlights cases that need attention, such as cases that have been updated by customers or internal users and are waiting for input or review.
    Red
    • Blocked internally
    • Blocked by customer
    • Blocked internally and by customer
    		 A red indicator highlights cases that are blocked, such as cases that have open related task records or are waiting for customer feedback.

    Actionable case flows

    The case action status feature uses actionable case flows to automatically determine the action status for customer service cases. These flows create and resolve blocking tasks for different case-related actions and update the action status indicators. Certain agent actions trigger these case flows, which in turn create and resolve the blocking tasks. Customer service agents and managers can also manually set the action status for cases by enabling the Needs Attention field on the Case form.

    For more information, see the following topics:

    Blocking tasks

    A blocking task is something that prevents an agent from making progress toward case resolution. For example, a case might have one or more open related case task records or be waiting for customer feedback.

    Certain agent actions trigger case flows that create and resolve blocking tasks for customer service cases. These tasks determine the case action status. Additionally, there are actions that resolve these blocking tasks, such as the customer responding to an agent’s question or an internal user resolving a problem task. For more information, see Blocking tasks.

    Blocked by related list

    The case action status feature adds the Blocked by related list to the workspace view of the Case form. Blocking tasks for a case appear in this list. When the system adds a blocking task to a case, it also adds one of the following blocking reasons:
    • Need information from the customer
    • Need task resolution
    • Need PRB workaround
    • Other
    Note:
    When a problem is associated with a case, the blocking reason is set to Needs task resolution. The agent can update this reason to Need PRB workaround if necessary.
    When a blocking task is resolved:
    • The Unblocked By field displays the user who performed the unblocking action.
    • The Unblocked On field displays the date that the blocking task was resolved.
    • The Needs Attention field for the case is enabled.

    Notifications

    Agents can receive notifications on their preferred channel when a blocking task for an assigned case is resolved. Agents can also receive notifications when the Needs Attention field for an assigned case is enabled.
    Note:
    Notifications are not sent to the user who updated the record.

    Users with the admin role can configure notification triggers by navigating to Agent Workspace > Notification Triggers > Case Action Status Trigger.