Demand tasks
Summarize
Summary of Demand tasks
Demand tasks in ServiceNow are units of work created within a demand to break down initial planning activities before the demand is converted into a project, change, enhancement, or defect. They help delegate activities that assist in assessing demand feasibility. Unlike project tasks, demand tasks do not include planned, actual, or original dates but have a due date that indicates the target completion date without affecting demand workflow.
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Key Features
- Demand tasks cannot be nested or have task constraints like "Start ASAP" or specific start dates.
- They do not support execution types such as Agile, Waterfall, or Hybrid.
- Resources can be assigned using the Assigned to, Additional Assignee list, and Assignment Group fields, but resource assignments are not used to allocate resources for time tracking or resource planning on the demand.
- Resource assignments on demand tasks are not transferred to subsequent work entities created from the demand.
- Time spent on demand tasks is submitted via time cards and contributes to actual effort and cost calculations but remains within the demand as demand cost and effort.
- The actual cost is calculated based on hourly resource rates from rate models, default labor rates, or system properties.
- Demand tasks roll up actual cost and effort to the associated demand for consolidated tracking.
- Depending on the demand task category and your role, you can add cost plans, resource assignments, benefit plans, and risks directly to the demand from the demand task form.
Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers
Using demand tasks allows you to effectively manage and delegate preliminary work activities before creating projects or other work entities. Understanding the distinctions between demand tasks and project tasks helps avoid confusion related to scheduling and resource management. Resource assignments on demand tasks are primarily for delegation and do not affect resource planning or time tracking in downstream work entities. Time tracking via time cards at the demand task level ensures accurate calculation of demand effort and cost.
Customers can leverage demand tasks to improve demand feasibility assessments and enhance planning by associating cost, benefits, resources, and risks early in the demand lifecycle, thereby enabling better decision-making and resource allocation.
A demand task is a unit of work, created within a demand, to break down initial planning activities before converting the demand into a project, change, enhancement, or defect.
You can create a demand task from the Demand Tasks related list to delegate activities that are helpful for assessing demand feasibility. Demand tasks differ from project tasks in the following aspects:
- Planned dates, actual dates, and original dates are part of project tasks not demand tasks.
- The due date indicates the date on which the task is targeted for completion and does not affect the demand workflow. Project tasks, however, affect the project completion dates if the planned dates and actual dates are changed.
- Do not support creation of nested demand tasks.
- Do not support task constraints such as the settings Start ASAP and Start on specific date.
- Do not support an execution type such as Agile, Waterfall, or Hybrid.
Resource assignment
Assign resources for a demand task using the Assigned to, Additional Assignee list, and Assignment Group fields. Do not create and use resource assignments for allocating resources or groups to a demand task or to submit the time spent on the demand. If you associate a resource assignment with a demand task, the associated resource plan is not transferred to the work entity created from that demand.
The resource assignments are not associated with the demand by default. Make sure that you do not use the resource assignments that you created for the future work entity created from the demand to submit the time spent on a demand.
When you submit a time card for a demand, the time and cost incurred are not transferred to the work entity created from the demand and remain within the demand as the demand cost and effort.
Resources assigned to a demand task can submit the time spent on it using a time card. For more information, see Submit a time card for a demand task.
Actual cost and effort for a demand task
The actual effort of the work performed on the demand task is derived from the time card. The actual cost is derived from the hourly resource rate defined in the rate model, default labor rate, or default system property. The actual cost and effort for a demand task are then rolled up to derive the actual cost and effort for the associated demand. For more information, see Actual cost and effort calculation for a demand and demand task.
Add work items to a Demand
Based on the selected demand task category and role assigned to you, you can use the demand task form to: