Combined Service Portal release notes for upgrades from Yokohama to Zurich

zurich Combined Product Files

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zurich

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en-US

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zurich Combined Product Files

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Combined Service Portal release notes for upgrades from Yokohama to Zurich

Release version: Zurich

Updated August 11, 2026

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Summary of Combined Service Portal Release Notes for Upgrades from Yokohama to Zurich

This consolidated overview covers the key updates, features, changes, and important upgrade information for Service Portal from the Yokohama release through to the Zurich release. It is designed to help ServiceNow customers prepare for their upgrade by summarizing enhancements and adjustments across these releases.

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Key Features

Performance Analysis (Yokohama): Analyze portal page and widget performance with benchmarks to identify and improve underperforming widgets.
Widget Code Comparison (Yokohama): Compare cloned widgets to their base widgets using a code comparator to clearly see differences.
Approval Info Record Widget (Zurich): Displays detailed approval requests and full approval records including activity streams, aligning with the Now Assist Approval Assistance AI agent.
Approval Assistance Configuration (Zurich): Configure Approval Configuration records to optimize the Approval Assistance AI agent and Approval Info Record widget for specific use cases.
Widget Loading Order Configuration (Zurich): Admins can configure and defer widget loading order to enhance page load speed and improve user interaction experience.

Key Changes

ECMAScript 2021 (ES12) Support (Yokohama): Server-side widget scripts can now use ECMAScript 2021 features by enabling the mode in widget settings.
Page Route Maps Role Definition (Yokohama): Control user redirection based on roles specified in page route maps, improving access management.
Improved Single Sign-On (SSO) Experience (Yokohama): Early redirection to SSO Identity Provider login pages enhances the portal login process.
Mandatory Comments on Request Rejection (Yokohama): Approvers can be required to provide comments when rejecting requests via the Approvals widget, configurable by administrators.
Cross-Scope Privilege Validation (Yokohama): The Form widget now validates access privileges for tables it fetches data from, enhancing security controls.
No changes were introduced in the Zurich release for existing features.

Activation and Requirements

Activation: Service Portal is active by default as a ServiceNow AI Platform feature in both Yokohama and Zurich releases.
Browser Support: Yokohama discontinued support for Internet Explorer 11 and the iOS version of Firefox does not support Service Portal pages. No new browser changes in Zurich.
Additional Requirements: No new requirements were introduced or changed for Service Portal in these releases.

Notable Omissions

No features or functionalities were removed or deprecated in either the Yokohama or Zurich releases.
No updates were recorded regarding accessibility or localization in these releases.

Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers

When preparing for an upgrade from Yokohama to Zurich, focus on:

Leveraging new widgets and AI assistance features to improve approval workflows.
Optimizing portal performance through widget load order configuration and performance benchmarking tools.
Enhancing security and user access control by defining roles in page route maps and validating cross-scope privileges.
Improving user login experiences by utilizing enhanced SSO redirection features.
Ensuring browser compatibility, especially avoiding unsupported browsers like Internet Explorer 11.

These consolidated notes provide a streamlined view of Service Portal improvements and changes, enabling effective planning and implementation during your upgrade process.

Consolidated page of all release notes for Service Portal from Yokohama to Zurich.

How to use this page

To help you prepare for your upgrade, we have combined the cross-family Service Portal release notes onto one page. Read this summary of the new features, changes, and updated information for your product from Yokohama to Zurich.

Tip:

If there were no updates for a release notes section in a certain family release, we included a short note for your reference. For example, if a product did not have any updates in Tokyo, the row says "No updates for this release."

Important information for upgrading Service Portal to Zurich

Before you upgrade to Zurich, review these pre- and post-upgrade tasks and complete the tasks as needed.


Release	Release notes
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

New features

Between your current release family and Zurich, new features were introduced for Service Portal.


Release	Release notes
Yokohama	Analyze the performance of portal pages and their widgets Set benchmarks against which to analyze the performance of a portal page. Identify widgets on the page that don't meet the performance benchmarks and view details about their performance. Compare a cloned widget with its base widget Compare cloned widgets with the base widget from which they were cloned. View differences between the code of the cloned widget and the base widget highlighted in the code comparator.
Zurich	Approval Info Record widget The Service Portal Approval Info Record widget shows details about the approval request and a full record for an approval including the activity stream. The Approval Info Record widget and the new Now Assist Approval Assistance AI agent maintain parity. To use the new Approval Info Record widget, activate the Approval Details Page Route Map, and uptake the Approval Info Record widget in your custom page. The new Now Assist Approval Assistance AI agent allows you to see your pending approvals, as well as the details about your pending approvals. For more information, see Approval assistance AI agent. Configure Service Portal Approval Configuration record Configure the Service Portal Approval Configuration record to make the Approval Assistance AI agent and Approval Info Record widget work better for your specific use case. Configure widget loading order in Service Portal As an admin, configure the widget loading order to defer their loading. This feature enables faster loading of the page and makes the widgets available for interaction as they load, thus improving the user experience.

Changes

Between your current release family and Zurich, some changes were made to existing Service Portal features.


Release	Release notes
Yokohama	Use ECMAScript 2021 (ES12) JavaScript mode in server scripts for widgets Use features supported in the ECMAScript 2021 (ES12) JavaScript mode in server-side scripts for widgets by selecting Turn on ECMAScript 2021 (ES12) mode from the widget record or Widget Editor. For information about features supported in the ECMAScript 2021 (ES12) JavaScript mode, see JavaScript engine feature support. Define roles for page route maps Control which users are redirected to a new page based on a page route map. Specify the user roles to apply in the Page Route Map form. Improved redirection for single sign-on (SSO) authentication Improved the experience of logging in to portals that use single sign-on (SSO) authentication by redirecting to the SSO Identify Provider (IdP) login page without trying to load the portal page first. Enforce providing comments when rejecting requests Require approvers to provide comments when rejecting a request from the Approvals widget. Administrators can enable requiring comments from the widget instance options. Check cross-scope privileges to a table with the Form widget Validate access to tables from which the Form widget fetches data. The Form widget checks for the necessary cross-scope privileges to a table by default.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Removed

Between your current release family and Zurich, some Service Portal features or functionality were removed.


Release	Release notes
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Deprecations

Between your current release family and Zurich, some Service Portal features or functionality were deprecated.


Release	Release notes
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Activation information

Review information on how to activate Service Portal.


Release	Release notes
Yokohama	Service Portal is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default.
Zurich	Service Portal is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default.

Additional requirements

If any additional requirements were introduced or changed for Service Portal we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Browser requirements

If any specific browser requirements were introduced or changed for Service Portal we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Yokohama	The Yokohama release doesn't support Internet Explorer 11. The iOS version of Firefox doesn’t support Service Portal pages. For more information about Service Portal browser support, see Browser support.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Accessibility information

Review details on accessibility information for Service Portal, such as specific requirements or compliance levels.


Release	Release notes
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich

Localization information

If there are specific localization considerations for Service Portal we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Yokohama	No updates for this release.
Zurich	No updates for this release.

Highlight information

If there are specific highlight considerations for Service Portal we have noted them here.


Release	Release notes
Yokohama	Analyze the performance of portal pages and their widgets. Compare cloned widgets with the base widget from which they were cloned. Use ECMAScript 2021 (ES12) JavaScript mode in widget server scripts. Enable early single sign-on (SSO) redirection. Specify the user roles that apply to a page route map. See Service Portal for more information.
Zurich	Use the support for Service Portal in the iOS Google App. As an admin, configure the widget load order on Service Portal pages. As an admin, defer the loading of AI Search assets to enhance page performance. See Service Portal for more information.