Enterprise Architecture release notes
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Summary of Enterprise Architecture Release Notes - Australia Release
The ServiceNow Enterprise Architecture application in the Australia release enhances collaboration between strategic and operational teams, enabling organizations to better achieve their business objectives. This release introduces significant improvements in modeling, visualization, AI integration, and governance capabilities within the Enterprise Architecture Workspace, streamlining architecture management and decision-making.
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Key Features
- Enterprise Modeling and Visualization Enhancements:
- Align and distribute shapes precisely on the modeling canvas for clearer diagrams.
- Shape preview popovers in the Shapes panel allow users to view larger icons and labels before adding shapes.
- Bi-directional connector ports on ArchiMate, AWS, CSDM, and EA Extended libraries enable flexible shape connections.
- Add specific upstream or downstream related records to shapes, improving diagram accuracy.
- Configure connector properties directly via toolbar with options tailored for ArchiMate and other standards.
- Replace shapes while preserving connections to maintain diagram integrity.
- Upload existing process diagram images to generate editable BPM diagrams using AI Lens for quicker modeling.
- Expanded BPMN 2.0 shape library with detailed event, gateway, and activity shapes organized into sub-categories.
- Improved label management on relationship lines, including adding, editing, positioning, and deletion.
- Accessibility improvements including keyboard navigation and magnification support up to 400%.
- AI and Now Assist Integration:
- Enterprise Architecture query agent allows natural language questions about architecture portfolios directly in Workspace.
- AI systems can now be associated with business applications for governance and adoption tracking.
- Search published Technology Reference Model (TRM) catalog records using natural language queries.
- AI-enhanced document creation for diagrams supports collaboration, export to PDF, and approval workflows.
- Architecture Analysis and Governance:
- Architecture Analyzer visually explores relationships and dependencies without custom diagrams.
- Application Rationalization enhancements include overall scoring and bubble size indicators for better portfolio insights.
- Granular admin role controls improve access management within Enterprise Architecture Workspace.
- Publishing Center centralizes management of TRM catalog publishing and workflow monitoring.
- UI and Usability Improvements:
- New toolbar options for diagram alignment and distribution enhance modeling efficiency.
- Persistent user preferences for panel widths improve user experience across sessions.
- Visual indicators for diagram version comparisons highlight additions and changes clearly.
- Integration of Now Assist icons and panels for quick AI-powered assistance across relevant pages.
Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Improved Modeling Precision and Efficiency: Enhanced diagram tools and AI-assisted generation reduce manual effort and increase accuracy in enterprise architecture visualizations.
- Enhanced AI Governance and Insight: Track AI system adoption and governance status linked to business applications, supporting responsible AI management.
- Better Collaboration and Documentation: Generate, share, and manage architecture documents seamlessly, enabling easier stakeholder communication and governance.
- Streamlined Architecture Analysis: Visual tools like Architecture Analyzer and Application Rationalization widgets provide actionable insights into dependencies and portfolio health.
- Accessible and User-Friendly Interface: Keyboard navigation, magnification, and intuitive UI controls ensure accessibility and ease of use for all users.
- Centralized Publishing and Lifecycle Management: Manage TRM catalogs and related publishing workflows from a single location, improving governance and adoption of technology standards.
Activation and Related Information
Enterprise Architecture requires activation of the Enterprise Architecture (com.snc.apm) subscription. Now Assist features require activation of the Now Assist for Enterprise Architecture plugin. Customers can leverage these to enhance productivity and gain AI-powered insights within their architecture management processes.
The ServiceNow® Enterprise Architecture application unites strategic and operational teams, enabling organizations to achieve their business objectives. Enterprise Architecture was enhanced and updated in the Australia release.
Enterprise Architecture Workspace highlights for the Australia release
Australia Patch 2
- Associate AI systems from AI Control Tower with business applications in the Enterprise Architecture Workspace to track AI adoption, governance status, and business context across your application portfolio. You can also associate one or more business applications when submitting an AI use case request in the Service Portal.
- You can use the Now Assist panel to search your published TRM catalog records using natural language queries.
Australia Patch 1
- When you compare two versions of an Enterprise Modeling and Visualization diagram, the diagram canvas highlights the differences visually. This makes it easier to identify what has changed at a glance, without relying solely on the Now Assist change summary panel.
- Support for models OpenAI GPT-5 mini, Claude Haiku 4.5, and Google Gemini 3.0 Flash added for any Now Assist for Enterprise Architecture (EA) skill.
Australia Early Availability
- Publish a Technology Reference Model (TRM) catalog using the ServiceNow Knowledge Management product to easily find, adopt, and share approved technology standards through a centralized, risk‑managed TRM catalog. The published TRM catalog is accessible across the organization or beyond, as needed. You can use the Now Assist panel to search your published TRM catalog records using natural language queries.
- Create documents for Enterprise Modeling and Visualization diagrams to publish, share, and archive diagrams together with their associated data. With a single action, you can transform diagrams into ready‑to‑use documents, reducing manual copy‑and‑paste effort. The generated documents support collaboration and editing, can be exported to PDF, and can support approval workflows for governed review and lifecycle management.
- Add and manage labels on the relationship lines more easily in empty diagrams, hierarchy diagrams, and Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) diagrams.
- Visually explore and analyze architecture data modeled using the Architecture Analyzer feature in the Enterprise Architecture Workspace.
- Store and manage architectural documents, including documents generated from diagrams in the modeling tool using the Architectural Documents under Information Portfolio.
- Explore and analyze Common Service Data Model (CSDM) architecture relationships directly on a visual canvas in the Enterprise Architecture Workspace. You can assess current state of an entity, understand dependencies, and share the insights with stakeholders.
- Apply the granular level admin role changes to provide safer and more controlled approach to manage access in the Enterprise Architecture Workspace.
- Determine the bubble size using the Overall score indicator on the Application Rationalization Bubble Chart page.
- Generate insights for the widgets available on the Enterprise Architecture Dashboard page.
- Generate a context-sensitive summary for business applications based on the page that you’re generating the summary from.
- Compare any two versions of a diagram and generate a summary in the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization page.
See Enterprise Architecture Workspace for more information.
New in the Australia release
Australia Patch 3Australia Patch 2
- AI systems on business applications
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View and manage AI systems associated with a business application from the AI Systems tab on a business application record in the Enterprise Architecture Workspace.
- View all AI systems linked to a business application, organized by governance status as Managed (submitted for AI Steward review) or Unmanaged (created but not yet submitted for review).
- Add an existing AI system to a business application record.
- Remove an AI system association from a business application record without deleting the AI system record in AI Control Tower.
- Open the full AI system record in AI Control Tower directly from the AI Systems tab of a business application record in Enterprise Architecture Workspace, to review governance details, lifecycle status, and related assets.
- AI Search on the TRM catalog
- Search published TRM catalog records using natural language queries in the Now Assist panel. EA Workspace ships default AI Search configuration that automatically indexes TRM catalog records you publish. To make previously published TRM catalog records searchable, you can manually trigger indexing. For information, see Index previously published TRM catalog records for AI Search or AI Search on the TRM catalog.
- ServiceNow product tiers
- The ServiceNow AI Platform now brings you a new AI experience with three licensing tiers available:
- Foundation: AI basics to deliver insights
- Advanced: AI to boost productivity across relevant use cases
- Prime: Act autonomously with all AI assets and create your own
Depending on your entitlements, you will have access to certain application features, generative AI skills, agentic workflows, and AI agents.
- Exploring the architecture analyzerArchitecture Analyzer
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- Added support for analyzing all EA extended entities that are part of Enterprise Modeling and Visualization, such as
- Control
- Digital integration
- Digital interface
- GRC risk
- Product capability
- TRM product
- The Clear button clears all the selections made in the Add to canvas boxes.
- Added support for analyzing all EA extended entities that are part of Enterprise Modeling and Visualization, such as
- Enterprise Modeling and Visualization enhancements
- Label management improvements for diagrams:
- Add labels: Double-click empty areas or use the adornment tool to automatically place labels in optimal positions. You can add multiple labels to relationship lines.
- Edit and delete labels: Change existing labels or remove them as needed.
- Move with shapes: Labels maintain their relative position when you move associated shapes.Note:After submitting the diagram for approval, the labels can’t be edited.
- Exploring the publishing center in Enterprise Architecture Workspace
- Use the Publishing Center to control publishing workflows, monitor status, and view publishing history from a single location.
- Publish TRM catalog to a knowledge base
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- Configure TRM catalogs and apply filters for products and lifecycle phases.
- Manage publishing workflows with status updates from Draft to Published.
- View publishing job history in the Run logs tab.
- Access the published TRM catalog using the generated knowledge base URL.
- Enhancements to the Value stream and Value stream stage related lists
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- Value stream: View associated value stream stages and application models as related lists. You can add, edit, or remove the associated value stream stages and application models.
- Value stream stage: View associated business processes and business capabilities. Add or remove business processes and business capabilities. You can also view the value stream stage as a related list in the business process and business capability records.
- Enhancements to the Business Process related lists
- View the value stream stage as a related list of a business process.
- Enhancements to the Business Capability related lists
- View the value stream stage as a related list of a business capability.
- Create documents for the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization diagrams
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- Save diagram as a document using the Generate document option from the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization diagrams page.
- Define templates for the documents that can be created and used from the Diagrams page.
- Tag components that can be included in the templates to generate documents.
- View associated documents from the Diagrams page.
- Exploring the architecture analyzerArchitecture Analyzer
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- The Architectural Analyzer helps you to analyze architecture data without creating or maintaining custom diagrams. You can visually explore relationships across applications, services, and infrastructure to quickly understand dependencies and collaborate on architecture decisions. You can also understand the potential impact of architectural changes across applications and services.
- Application rationalization page enhancements
- Added an Overall score indicator to show the overall average score of a business application. Use this indicator to determine the bubble size of a business application on the Bubble Chart page. You can compare the overall scores of different business applications using their individual bubble sizes.
- Business application summarization skill enhancements
- Generate context-sensitive business application summaries from the following pages:
- Business capability hierarchy page: On generating a business application summary from this page, information such as the associated primary and secondary capabilities and the position in the capability hierarchy are displayed along with the general information about the business application.
- Application rationalization list view page: On generating a business application summary from this page, information such as the indicator scores (actual and normalized scores), and associated demand details are displayed along with the general information about the business application.
- Application rationalization bubble chart page: On generating a business application summary from this page, information such as x and y-axis details, and planned disposition details are displayed along with the general information about the business application.
- Generate insights for Enterprise Architecture Workspace dashboard widgetsNow Assist
- Generate insights for the widgets available on the Enterprise Architecture Dashboard page using the Now Assist Explorer icon available on the header of each widget.
- Diagram change analysis skill enhancements
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- Compare any two versions of a diagram and generate a summary of the changes.
- Select any version as a primary or secondary version to compare.
- Generate a summary for real-time changes made to the primary version while already comparing it to another diagram version.
- Modify diagram versions to compare using the Diagram comparison icon on the diagram comparison page.
- Identify differences faster when comparing two versions of a diagram, by using the color-coded highlights on the canvas. Newly added shapes and relationship lines appear in green and modified ones appear in yellow.
UI changes
Australia Patch 2
- Added the AI Systems tab to business application records in the Enterprise Architecture Workspace. The tab displays Managed and Unmanaged sections, each listing associated AI systems.
- Added the Business Applications field to the Request an AI use case catalog item in the service portal. The field is available only when the Enterprise Architecture application is installed and business applications are configured. You can select multiple business applications. Retired business applications aren't available for selection.
- Added a read-only Business applications related list under Related assets on AI system records in AI Control Tower. This list shows the business applications associated with each AI system.
Australia Patch 1
- The diagram comparison canvas displays visual indicators to highlight new or modified shapes and entities. Newly added shapes and relationship lines appear in green and modified ones appear in yellow.
Australia Early Availability
- Added the Publishing center section in the Setup page.
- Changed the label of Publisher to Manufacturer in the TRM page.
- Added the Business process and Business capability related lists to the Value stream and Value stream stage records.
- Added the Value stream stage as a related list to the Business Capability and Business Process records.
- Added the following two menu options in the More actions menu of the Diagrams page in the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization:
- Generate document
- View all documents
- Added the Documents section in the Setup page to create templates for documents that are created from the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization diagrams page.
- Renamed the Certifications tab on the Enterprise Architecture Workspace Home page to My Certifications.
- Introduced Document as a new format or file type replacing ADR file type. The File type drop-down label is changed to Format.
- Added the Architectural Documents section under the Information Portfolio on the Portfolio page.
- Added the Architecture Analyzer icon (add image) to the left navigation menu of the Enterprise Architecture Workspace.
- The Now Assist icon is added to the header of each widget on the Enterprise Architecture Dashboard page.
- The Now Assist icon is removed from the side panel of the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization diagram page. It’s added to the Compare diagrams page, which opens when you select the Compare versions button in the diagram canvas header.
- The Compare versions button is added to the header of the canvas on the diagram comparison page.
Changed in this release
- Granular admin role changes in Enterprise Architecture
- Added the granular level admin role (sn_apm.apm_admin) to the following system properties in the Enterprise Architecture:
- sn_apm_trm.is_product_life_cycle_tech_debt_enabled: Make this property false to disable calculating level 2 technical debt.
- glide.ui.sn_apm_trm_product_request_activity.fields: TRM Product Request activity formatter fields.
- sn_apm_trm.noOfPublishersPerTRMPage: The number of publishers to show per page.
- glide.ui.sn_apm_trm_product_lifecycle_request_activity.fields: TRM Product Lifecycle Request activity formatter fields.
- sn_apm.noOfSoftwareModelsPerTPMPage: The number of software models to show per page. This property is used for client-side pagination.
- sn_apm.discoveryModelProductTypesForTPMSuggestions: Product types of discovery models to consider for TPM software suggestions.
- sn_apm.noOfSDLCComponentPerTPMPage: The number of Agile Development components to show per page.
- glide.ui.cmdb_ci_business_app_activity.fields: Business application activity formatter fields.
- sn_apm.startRangeOfTPMLifecycle: The number of years before the current date is included when displaying software model lifecycle phases in the TPM timeline.
- sn_apm.endRangeOfTPMLifecycle: The number of years beyond the current date is included when displaying software model lifecycle phases in the TPM timeline.
- noOfBusinessAppsPerTPMPage: The number of business applications to show per page.
- Enhancements to the My certifications section
- View only the certifications that are relevant to you in the My certifications tab on the Enterprise Architecture Workspace home page.
- Enhancements to the Application Portfolio
- Business applications with the Retired state or Lifecycle stage as End of life are no longer displayed in the Business Portfolio section.
Activation information
Enterprise Architecture (formerly Application Portfolio Management) is available with activation of the Enterprise Architecture (com.snc.apm), which requires a separate subscription. For details, see Enterprise Architecture.
Now Assist features are available with activation of the Now Assist for Enterprise Architecture (EA) plugin. For more information, see Install Now Assist plugins.
Accessibility information
- Navigate the interface using the keyboard on the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization pages.
- Access the shape context menu using the keyboard on the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization canvas. On navigating to a particular shape context menu button, the selected button gets highlighted.
- See pop-over menus when hovering over connector lines on the Enterprise Modeling and Visualization canvas.
- Keep connector ports visible on all shapes in the diagram canvas without hovering by enabling the Show all buttons without the need to hover option in . When enabled, connector ports remain visible at all times on General, ArchiMate®, AWS, CSDM, and Group shapes. For more information, see Show shape controls without hovering.
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Reflow- The Enterprise Architecture Workspace supports reflow, which enables pages and content to be zoomed up to 400% through your browser settings without loss of content or functionality. Additionally, content can be enlarged without scrolling in two dimensions at a width equivalent to 320 CSS pixels or a height equivalent to 256 CSS pixels. Page layouts are transformed into a vertical, stacked view automatically when users increase browser zoom to 400%.
This enhancement helps users with low vision or who have trouble seeing web content in a browser due to monitor size, device type, poor lighting, or other situations. Reflow can be turned off with a system property for instances, experiences, and pages.