Properties installed with Project Management

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 4 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    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 Properties installed with Project Management

    ServiceNow’s Project Management includes a set of configurable system properties that enable administrators with theppsadminrole to tailor project behavior and controls. These properties are accessible viaProject Administration > Settings > Preferences - Projectand thesyspropertiestable. They govern core project functionalities such as business rule triggering, project movement, cost rollups, date management, and synchronization of project data.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • Business Rule Execution: Enable firing of business rules upon task or relation changes in the Planning Console to automate processes.
    • Project Movement: Allow moving projects in Work In Progress (WIP) state with automatic adjustment of rolled-up dates based on open/pending tasks.
    • ROI Calculation: Automatically compute Return on Investment (ROI) percentage from a project’s estimated cost and net value.
    • Date Management:
      • Roll up project start dates from earliest task start dates.
      • Enable altering planned dates for tasks even if they are WIP or closed.
      • Auto-adjust planned end dates for manual projects based on actual start dates and durations.
      • Synchronize planned dates with original dates on project/task creation or update.
      • Cascade start date changes to resource, cost, and benefit plans linked to projects or demands.
    • Cost Rollup: Update parent task costs automatically when child task costs change.
    • Milestone Management: Automatically close milestone tasks when their status changes to work state.
    • Resource Plan Persistence: Retain resource plan states (confirmed/allocated) when projects move, with automatic reallocation based on future availability.
    • Demand to Project Conversion: Enable creation of projects directly from confirmed demands within the portfolio workbench.
    • Copying Additional Attributes: Specify extra project task attributes to be copied during project duplication beyond default fields.
    • Default Expense Type: Automatically assign “Opex” as the expense type for new projects created in the Project Workspace.
    • Constraint Management: Retain “Start on” constraints on tasks after establishing inter-task relationships.
    • Project Duration and Date Span Limits: Define maximum allowed project/task durations and future/past date spans to control system resource usage and prevent memory issues.

    Key Outcomes

    • Administrators can precisely control how projects and tasks behave in terms of scheduling, costing, and lifecycle transitions.
    • Business processes can be automated and aligned with organizational policies by enabling or disabling business rule triggers and auto-closing milestones.
    • Date and cost rollups ensure accurate project tracking and reporting by automatically aggregating child task data to parent tasks and projects.
    • Resource planning remains consistent and reliable even when projects are moved in time, preventing manual rework.
    • Limits on project duration and date spans help maintain platform stability by avoiding excessive memory consumption.
    • Customization options like copying additional attributes and default expense types improve data consistency and reduce manual input.

    There are several Project properties that you can configure.

    You need the PPS admin role to access the Project properties.

    Navigate to Project Administration > Settings > Preferences - Project to configure the following properties.

    Property Description
    Enable firing of Business Rules on save from Planning Console. This property will be applicable only during insert and delete of tasks and relations.

    com.snc.project.fire_brs_from_planning_console

    		 If set to true, the project planning console triggers business rules.
    Note:
    Reload the console if you make changes to this property.

    Default value: false
    Enable move project for WIP projects

    com.snc.project.move_project.wip

    		 If set to true, this property enables you to move the projects which are in WIP state.
    Note:
    When a project is moved, only tasks in open and pending state are moved and the project takes the rolled up dates from all the project tasks.

    Default value: false
    Calculate ROI percentage based on a project's estimated cost and its net value

    com.snc.project.calculate_roi

    		 If set to true, this property calculates the return on investment using the (net value/estimated cost) x 100 formula. This field is only available from the Advanced view of the Project form.

    Default value: true
    Enable alter of planned date with Actual for Manual Project

    com.snc.project.change_planned_date_from_actual_for_manual

    		 If set to true, the property recalculates the planned end date of a manual project from actual start date and planned duration.

    Default value: false
    Enable project cost rollup (estimated and actual) – updating the cost of a project task will update the cost of its parent

    com.snc.project.rollup.cost

    		 If set to true, this property updates the cost of a parent project task if the cost of the child task is updated.

    Default value: false
    Roll up project start date from tasks

    com.snc.project.rollup_project_start_date

    		 If set to true, the project planned start date rolls up from the planned start date of the earliest task. Disable this property if you want the project planned start date to remain the same despite the start date of the earliest task.

    Default value: true
    Automatically close project milestone tasks when they change to work state

    com.snc.project.auto_close_milestones

    		 If set to true, this property closes milestones automatically so you do not have to close them manually.

    Default value: false
    Enable altering of planned date(s) for task in WIP/Closed

    com.snc.project.enable_alter_of_planned_dates

    		 If set to true, this property enables you to change the planned start date for tasks even if they are in the Work in progress state or any of the closed states.

    Default value: false
    Change Resource Plan, Cost Plan and Benefit Plan Start Date with Demand or Project Start Date change. Benefit Plan Start Date will change only if the offset type for the plan is not None

    com.snc.project.date_change_cascade

    		 If set to true, this property changes the start dates for a resource plan, cost plan, and benefit plan when there is a change in the project or demand start dates.
    Note:
    The start date of benefit plans with the offset type None does not change with the project or demand date change.

    Default value: true
    Retain users & resource plan state as confirmed / allocated when project moves

    com.snc.project.date_change_cascade_persist_resource_plan_state

    		 If set to true, this property retains the confirmed or allocated state of a resource plan, booked resources, and planned daily contour when a property is moved. On moving the project, the resource plan is reallocated or reconfirmed based on the availability of the resources in the future time period to which the project is moved.
    Note:
    This property is enabled only when the Change Resource Plan, Cost Plan and Benefit Plan Start Date with Demand or Project Start Date Change property has been set to true.

    Default value: true
    Create project(s) on confirming demands from portfolio workbench

    com.snc.project.portfolio_workbench.confirm_to_create_project

    		 If set to true, this property converts all selected demands in a portfolio to projects.

    Default value: false
    List of attributes (comma-separated) that will be copied from the originating project task

    com.snc.project.copy.additional_attributes

    		 By default, the Copy Project and Copy partial project options only copy the short description, planned dates, and duration fields from source project to the target project. If additional columns must be copied, they should be declared in this property.

    Default value: blank
    Default the expense type for a new project.

    sn_plng_att_core.default.expense_type

    		 When a new project is created in the Project Workspace, expense type of the project is marked as Opex.

    The following project properties are available in system property [sys_properties] table. Only pps_admin can edit these properties.

    Property Description
    Retain start on constraint on tasks after adding relations

    com.snc.project.allow_start_on_relations

    		 The property keeps the Start on selection of a task even after you put the task in a relation to another task, for example, FS relation.

    Default value: true
    Max duration (in days) allowed for a project/project task

    com.snc.project.task.max_task_duration

    		 The property governs the max duration of a project task or the overall project.
    Note:
    If your project includes milestones, the duration is calculated taking holidays and weekends into account.
    Default value: 2600
    Warning:
    Increasing the value of the property to more than 2600 will have an impact on memory usage of the platform. A very high value causes out of memory error, for example, if you try to create a project or a project task with 15000 days duration.
    Max date span into future or past from the current date for the project/project task

    com.snc.project.task.check_date_span_years

    		 The property governs the max date in future when entering the planned dates of a project or a project task.
    Default value: 10
    Warning:
    Increasing the value of the property to more than 10 will have an impact on memory usage of the platform. A very high value causes out of memory error.
    Synchronize the planned and original dates when creating or updating a project or task

    com.snc.project.sync_original_dates_with_planned_dates

    		 If set to true, this property synchronizes the planned and original dates.

    Default value: true