History Timeline

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of History Timeline

    The History Timeline feature in ServiceNow allows users to view a chronological representation of changes made to Configuration Items (CIs) and their related records, providing insight into the history and relationships of CIs when auditing is enabled. This tool is particularly valuable for troubleshooting issues and understanding the evolution of CIs over time.

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    Key Features

    • Access Control: Role-based access is managed through the glide.history.role property, typically requiring itil and read access to the History Set table.
    • Customizable Timeline: Users can specify the time period, range, and properties displayed, allowing for focused analysis of specific changes or a broad overview of a CI's history.
    • Visual Indicators: Changes are represented by colored bubbles, with shapes denoting different change types and colors indicating validity.
    • Zoom and Navigation: Users can zoom in or out on the timeline and navigate through time using handles on the timeline navigator.
    • Property Filtering: Users can filter displayed changes to focus on specific properties, enhancing clarity in the view of changes.
    • Detail and Summary Views: The Summary view shows snapshots of each change, while the Detail view provides in-depth snapshots based on the selected properties.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing the History Timeline, ServiceNow customers can effectively track and analyze changes to CIs, leading to better troubleshooting and management of configuration records. The ability to filter, zoom, and navigate through changes enhances the user experience and operational efficiency, allowing for informed decision-making and improved change management practices.

    You can view a timeline of changes for a CI and for its related records, relationships, baselines, and proposed changes for the CI. Timelines are available for CIs in the Configuration Item [cmdb_ci] table or a descendant of this table, if auditing is enabled for the tables.

    Role required: The ACL for this view is based on the roles defined in the glide.history.role system property, which by default is set to itil. Also, the user must have read access to the History Set [sys_history_set] table, which by default is granted to admin.

    You can open a timeline when you view the history of a CI. You can specify the time period, time range, and properties that are displayed in the timeline. You can view either what has changed in a particular change set, or view the entire CI to better troubleshoot any issues. You can also display a timeline of changes to the CI's related records, and export and compare snapshots of the CI at any point in time.

    CI changes are represented by bubbles in different shapes and colors along the timeline. The shape of each bubble represents a different type of change and the color of each bubble specifies whether the change is valid or invalid. CI baselines are represented by black circles that you can hover over to display more details. Click the ? icon to display bubble shape and color definitions, and point to a bubble to display details about the change set.

    A change to a relationship is considered valid only if it was applied through change management. If the change was applied via the Proposed Changes framework, it is valid. For additional validation steps, see Create or edit a planned validation script .

    Figure 1. History Timeline view
    Figure 2. Timeline bubbles
    Note:
    Proposed changes that do not have a planned start date are placed at future points of time.

    Timeline navigator

    Use the handles on both ends of the timeline navigator to extend or to shorten the time period that is shown.

    You can scroll to a different period of time by clicking on the bottom part of the timeline navigator and then dragging the navigator to the left or right.

    Zoom

    By default, the timeline for the last month is shown. Next to the Zoom label above the timeline, you can select another time interval. You can select intervals from a minute to the entire period of data.

    If there are many changes of the CI during the time period, the bubbles displayed might get too crowded. You can zoom in or out to spread the bubbles in either method:
    • Change the time interval on the timeline. As you shorten the time interval, you zoom in, and as you lengthen the time interval, you zoom out.
    • Select the section of the timeline that you want to zoom into.

    Property filter

    You can filter the bubbles that are displayed. By default, all bubbles are displayed, representing changes to all of the CI's properties. You can limit the view to display only the bubbles in which selected properties have changed and exclude bubbles in which only unselected properties changed.

    The Detail and Summary views highlight properties within your filter scope that have changed. The changed properties are highlighted in light blue.

    In the Summary view, you can choose to include all the properties of the CI, or only properties that have changed. If you choose to display all properties in the summary view, then changed properties are listed before unchanged properties.

    Summary view

    The Summary view displays snapshots of the CI's represented by each bubble. Each snapshot displays the changes to the CI's fields and relationships according to the change set. It displays old and new values before and after the change, and any relationships that were added or deleted.

    Use the > and < buttons on both sides of the snapshot display to scroll through the next and previous change set records in a chronological order.

    Detail view

    The Detail view displays snapshots of the CI that correspond with the bubbles. Each snapshot includes the fields that are within the property filter scope, displaying the properties that have changed with a light blue background. Click on a bubble to display its corresponding snapshot of the CI. The data that is displayed is read-only.

    Use the > and < buttons on both sides to scroll through the next and previous change set records in a chronological order.