Creating action items in events
Summarize
Summary of Creating action items in events
Starting with BCM release 9.0.x, crisis managers can create ad-hoc action tasks during an open crisis event or exercise without linking them to event assets or recovery plans. These action items enable real-time task assignments for recovery members or teams, facilitating immediate responses such as situation assessments or plan reviews. Unlike event tasks, action items are not part of the event recovery timeline.
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Key Features
- Real-time Task Assignment: Assign tasks like verifying safety or assessing damage during crises or exercises.
- Flexible Creation: Create action items anytime while the event is open, independent of recovery plans or assets.
- Fields and Tracking: Includes fields such as actual start/end dates, total time taken, due date, type, description, and assignment details.
- Workflow States: Action items progress through states: Open → Work in progress (auto-captures start time) → Skipped (if irrelevant, time cleared) → Closed (complete or incomplete, auto-captures end time).
- Assignment Options: Assign tasks to groups, individuals, or additional assignees for clear responsibility.
- Role-Based Access: Plan owners and program managers can create, update, and delete action items; event recovery members can read and update assigned items; viewers have read access.
- Integration with Smart Assessment: Enables creation of task and assessment-type action items linked to events.
Key Differences from Event Tasks
- Action items are independent of dependencies, automation, order calculations, and impacted assets, unlike event tasks.
- Action items’ time tracking is not rolled up into recovery plans or assets.
- Event tasks have a more complex workflow, including a pending state and failure state; action items do not.
- Action items support on-the-fly, flexible task creation focused on immediate crisis needs rather than structured recovery plans.
Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
This capability enables crisis managers to respond dynamically during incidents or exercises by assigning immediate, actionable tasks without needing extensive planning or mapping. It improves situational awareness and task management efficiency, ensuring recovery teams can act on critical assessments or verifications quickly. The role-based controls ensure appropriate permissions for task management, and integration with Smart Assessment streamlines assessment-driven action creation.
Starting with BCM release 9.0.x, crisis managers can create action tasks for recovery members or teams anytime during a crisis event or exercise, as long as the event remains open. Crisis managers can create these tasks on the fly without mapping them to event assets or recovery plans. These action tasks are also not included in the event recovery timeline.
Action items in real-time
Action items can be used to assign tasks in real-time. For example, a crisis manager can assign an action item to verify that there are no injuries at a specific office location after an exercise or they can request someone to review the business continuity plan before proceeding to the next steps.
You can also use action items to conduct assessments during a crisis event. For example, in the event of a fire, you can assign an action item to assess the situation, determining the severity, and identify affected employees and buildings. You can perform an assessment and assign an action item.
Fields and states associated with Action items
- Actual start date
- Actual end date
- Total time taken
- Event (Reference)
- Short description
- Description
- Due date
- Task numbers
- Type
- Task
- Assessment
| State | Description |
|---|---|
| Open | First state of the action item. |
| Work in progress | State of the action item when its work begins. When an action item moves to the Work in progress state, the system auto-captures its start time. |
| Skipped | Assigned state of the action item when it is not relevant. When an action item is skipped and considered not relevant, its time fields are removed, resulting in a total time of 0. |
| Closed (complete, incomplete) | Final state of the action item task. When an action item has been completed, the system auto-captures its end time. |
BCM managers or planners can update the action items and can re-open the ad-hoc tasks associated with them.
- Assignment group
- Assigned to
- Additional assignee list
Comparison between event tasks and action items
The action items are distinct from the event tasks in crises and events. The following table outlines the differences between event tasks and action items.
| Fields/Criteria | Event task | Action items |
|---|---|---|
| Details |
|
|
| Assignment |
|
|
| Access |
|
|
| Workflow | Pending -> Open -> Work in progress -> Skipped -> Closed (complete, incomplete, failed) | Open -> Work in progress -> Skipped -> Closed (complete, incomplete) |
| Dependencies | Yes | No |
| Automation | Yes | No |
| Orders | Yes, auto calculated based on dependencies. | No. Order is not calculated for the action item tasks. |
| Time calculation | Event tasks time is rolled up to activated plans, and impacted assets | No. Time is not rolled up for the action item tasks. |
Roles associated with action items
The following roles are associated with action items.
| Role | Description |
|---|---|
| Plan owner | Can create, read, update, and delete action items when the plan owner is the event owner. |
| Program managers | Can create, read, update, and delete action items for all events. |
| Viewers | Can read all action items. |
| Recovery event/Plan owner | Can read and update all action items that they are assigned to. |