Preview predicted changes

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Preview Predicted Changes in ServiceNow Yokohama Release

    The Preview Predicted Changes feature in the Yokohama release enables ServiceNow customers to view and manage records that are expected to change during an upgrade. This helps customers anticipate which records will be inserted, updated, skipped, or require manual intervention, allowing proactive handling of potential upgrade conflicts, especially those related to customizations.

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    Key Features

    • Predicted Change Types: The system forecasts various actions on records during upgrade:
      • Predicted Insert: New records to be added.
      • Predicted Update: Existing records to be updated.
      • Reverted: Records reset to base versions, preventing skips in future upgrades.
      • Predicted Skip: Records skipped to preserve customizations.
      • Predicted Skip (Manual Merge): Skips requiring manual intervention.
      • Predicted Skip (Apply Once): Skips due to prior application from the apply once folder.
    • Customization Protection: Skips commonly occur to avoid overwriting customer customizations, ensuring upgrade safety.
    • Conflict Prioritization: Skipped records are prioritized from 1 (highest) to 5 (lowest) based on file importance, such as UI pages, Business Rules, Reports, and Form Sections.
    • Conflict Resolution Status: Tracks review and resolution stages, including unreviewed, reviewed without action, review not needed, retained customizations, and reverted to upgrade version.
    • Detailed Record Information: Access to file names, related plugins, and specific records helps in targeted upgrade planning and reconciliation.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Allows customers to preview and address potential upgrade conflicts before executing the upgrade, reducing downtime and surprises.
    • Helps maintain critical customizations by identifying and managing skipped records proactively.
    • Enables prioritization and structured review of upgrade conflicts based on file importance and business impact.
    • Supports informed decision-making through detailed prediction and resolution status tracking on upgrade changes.

    Use the previewed changes table to view the list of total records that are predicted to change when the upgrade occurs.

    Preview skipped list prediction

    The Total record changes also includes records that are predicted to be skipped due to various reasons. The most common reason is due to customization. The reason an upgrade skips customizations is to avoid overwriting your customizations. Upgrade Preview attempts to predict which records will be skipped when the actual upgrade occurs. It predicts skips due to customizations, and some of the other more complex scenarios as well. It is possible to use Upgrade Preview to address these predicted customization skips before the upgrade occurs, which can prevent that skip from happening.

    Click View preview details link on the Previewing version card. The Upgrade Preview form appears along with the following related lists details.

    Table 1. Related lists details
    Field Description
    File name Record that has been flagged for reconciliation.
    Predicted Disposition Action predicted to be performed on this file during the selected upgrade:
    • Predicted Insert: The system is predicted to insert a new record.
    • Predicted Update: The system is predicted to update this record.
    • Reverted: This record was reverted to the base version, and won’t be skipped on the next upgrade.
    • Predicted Skip: The system won't change this record in order to preserve customizations.
    • Predicted Skip (Manual Merge): The system won't change this record because updating it requires manual intervention.
    • Predicted Skip (Apply Once): The system is predicted to skip this record because it had already applied an update from an xml file in the apply once folder.
    Priority Priority that has been assigned to resolve the conflict. Values range from one to five, with one representing the highest priority.
    Note:
    ServiceNow prioritizes the skipped records based on the importance of the file types. The prioritization is done as follows:
    • Priority 1 (highest priority): UI pages, UI macros, and more
    • Priority 2: Business Rules, Security ACLs, and more
    • Priority 3: Reports and more
    • Priority 4: Form Sections, Choice Sets, and more
    • Priority 5 (lowest priority): other
    Resolution Ways to resolve a conflict.
    • Not reviewed: Conflicted files that have not been reviewed yet
    • Reviewed: Reviewed but no action has been taken yet
    • Review not needed: Review of the skipped files are not required
    • Reviewed and Retained: Left customizations in place without update from upgrade
    • Reviewed and Reverted: Customizations discarded, record updated according to the upgrade version
    Plugin Plugin containing the record
    Related record Record that the changelist entry applies to