Functionality enhancements for the entities

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Functionality Enhancements for the Entities

    As part of the Zurich release updates for Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), you can configure several functionality enhancements for entities to improve ownership management and form usability. These enhancements help maintain accurate ownership details, improve communication through notifications, and provide better context and tracking for entities.

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    Key Features

    • Email Notification for Ownership Changes: When the entity owner is updated or a new owner is assigned, an email notification is automatically sent to inform the owner of the assignment.
    • Auto-update Entity Owner: You can enable an Auto-update owner option to keep the entity owner synchronized with a reference (source) field. This option is available only for entities created via the entity filter and enabled with the Use owner field option. It can be managed directly from the entity form in the workspace view.
    • Form Design Changes: Enhancements in the entity and entity filter forms include:
      • Mandatory fields for Entity class and Default owner to ensure ownership assignment even if the Use owner field is cleared.
      • Addition of a Department field to allow contextual categorization of entities by department, location, and class.
      • Display of Auto-update owner and its associated Source field for owner when enabled.
      • An Activity journal that logs changes to entity fields for better tracking.
      • A Sync owner with source field related link, visible only when the owner and source field values are out of sync, enabling manual synchronization.
    • Synchronization Job and Properties:
      • Before enabling auto-sync features, activate the synchronization job that updates entity owners based on source records.
      • Configure synchronization frequency (daily, weekly, or monthly) under GRC properties to automate owner updates.
      • Set the maximum batch size for synchronization jobs to control processing volume during owner updates.

    Key Outcomes

    By leveraging these enhancements, ServiceNow customers can ensure entity ownership is accurate and up-to-date, reduce manual errors in ownership assignments, and improve operational transparency with audit logs and notifications. These improvements support better governance and compliance management through reliable ownership tracking and streamlined form interactions.

    You can configure some functionality enhancements for the entities as part of the GRC updates.

    The following enhancements are available for the entities:
    • Email notification: When you update the entity owner value or when you assign a new owner to an entity, an email notification is sent to the entity owner about the assignment of the entity.
    • Auto-update the entity owner: You can select the Auto-update owner option to keep the entity owner in synchronization with the value from its reference (source) field. See the following example.

      The Auto-update owner option is visible only for those entities that you have created by using the entity filter and that you have enabled by using the Use owner field option in the filter.

      You can also view the Auto-update owner option on the entity form in the workspace view. See the following example.

      Figure 1. Entity form in the workspace view
      Entity form in the workspace view.
    • Form design changes: The following form design changes are introduced in the entity and entity filter forms.
      • You must fill in the Entity class and Default owner fields in the form as shown in the following example.
      • You must fill in the Default owner field even if you have cleared the Use owner field. This update ensures that every entity that has been created has an owner assigned to it.
      • The Department field is added to the entity form. You can add context to an entity by selecting the department, location, and class fields.
      • The Auto-update owner and Source field for owner fields are displayed in the form. The Source field for owner is visible only if you have enabled the Auto-update owner.
      • The Activity journal displays the log of the changes that are made to the fields as shown in the following example.
      • The new Sync owner with source field related link is displayed in the entity form as shown in the following example. It synchronizes the owner of an entity with its source record's field value. It is visible on the form only if the value of the source field and the owner of an entity are not in synchronization.

      • Activate the job that synchronizes the entity owner before enabling the property. You can enable the Frequency of syncing the entity owner with the source record property under GRC properties to synchronize the entity owner with its source record on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

        Activate the job that synchronizes the entity owner before enabling the property. You can enable the Maximum batch size while syncing the entity owner with that of its source record property under GRC properties to set the maximum batch size to an integer value. By doing this action, you synchronize the entity owner with its source record value.