--- sourceDocument: Australia IT Service Management sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/it-service-management Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia IT Service Management ft:clusterId : - itsm bundleId : - itsm workflow : - Technology --- # Managing a major incident record # Managing a major incident record {#ariaid-title1} * Release version: Australia * * Updated March 12, 2026 * * ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 5 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Managing a major incident record This functionality enables ServiceNow customers to efficiently manage major incident records using a structured interface that includes multiple tabs and a playbook-driven approach. Agents can propose incidents as major incidents, which are then reviewed and promoted by a major incident manager. Once promoted, the major incident record consolidates all relevant information and tools needed to control the incident lifecycle and communicate effectively with stakeholders. Show full answer Show less ## Key Features * **Major Incident Proposal and Promotion:** Agents propose major incidents based on incident details, and managers review and either accept or reject these proposals. Accepted proposals can be promoted to major incidents to initiate full management. * **Tabbed Interface for Incident Management:** * **Overview tab:** Displays summary information including impact, location details (for managers), affected configuration items (CIs), services, assets, probable cause, resolution details, and activity logs for comments and updates. * **Details tab:** Shows detailed incident metadata such as category, assignment group, and watch list. * **Communicate tab:** Manages communication tasks with stakeholders during the incident lifecycle. * **Related records tab:** Lists associated records like child incidents, SLAs, and affected CIs. Supports adding similar incidents as child incidents to prevent duplicate major incident records. * **Playbook tab:** Guides agents through the major incident process using predefined playbooks. * **Contextual Side Panel Options:** Includes tools for launching playbooks, viewing recommended actions (including problem creation when relevant), accessing detailed record information, and collaborating via calls or chats through integrated communication providers (e.g., Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Teams, Slack). * **Collaboration and Communication:** Facilitates real-time collaboration with stakeholders using chat and conference calls, helping to resolve incidents faster. * **Post-Incident Review:** Supports reviewing and updating Post Incident Reports (PIRs) to analyze causes and responses, aiding in future incident prevention. ## Key Outcomes * Streamlined major incident identification and promotion process reduces delays in critical response. * Comprehensive, centralized incident information enables informed decision-making and efficient management. * Integrated communication and collaboration tools improve stakeholder engagement and incident resolution speed. * Playbook-driven workflows provide guided, consistent handling of major incidents aligned with best practices. * Post-incident analysis facilitates continuous improvement and risk mitigation for future incidents. Manage a major incident record with a playbook or the various tabs on the major incident record page. Based on the information displayed on different tabs, an agent can propose a major incident using the Propose Major Incident option. A major incident manager reviews the information on the Overview tab, such as the location information, and then accepts or rejects the major incident proposal. After a proposal is accepted, the major incident manager uses the Promote Major Incident option to promote the candidate to a major incident. After an incident is promoted to a major incident, each tab on a Major Incident record page contains information about the major incident. You can use the various options and the action menu to manage the major incident process and view incident information on the following: * Overview tab * Details tab * Communicate tab * Related records tab * Playbook tab * Contextual side panel {#managing-major-incident-sow__ul_xq5_rnw_gbc} Overview tab : The Overview tab displays the incident information in the following sections: * Summary -- Basic incident information, such as short description, description, impact, urgency, and state. * Impact: * Impact summary - Impact summary information, such as business impact, configuration item, service, and service offering. * Location -- The location of the caller on the world map, the number of locations, and the number of users. This information is only displayed for a major incident and if you have the major_incident_manager role. * Affected CIs -- The number of CIs affected by the incident. * Impacted Services/CIs -- The number of CIs and services impacted by the incident. * Assets -- The number of assets associated with the incident. {#managing-major-incident-sow__ul_gqr_542_z1c} * Cause -- The probable cause of the incident. * Resolution -- Incident resolution-related information, such as resolution code and resolution notes, once the incident is resolved. {#managing-major-incident-sow__ul_fqr_542_z1c} On the Activity section, you can view all comments, work notes, actions taken, and composed emails. This section also includes user activities, such as a change in the state and the assignment group. In the Compose section, you can add comments, work notes, and actions taken, as well as compose emails. For more information on the Overview tab, see [View and update incident information on the Overview tab](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/6ZJ5lZc63TAqEOfGcrEQHg "View and update the incident information, such as summary, impact, cause, and resolution, from the Overview tab. This incident information helps you analyze the issue and resolve the incident quickly."). Details tab : The Details tab displays detailed information about the incident, such as category, subcategory, impact, related record, assignment group, watch list, cause, and resolution. For more information on the Details tab, see [Incident Management in Service Operations Workspace](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/FpACAGPuU1Y9Fos6dnQ9bg "You can create and manage your incidents in Service Operations Workspace."). Communicate tab : The Communicate tab displays the list of communication tasks with various options that are used to maintain communications with the stakeholders for major incidents. For more information on the options available on the Communicate tab, see [Communicating with stakeholders about incidents and major incidents in SOW](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/TLeTd6S4I2dgsfVgH05Y~A "Use the Communicate tab to create and manage all communications with stakeholders during the various phases of an incident or a major incident."). Related records tab : The Related records tab provides the related lists containing records associated with the major incident record. For example, task SLAs, child incidents and affected CIs. In the Child incidents related list, you can use the Find similar option to find multiple similar incidents and add them as child incidents to a major incident or major incident candidate record. Similar incidents are retrieved based on the similarity solution definition that can be configured to train on various fields such as Short description and Description. Adding the similar incidents as child incidents to the major incident record ensures avoiding creation of multiple major incident records for the same issue. Playbook tab : The Playbook tab displays the information of the playbooks available for Major Incident Management. For each playbook, you can select to work with the playbook to manage major incidents. For more information, see [Managing major incidents using playbooks](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Hl4Fm00Q2lzfv7jiOqtOnw "Manage the major incident life cycle and process using Major Incident Playbooks from the contextual side panel of an incident record page."). Contextual side panel options : On the Contextual side panel, you can use the following options: * Major Incident Playbook -- Select the Major Incident Playbook (![Major incident playbook]()) icon to launch the playbook side panel. The playbook provides a guided approach to the entire major incident process. It provides a way to visualize business process workflows for major incidents in a simple, task-oriented view. The playbook contains the following two tabs: * Current -- List of major incident playbooks running currently. * History -- Historical list of major incident playbooks. {#managing-major-incident-sow__ul_pkj_jp2_z1c} * Recommended actions -- Select the Recommended Actions (![Recommended actions for ITSM]()) icon to launch the View recommendation side panel. The side panel lists all the recommended actions for major incidents. When an incident is promoted to a major incident and doesn't have a problem record associated with it, this tab displays a card with the Create a problem option to create a problem record. You can also configure whether the incident field information is copied automatically when a problem record is created by using the List of attributes (comma-separated) that will be copied from the incident to create a new problem (com.snc.problem.create_from_incident.attributes) system property. For more information, see [Create a problem](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/PxVRuY~nZaWv6v76ok6jEw "A problem is a cause of one or more incidents. Create a problem to identify the root cause of the incidents and try to prevent them from happening again."). * Record Information -- Select the Record information (![Record information]()) icon to view the incident record information on the side panel. The record information side panel includes the following information: * Active calls -- Details of the active conference calls for major incidents. You can select the call record to start a conference call. * Caller details -- Name, local time, address, email id, and other caller information. Select the Contact option to view the caller details and caller assets. You can also see recent interactions and incidents with the caller. * SLAs and timing -- Duration of time since a major incident has occurred, as well as the state of the response and the resolution SLAs for the major incident. You can select View all SLA to see all the task SLAs associated with the incident. * Assign to -- The assignment status of the incident. You can select the Assign to option to assign the incident to yourself. You can select the View additional collaborators option to view the list of collaborators associated with the incident. {#managing-major-incident-sow__ul_tkj_jp2_z1c}For more information on the record information in the Contextual side panel, see [Viewing incident record information using the Contextual side panel](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Is~pVulzhychaejFJSbfIg "View the incident record information, such as caller details and assets, from the Contextual side panel. Use this information to help manage an incident more efficiently."). * Collaborate -- Select the Collaborate (![Collaborate icon]()) icon to open the Collaborate side panel tab. This tab displays the following tabs: * Call -- Call-related information for the upcoming, pending, overdue, or active calls with the collaborators such as status and due date with time duration. You can select Start to initiate that call. You can also select the Initiate collaboration (![Add call]()) icon to create a call using various communication channels such as Zoom and Webex. * Chat - Chat-related information, such as name, number of participants, and due date, for upcoming, pending, overdue, or active chats with collaborators. You can select Open discussion to start that chat. You can select the Initiate collaboration (![Add call]()) icon to create a chat using various communication channels, such as Microsoft Teams and Slack. {#managing-major-incident-sow__ul_wkj_jp2_z1c} * On call -- Select the Experts on-call (![On call icon]()) icon to identify and contact available on-call members of a support group to resolve an issue. {#managing-major-incident-sow__ul_nkj_jp2_z1c} * **[Propose a major incident](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/8Ps2nbba0akMdECJqpIifw)** Propose an incident to a major incident candidate based on the incident information. * **[Managing major incidents using playbooks](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Hl4Fm00Q2lzfv7jiOqtOnw)** Manage the major incident life cycle and process using Major Incident Playbooks from the contextual side panel of an incident record page. * **[Promote a major incident](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/iHUriKsRBrT2a04XDHnOWQ)** Review the information of the proposed major incident candidate and promote it to major incident using the Major Incident Playbook. * **[Communicating with stakeholders about incidents and major incidents in SOW](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/TLeTd6S4I2dgsfVgH05Y~A)** Use the Communicate tab to create and manage all communications with stakeholders during the various phases of an incident or a major incident. * **[Collaborate with stakeholders during a major incident](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/wjWGcjBxpyk59PLPSjzpXw)** Collaborate with the required stakeholders during the various phases of a major incident to discuss and resolve the incident quickly. You can initiate a chat or make conference calls using a service provider to communicate with stakeholders. * **[Resolve and close a major incident](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Ku6pJ8ftjiJMJrsyT6oXyQ)** Resolve a major incident to reinstate service after the interruption. * **[Review and update a post incident report](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/B6JrdYw3TQSsxtDbecN19g)** Review a post incident report (PIR) using the Post Incident Report tab. A PIR helps you review and understand the cause of the major incident and the actions taken by the teams to resolve the incident. This helps prevent the issue in the future.