Reference

Zurich IT Service Management

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zurich

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en-US

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Zurich IT Service Management

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bundleId

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workflow

Technology

Continual Improvement Management reference

Release version: Zurich

Updated July 31, 2025

6 minutes to read

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Summary of Continual Improvement Management reference

Continual Improvement Management (CIM) in ServiceNow Zurich release enables organizations to track and manage improvement initiatives through a structured lifecycle. It integrates with various applications such as Benchmarks, CMDB, Coaching, Demand, GRC, Major Incident Management, Problem Management, and Survey Management, allowing creation and updates of improvement requests directly from these sources. The CIM process involves defining, assessing, approving, implementing, reviewing, and closing improvements with associated tasks and approvals.

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Improvement States and Workflow

Improvements progress through defined states that indicate their current phase:

New: Created manually or from integrated applications by an Improvement Requester.
Accepted: Validated and aligned with strategic objectives by the Improvement Manager.
Assess: Improvement attributes are set and await approval from an Approver group member.
Approved: Approved for implementation by an Approver group member; ready to implement.
In Progress: CIM tasks are created and executed. Progress is monitored or placed on hold as needed.
On Hold: Implementation is paused, with the option to resume or close the improvement later.
Monitor/Review: All tasks are completed, and the improvement is reviewed before closure.
Closed: Improvement is completed and recorded in the Closed Improvement Register.
Canceled: Improvement is rejected or canceled at any stage, including canceling related tasks.

Each state provides contextual options such as copying the initiative or submitting for re-approval when changes occur.

CIM Task States

Improvements consist of one or more CIM tasks assigned to task owners. Task states reflect their progress:

Pending: Task awaiting improvement approval.
Open: Task is ready to begin work after approval.
Work in Progress: Task work has started.
Closed Complete: Task finished successfully.
Closed Incomplete: Task closed but not fully completed.
Closed Skipped: Task closed without work done.
On Hold: Task paused, can be manually resumed or progressed.

Task states synchronize with improvement states when an improvement is placed on hold or resumed.

CIM Approver States and Approval Process

At least one approval from a member of the configured Approver group is required for an improvement to move to the Implement state. Approvals are tracked individually but only one approval is needed to progress. Additional approvers can be configured through the CIM Approval workflow in Flow Designer.

Process Flow and Roles

Improvement Requester: Initiates improvement requests.
Improvement Manager: Validates alignment with strategy, accepts, and directs the improvement through stages.
Approver Group Members: Review and approve improvements during the Assess phase.
Improvement Coordinator: Collaborates with the manager to prepare and implement improvements, assign tasks, and manage progress.

The workflow guides users from request creation to acceptance, assessment, approval, implementation, review, and closure, with options to place initiatives on hold or cancel as needed.

Additional Features

Integrated updates ensure changes in related applications and CIM records remain synchronized.
CIM includes predefined roles, tables, scheduled jobs, and automated tests to maintain functionality during development and upgrades.
Automated test suites assist in validating CIM operations and identifying customization impacts.

Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

ServiceNow customers can leverage CIM to systematically manage continuous improvement efforts aligned with strategic goals, ensure transparent task assignments and progress tracking, enforce approval processes, and maintain integration across business and IT functions. This structured approach supports effective governance, visibility, and measurement of improvement initiatives, driving organizational efficiency and compliance.

Descriptions of CIM improvement, task, and approver states and process workflow.

Improvement states

The state of an improvement indicates the progress of the improvement in the process.


State	Description
New	Improvement request is created either manually, or from within an integrated application by an Improvement Requester. Integrated applications include Benchmarks, CMDB, Coaching, Demand, GRC, Major Incident Management, Problem Management, and Survey Management. States list: Accepted Canceled List Controls menu () options on the Improvement Initiative form: Copy Initiative.
Accepted	Improvement request aligns with company strategic objectives and is considered valid by the Improvement Manager. States list: Assess Canceled List Controls menu () options on the Improvement Initiative form: Copy Initiative.
Canceled	Improvement is not accepted (Reject action is selected by the Improvement Manager), or can be canceled directly in any state. Note: Any CIM tasks created for the improvement are also canceled. List Controls menu () options on the Improvement Initiative form: Copy Initiative.
Assess	All improvement attributes are set by the Improvement Manager, including business process, business service, and success measurement details. The improvement is waiting to be assessed by an Approver group member for approval. States list: Approved (only shown for an Approver group member) Canceled List Controls menu () options on the Improvement Initiative form: Copy Initiative Revert to Accepted
Approved	The improvement is assessed and approved by an Approver group member and is ready for implementation. The improvement is set to implement by the Improvement Manager. States list: Implement Canceled Assess (for reapproval) If additional tasks were added, or if the target has changed, the improvement may need to go through approval again. List Controls menu () options on the Improvement Initiative form: Copy Initiative Submit for Re-Approval
In Progress	CIM task creation is completed by the Improvement Manager or Improvement Coordinator. CIM tasks are completed by the task owners. The Improvement Coordinator determines either that the improvement is complete and sets it to review, or that progress is halted and places it on hold. States list: Monitor/Review On Hold Assess (for reapproval) If additional tasks were added, or if the target has changed, the improvement may need to go through approval again. List Controls menu () options on the Improvement Initiative form: Copy Initiative Submit for Re-Approval
On Hold	Improvement is no longer in progress but may resume at a later date. The Improvement Manager determines the outcome of the improvement including whether it should go back to implementation, or be closed or canceled. States list: Implement Closed Canceled Note: When an improvement is placed on hold, all active CIM tasks (not closed or canceled) are also placed on hold, but the state can be changed manually. When the improvement is taken off hold, all active CIM tasks (not closed or canceled) are set to Open state (unless they were changed manually). List Controls menu () options on the Improvement Initiative form: Copy Initiative.
Monitor/Review	All CIM tasks for the improvement are complete, improvements have been measured, and no further action is required by the task owners. The improvement is reviewed for closure by the Improvement Manager. States list: Implement Closed Assess (for reapproval) If additional tasks were added, or if the target has changed, the improvement may need to go through approval again. List Controls menu () options on the Improvement Initiative form: Copy Initiative.
Closed	Improvement is complete and is added to the Closed Improvement Register list.
Delete	Improvement is removed from the Improvement Register list. Available in each state but only to the Improvement Manager.

CIM task states

An improvement contains of one or more CIM tasks to complete the improvement. A CIM task is assigned to an owner to be responsible for the work specified.

The state of a CIM task indicates the level of progress for the task.


State	Description
Pending	State of a CIM task added before the improvement has been approved. If a CIM task is added after the improvement is approved, the CIM task is set to Pending state until the improvement is approved again. Once approved, the CIM task is set to Open state. If rejected, the CIM task remains in the Pending state.
Open	State of a new CIM task for an improvement that has been approved.
Work in Progress	State of a CIM task for which work has begun.
Closed Complete	State of a closed CIM task that has been completed.
Closed Incomplete	State of a closed CIM task that has been closed but not fully completed.
Closed Skipped	State of a closed CIM task for which no work has been done.
On Hold	State of a CIM task for an improvement set to On Hold state. The state of a CIM task on hold can be manually changed to Open or Work In Progress states. Note: When an improvement is placed on hold, all active CIM tasks (not closed or canceled) are also placed on hold, but the state can be changed manually. When the improvement is taken off hold, all active CIM tasks (not closed or canceled) are set to Open state (unless they were changed manually).

CIM approver states

Each improvement needs at least one approval to progress to the Implement state. The Approvers related list in the improvement contains a list of user approval records and the state of the approval.

The users in the Approvers related list belong to the Approver Group specified on the Improvement Initiative form. Once the improvement has been approved by an Approver Group member, approval from other members is no longer required to progress the improvement. However, other Approver Group members can still set their individual approval state.

To require additional approvers, configure the CIM Approval workflow in Flow Designer.

Improvement process flow

CIM process flow — Figure 1. Process flow for Continual Improvement Management


Process flow	Role	Description	Next action
Create Improvement Initiative	Improvement Requester	The need is determined for an improvement and an improvement request is created.	Click Submit. Required: Short Description
New	Improvement Manager	Acceptance is determined by verifying that the improvement objective aligns to a company strategic objective, and an Improvement Coordinator is assigned.	Click Accept. Required: Improvement Coordinator Strategies
Accepted	Improvement Manager	Other attributes are set and the improvement request is ready to be assessed for approval (by Approver group members).	Click Assess. (Waiting for approval) Approver group members are notified. Required: Approver Group
Assess	CIM approver (member of the Approver group) CIM approver states	The improvement attributes are assessed for approval from the Approvers related list.	Click Approved.
Approved	Improvement Manager or Improvement Coordinator	Improvement Coordinator and Improvement Manager work together to determine what is needed to ready the improvement for implementation.	Click Implement. Actual start date (Schedule tab) is automatically populated.
Implement	Improvement Coordinator	Implementation of the improvement begins with the assigned task owners. Any problem, change, or knowledge submission is shown in the corresponding related list.	Click Review if implementation is complete. Click On Hold if the process has halted. Required: On Hold Reason
On Hold	Improvement Manager or Improvement Coordinator	Implementation for the improvement has halted (On Hold state) but the process flow remains in Implement.	Click Implement to continue the process. Click Close if no further work will be done.
Review	Improvement Manager	The improvement attributes are reviewed for completeness and efficacy for closure.	Click Close. Required: Closure Notes tab Actual end date is automatically populated.