Case action status

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated December 9, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Case action status

    The case action status feature in ServiceNow provides customer service agents with clear visual indicators and status messages to identify the current state of cases in the Case list, specifically on the My Cases and My Open lists. This helps agents quickly determine which cases require their attention or are blocked, improving case management efficiency.

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    Key Features

    • Action status column: Displays colored indicators and brief status messages to represent case states:
      • Blue (Needs attention): Highlights cases updated by customers or internal users that require review or input.
      • Red (Blocked internally, Blocked by customer): Indicates cases blocked due to open related tasks or pending customer feedback.
    • Actionable case flows: Automatically determine and update the action status by creating and resolving blocking tasks triggered by agent actions. Managers and agents can also manually set the Needs Attention status via the Case form.
    • Blocking tasks: These are tasks that prevent case progress, such as awaiting customer response or unresolved related tasks. Resolving these tasks updates the case’s action status.
    • Blocked by related list: Displays blocking tasks on the Case form workspace with reasons like “Need information from the customer,” “Need task resolution,” “Need PRB workaround,” or “Other.” When resolved, the system logs who unblocked the case and when.
    • Notifications: Agents receive notifications on their preferred channels when blocking tasks are resolved or the Needs Attention field is enabled, except the user who performs the update. Admins can configure notification triggers via Agent Workspace settings.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Improves case handling by visually highlighting cases needing agent action or blocked states, enabling faster prioritization.
    • Supports automated and manual updates to case statuses, enhancing workflow flexibility.
    • Provides transparency on blocking reasons and resolution history to better manage dependencies and customer communications.
    • Delivers timely notifications to agents, helping them stay informed and responsive.

    The case action status feature displays the status of cases in the Case list. With this feature, customer service agents can easily identify cases that need attention.

    Figure 1. Action status column on the Case list
    The Action status column on the Case list displays color-coded indicators and messages for cases that are blocked or need attention.

    Action status column

    The case action status feature provides visual indicators in the Action status column on the My Cases and My Open lists to highlight case status. In addition to the colored indicators, the Action status column also displays a brief status message.

    Table 1. Action status column indicators and messages
    Indicator Status message Description
    Blue Needs attention A blue indicator highlights cases that need attention, such as cases that have been updated by customers or internal users and are waiting for input or review.
    Red
    • Blocked internally
    • Blocked by customer
    • Blocked internally and by customer
    		 A red indicator highlights cases that are blocked, such as cases that have open related task records or are waiting for customer feedback.

    Actionable case flows

    The case action status feature uses actionable case flows to automatically determine the action status for customer service cases. These flows create and resolve blocking tasks for different case-related actions and update the action status indicators. Certain agent actions trigger these case flows, which in turn create and resolve the blocking tasks. Customer service agents and managers can also manually set the action status for cases by enabling the Needs Attention field on the Case form.

    For more information, see the following topics:

    Blocking tasks

    A blocking task is something that prevents an agent from making progress toward case resolution. For example, a case might have one or more open related case task records or be waiting for customer feedback.

    Certain agent actions trigger case flows that create and resolve blocking tasks for customer service cases. These tasks determine the case action status. Additionally, there are actions that resolve these blocking tasks, such as the customer responding to an agent’s question or an internal user resolving a problem task. For more information, see Blocking tasks.

    Blocked by related list

    The case action status feature adds the Blocked by related list to the workspace view of the Case form. Blocking tasks for a case appear in this list. When the system adds a blocking task to a case, it also adds one of the following blocking reasons:
    • Need information from the customer
    • Need task resolution
    • Need PRB workaround
    • Other
    Note:
    When a problem is associated with a case, the blocking reason is set to Needs task resolution. The agent can update this reason to Need PRB workaround if necessary.
    When a blocking task is resolved:
    • The Unblocked By field displays the user who performed the unblocking action.
    • The Unblocked On field displays the date that the blocking task was resolved.
    • The Needs Attention field for the case is enabled.

    Notifications

    Agents can receive notifications on their preferred channel when a blocking task for an assigned case is resolved. Agents can also receive notifications when the Needs Attention field for an assigned case is enabled.
    Note:
    Notifications are not sent to the user who updated the record.

    Users with the admin role can configure notification triggers by navigating to Agent Workspace > Notification Triggers > Case Action Status Trigger.