State changes for event tasks in groups

Release version: Australia

Updated March 12, 2026

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Summary of State Changes for Event Tasks in Groups

This update outlines how original and duplicate event tasks transition through various states within the Similar tasks group in ServiceNow. Understanding these state changes is crucial for effectively managing event tasks and maintaining workflow integrity.

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Key Features

Task Grouping: Similar tasks are grouped under a single event, facilitating easier management.
State Transitions: The original task is initially in a read-only state until the event starts, at which point it is auto-assigned as the original task.
Dependency Management: Tasks in the group are interdependent, progressing through states based on the completion of preceding tasks.
Unlink and Re-trigger Actions: Users can unlink tasks from the group or re-trigger the original task to complete its workflow as a manual task.

Key Outcomes

Upon closing the original task, the duplicate task automatically transitions to the Closed duplicate state. This structured approach ensures that all tasks are properly tracked and managed, facilitating efficient workflow execution. Additionally, users can re-trigger tasks when necessary, providing flexibility in task management.

The original and duplicate event tasks in the Similar tasks group move through different states until the original task is closed.

The state transitions of the original and duplicate event tasks are explained in the table.

Table 1. State transitions of the event task
Description	Task state
An event contains similar tasks grouped together.	The event from the list where similar event tasks are grouped together is shown in the example.
State the Original task field before starting the event.	Before starting the event, the Original task field in the Similar tasks group is empty and in the read-only state.
After an event is started, the original task is auto-assigned.	The first task of the event, such as t4 (EVNTSK0010020) of group 2 in the example, becomes the original task of the Similar tasks group. The example shows that task 4 (t4) does not have any dependency.
States of original and duplicate tasks	The original task is updated to the On hold state and the duplicate task is in the Pending state. For context, the worknote for the original task is updated such that the task has been moved to On hold because it was grouped by the similar task groups.
The dependencies in the similar tasks group are closed.	Task 4 is dependent on task 3, task 3 is dependent on task 2, and task 2 is dependent on task 1. Therefore, it is closed first.
After closing t1, t2 moves to the Open state.	The task, t2, is open.
After closing t2, t3 moves to the On hold state.	The task, t3, is on hold.
Since all tasks in the group are On hold, the original task (t4) moves to the Open state.	The task, t4, is open.
Final step. After closing the original task, the duplicate task moves to the Closed duplicate state automatically.	The duplicate task (t3) moves to the Closed duplicate state automatically.

You can unlink an event task from the similar tasks group by selecting the Unlink similar tasks group UI action in the event task.

You can re-trigger an original task as a manual task and complete its workflow like a regular event task by selecting the Re-trigger as a manual task UI action in the event task. It moves the original task to the Open state, but its duplicate task stays in the Closed duplicate state.