Properties installed with Project Management

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 5 minutes to read
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    Summary of Properties installed with Project Management

    This documentation provides detailed information on configurable Project Management properties available in ServiceNow’s Zurich release. These properties allow administrators with theppsadminrole to customize project behavior, planning, cost management, and reporting by adjusting system settings underProject Administration > Settings > Preferences - Project.

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    Key Features

    • Business Rules Triggering: Enable firing business rules on task insert/delete from the Planning Console for dynamic project updates.
    • Project Movement: Allow moving projects in Work In Progress (WIP) state, with rollup of dates from open/pending tasks.
    • ROI Calculation: Automatically calculate Return on Investment (ROI) using estimated cost and net value, visible in Advanced project views.
    • Planned Date Adjustments: Recalculate planned end dates for manual projects based on actual start dates and planned durations.
    • Cost Rollup: Enable rollup of estimated and actual costs from child tasks to parent tasks to maintain accurate budgeting.
    • Project Date Rollups: Roll up project planned start dates from earliest task planned start dates for schedule consistency.
    • Milestone Auto-Close: Automatically close milestone tasks upon status changes to reduce manual effort.
    • Alter Planned Dates in WIP/Closed Tasks: Permit modifying planned start dates even for tasks in progress or closed states.
    • Date Change Cascading: Synchronize start dates across resource plans, cost plans, and benefit plans when project or demand start dates change.
    • Resource Plan State Retention: Maintain confirmed/allocated states of resource plans and bookings when moving projects.
    • Demand to Project Conversion: Automatically create projects upon confirming demands from the portfolio workbench.
    • Additional Attribute Copying: Define extra task attributes to copy when duplicating projects beyond default fields.
    • Default Expense Type: Set default expense type (e.g., Opex) for new projects created in Project Workspace.
    • Task Constraints and Limits: Control max task duration (default 2600 days) and max allowable date span into future/past (default 10 years) to prevent system performance issues.
    • Date Synchronization: Synchronize planned and original dates on project or task creation/update.
    • Status Report Configuration: Specify default templates for status reports and enforce read-only mode to restrict edits.

    Key Outcomes for ServiceNow Customers

    • Enhanced Project Planning Control: Customize how tasks, milestones, and projects behave during different states and lifecycle events.
    • Improved Data Accuracy: Automatic rollup of dates and costs ensures project data integrity and reduces manual reconciliation.
    • Streamlined Resource and Cost Management: Consistent updates across resource, cost, and benefit plans maintain alignment with project scheduling.
    • Automation and Efficiency: Features like auto-closing milestones and auto-creating projects from demands help reduce administrative overhead.
    • System Performance Safeguards: Duration and date span limits protect the platform from memory and performance issues during large or extended projects.
    • Customizable Reporting: Control over status report templates and edit permissions supports governance and compliance needs.

    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
    Use a predefined template when generating a status report

    sn_pw.project_status_report_default_templateId

    		 The property specifies the default template used for generating project status reports. You can replace the existing default template with your desired template and set it as default by updating the sys id in value field of project status report default template property.
    Generate the status report as read-only

    sn_pw.doc_status_report_read_only

    		 The property restrict edits in the status report. The property sets the status report to read-only.

    Default value: true