How alerts work with CIs in maintenance

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated June 2, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of How alerts work with CIs in maintenance

    In ServiceNow Event Management, when a Configuration Item (CI) is in maintenance, alert behavior and impact calculations are adjusted to reflect the maintenance status. This ensures that alerts related to planned maintenance activities do not inaccurately affect service impact visibility.

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    When a CI is Considered In Maintenance

    • A change request is actively scheduled for the CI (with state Scheduled or Implement and current time within the planned or actual date range).
    • The CI’s Install Status field is set to In Maintenance.

    These conditions cause the CI and its alerts to be handled differently in Event Management.

    Alert Behavior and Impact Calculation During Maintenance

    • All alerts on the CI are excluded from impact calculation and hidden from the Alerts tab.
    • The impact tree and service map show the CI in green with a label (In Maintenance), indicating no active impact.
    • For services containing CIs in maintenance, all related alerts are hidden and the entire service is shown in green.
    • For hosts with an active change request, child applications are treated collectively with the host, inheriting the maintenance state.
    • The alert’s Maintenance checkbox is selected when the CI’s Install Status is In Maintenance, signaling the alert should be hidden.

    Handling Change Requests and Alert Resolution

    • An active change request is one in the Scheduled or Implement state with current time within planned or actual date intervals.
    • Alerts related to CIs under active maintenance should be addressed only after the change request moves to Review or Closed state.
    • Once the change request is inactive (states like New, Assess, Authorize, Review, Close, or outside planned/actual dates), normal impact calculations and alert visibility resume.

    Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers

    • This process prevents maintenance-related alerts from generating false positives in service impact assessments.
    • Customers can monitor change requests to know when to begin addressing alerts post-maintenance.
    • Using the impact tree, service map, and Alerts tab, customers can clearly distinguish between maintenance and operational alert impacts.
    • To customize these behaviors, customers can create maintenance rules tailored to their organizational needs.

    When a CI is in maintenance, the impact tree, the service map, and Alerts tab are updated based on various factors.

    Watch this brief video to learn about how alerts work with CIs.

    A CI is in maintenance when:
    • A change request is scheduled for the CI.
    • The Install Status field on the CI record is set to In Maintenance.
    Note:
    To customize how alerts work with CIs in maintenance, see Create maintenance rules.
    How CIs in Maintenance appear in Event Management Description and the optimal time to resolve the alert
    Figure 1. CI with an active change request
    Event Management impact

    If an active change request is scheduled for the CI or if the Install Status of the CI is In Maintenance, all alerts on the affected CI are excluded from impact calculation. The Alerts tab also temporarily hides all corresponding alerts. The impact tree shows the CI in green with a note of (In Maintenance). The impact tree and the service map temporarily show CIs in green.

    For a service, all alerts on CIs in the service are also hidden from the Alerts tab. The entire service is shown in green on the impact tree. For a host with an active change request, the host applications are considered as one unit. All child applications are treated in the same manner as the host until the change request is no longer active.

    		An active change request has the following values:
    • The State is Scheduled or Implement.
    • The current time is between the Planned start date and Planned end date on the change request.

      OR

    • The current time is between the Actual start date and Actual end date on the change request.
    You can monitor the progress of the change request. Wait until the change request moves to the Review or Closed state. Then you can address all alerts for the affected CI and any alerts that generated between start and end dates. Use the impact tree, topology, and Alerts tab to show the calculated impact severity.
    Note:

    The Maintenance check box for an alert is selected when the Install Status field on the CI record is In Maintenance. This Maintenance check box indicates that the alert must be hidden from the Alerts tab. When the maintenance job updates this field, the Updated field (sys_updated_on) changes for open alerts, but not for closed alerts.
    Figure 2. CI with no active change request and not in maintenance
    Event Management map

    When there is no active change request for a CI and when the CI is not in maintenance, impact calculation resumes. The impact tree, the service map, and Alerts tab show the calculated impact severity for alerts.

    		 An inactive change request has the following values:
    • The State is New, Assess, Authorize, Review, Close, or has no changes at all.
    • The State is Scheduled or Implement. However, the current time is before or after the planned or actual date ranges on the change request.

    You can monitor the progress of the change request. When a CI has an inactive change request, you can address the corresponding alerts as appropriate.
    Figure 3. CI with no active change request and in maintenance
    Event Management impact

    If no active change request is scheduled for the CI and if the Install Status of the CI is In Maintenance, all alerts on this CI are excluded from impact calculation. The impact tree shows the CI in green with a note of (In Maintenance). The impact tree and the service map temporarily show CIs in green.

    		 All alerts on a CI with an inactive change request and In Maintenance has no impact calculation.