Change Management release notes
Summarize
Summary of Change Management Release Notes - Yokohama
The ServiceNow Change Management application helps organizations manage the entire life cycle of changes efficiently while maintaining stability and governance. The Yokohama release introduces enhancements focused on operational efficiency, improved security, and process control, enabling faster yet controlled change management.
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Key Features
- snservicedeskagent Role: A new user role designed for tier 1 service desk agents to streamline information gathering, verification, and quick resolution delivery. It aggregates multiple roles including incident, problem, change, and request writing capabilities. Integration with ITSM Gen AI adds knowledge and assistant panel roles for enhanced support. This role is compatible starting with Service Operations Workspace version 6.1.
- Change Model Type Field: Introduction of a new "Model" option in the change model Type field to clearly identify changes controlled by a change model. This option becomes the default if no specific Type is set for a change request under a given change model.
- No Default Risk Value: The Risk field on the Change Request table no longer has a pre-assigned default value; it defaults to “-- None --” to ensure risk is consciously evaluated before progressing the change.
- Mandatory Field Transition Condition: Enforces completion of required fields before a change request can advance through states, as per the Change Model. This ensures compliance with process requirements and improves governance.
- Deny-Unless ACLs on Core Tables: Enhanced security by restricting unauthorized access to the changerequest and changetask tables through deny-unless Access Control Lists (ACLs). This prevents non-authenticated users from reading, writing, deleting, or creating records. This feature requires the ITSM Enhanced Security Features plugin and is recommended to be tested in non-production environments before full deployment.
- Workflows Replaced by Flows: For new customers, legacy Change Management workflows have been removed and replaced by Flow Designer flows, providing modern, customizable automation options. Existing customers retain their workflows but can adopt flows for enhanced flexibility.
Key Outcomes
- Improved Efficiency: Tier 1 service desk agents can operate more effectively with a dedicated role and integrated AI support, reducing resolution times.
- Greater Process Control: Mandatory field enforcement and clear change model identification help maintain compliance and consistency in change progression.
- Enhanced Security: Deny-unless ACLs protect critical change management data from unauthorized access, supporting organizational governance and data integrity.
- Modernized Automation: Transition from workflows to flows enables more adaptable and maintainable change management automation.
Activation Information
Change Management is included as an active feature by default within the ServiceNow AI Platform.
The ServiceNow® Change Management application provides a tool for managing the life cycle of all changes in your organization, enabling rapid changes without compromising stability and governance. Change Management was enhanced and updated in the Yokohama release.
Change Management highlights for the Yokohama release
- Increase operational efficiency of tier 1 service desk agents with the dedicated sn_service_desk_agent role.
- Require specified field details to be updated before transitioning the state of a change request by converting existing optional fields to mandatory fields.
- Restrict unauthorized access to Change Management tables using deny ACLs.
See Change Management for more information.
New in the Yokohama release
- User role for service desk agents
- With the sn_service_desk_agent user role, increase operational efficiency by streamlining the process of asking about, gathering, and verifying information, as well as delivering quick resolutions. This role is designed for
tier 1 service desk agents and is accessible when the ITSM Roles plugin (com.snc.itsm.roles) installed.The sn_service_desk_agent role includes the following roles:The sn_service_desk_agent user role can be used starting with Service Operations Workspace version 6.1.
- sn_incident_write
- sn_problem_write
- sn_change_write
- sn_request_write
- tracked_file_reader
- Change model Type field
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A new Model option has been added to the change model Type field to help users identify a change that is controlled by a change model. Model is the default if a Type has not been set for the change request of a certain change model.
- No default Risk value for change requests
- There is no longer a default value for the Risk field on the Change Request table. The Risk value is set to -- None -- until the risk is evaluated for the change request. This change ensures that no risk value is pre-assigned, allowing for a more accurate assessment before advancing the change
- Mandatory field transition condition
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Ensure mandatory fields are completed before advancing through states for a change request, as defined by the Change Model. This feature enables change managers to mandate the completion of required fields before states can progress according to the Change Model.
- Deny-unless ACLs on core tables
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Prevent unauthorized access to change_request and change_task tables using deny-unless ACLs. The deny-unless ACLs restrict access on these tables for a non-authenticated user to perform actions such as read, write, delete, or create.
This feature is available for new or zBoot customers with the installation of the ITSM Enhanced Security Features (com.snc.itsm.enhanced_security) plugin. Existing or upgrade customers must test and evaluate in their sub production instance before installing the plugin and implementing the security change in their production instance.
Removed in this release
Change Management workflows have been removed and replaced by flows for new customers. Existing customers that use these workflows are unaffected. The flows are available to both new and existing customers. You can use ServiceNow® Workflow Studio to customize or extend these flows. For more information, see Flow Designer.
Activation information
Change Management is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is active by default.