Core Business Suite release notes

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 23, 2026
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Core Business Suite release notes

    The ServiceNow® Core Business Suite (CBS) application, introduced in the Australia release, is designed to unify fragmented business processes across various business units within a single product suite. It offers a collection of modules tailored to meet diverse business needs and personas, enhancing operational efficiency and employee experience.

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    Key Features

    • Accelerated Setup with Now Assist: Guided flows simplify the setup and configuration of CBS applications from a centralized admin home console.
    • AI-native Requester Experience: Employees benefit from an AI-powered requester interface for seamless issue reporting and information requests.
    • Employee Slate Portal: Serves as the default employee support portal within CBS, providing a consolidated, conversational interface with flexible configuration options to suit different organizational needs.
    • Subscription-based Installation: CBS applications can be installed directly from the Product Hub according to the customer’s subscription tier.
    • Automated Role Assignments: Assignment rules for the CBS requester role are automated to reduce manual administrative efforts.
    • Analytics Dashboard: Offers comprehensive visibility into request activity, performance insights, and resolution trends across business units with AI-enabled summaries.

    Important Upgrade Information

    The Australia release enhances security by introducing granular read-only field protections on the ServiceNow AI Platform, maintaining backward compatibility while strengthening instance security. Customers should review technical details provided in KB2718122 to identify and adjust affected fields accordingly.

    Additionally, the AI Platform now supports three licensing tiers—Foundation, Advanced, and Prime—offering increasing levels of AI capabilities from basic insights to autonomous AI operations.

    Activation and Plugins

    Core Business Suite is available through the ServiceNow Store. Customers must request installation from the store based on their subscription. The Australia release introduces three new plugins:

    • Core Business Suite Foundation (base package)
    • Core Business Suite Advanced (mid-tier package)
    • Core Business Suite Prime (top-tier package)

    Related ServiceNow Applications

    • Setup Hub: Provides a modular, personalized admin dashboard for centralized instance management and task completion.
    • Now Assist: Embeds generative AI capabilities throughout CBS, enabling features like chat summarization, resolution note generation, and agentic workflows.
    • Enterprise Service Management Foundation: Unifies multiple service domains (IT, HR, finance, etc.) on one AI platform for streamlined service delivery and employee experience.

    The ServiceNow® Core Business Suite (CBS) application lays the foundation to unify disjointed processes across business units. It’s a collection of modules that fulfills different business needs for different personas within a single product suite. CBS is a new application in the Australia release.

    Core Business Suite highlights for the Australia release

    • Accelerate application setup with Now Assist in Core Business Suite.
    • Launch CBS applications from a new admin home configuration console, and set up each application from the entry point.
    • Use the AI-native requester experience in CBS.
    • Get Employee Slate as your default employee support portal on CBS with two configuration options for more flexibility for different organizations.
    • Install Core Business Suite applications from the Product Hub according to your subscription.
    • Automate assignment rules for the CBS requester role enabling administrators reduce manual effort.
    • View performance insights and resolution trends across business units on the Core Business Suite Analytics dashboard.

    See Core Business Suite for more information.

    Important:
    Core Business Suite is available in the ServiceNow Store. For details, see the "Activation information" section of these release notes.

    Important information for upgrading Core Business Suite to Australia

    • The Australia release introduces enhanced protections for read‑only fields across the ServiceNow AI Platform®. These changes include a new “read_only_option” field with granular control levels, including “strict_read_only” and “client_script_modifiable". The changes occur in the back end and maintain backward‑compatible behavior. This update helps strengthen your instance security while preserving the flexibility you need. Refer to KB2718122 for additional technical details on how to identify affected fields and adjust their settings. For more information about granular read-only security options, see Configuring read-only security options.
    • The ServiceNow AI Platform now brings you a new AI experience with three licensing tiers available:
      • Foundation: AI basics to deliver insights
      • Advanced: AI to boost productivity across relevant use cases
      • Prime: Act autonomously with all AI assets, and create your own
      For more information, see ServiceNow product tiers.

    Core Business Suite features

    Configure Core Business Suite using Now Assist
    Use a guided flow to set up the CBS.
    Configure Core Business Suite using guided setup
    Use the new CBS home page to initiate installations of different applications across BUs in one place. Track setup progress and receive guided configuration support from a unified product console. You can install and configure applications according to your business requirements.
    Now Assist requester experience
    Provide your employees with the AI-native requester experience in CBS.
    Australia Patch 3Employee Slate for Core Business Suite
    Provide your employees with a consolidated view of the Employee Center widgets with a conversational interface for raising issues, asking for information, and submitting business unit-specific service requests. The default employee support portal for CBS brings all of these functionalities together with Employee Slate.
    Core Business Suite setup on Product Hub
    Install your Core Business Suite application directly from Product Hub, depending on your subscription tier.
    CBS requester role enhancements

    Automate assignment of the CBS requester role to enable admins reduce repetitive, manual work.

    View Core Business Suite Analytics

    Access all Core Business Suite (CBS) analytics in one place to monitor and review request activity across departments in detail and in AI-enabled summaries.

    Activation information

    Install Core Business Suite by requesting it from the ServiceNow Store. Visit the ServiceNow Store to view all the available apps, and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.

    Plugin information

    New plugins

    The following plugins are new in Australia:

    • Core Business Suite Foundation (sn_cbs_foundation): Base package with CBS support.
    • Core Business Suite Advanced (sn_cbs_advanced): Mid-tier package with CBS support.
    • Core Business Suite Prime (sn_cbs_prime): Top-tier package with CBS support.

    Related ServiceNow applications and features

    Setup Hub
    Provides a modular and personalized admin home dashboard that helps centralize instance management and complete critical tasks. It supports context-aware insights and recommended next actions.
    Now Assist
    Provides the generative AI capabilities embedded throughout CBS, such as chat summarization, resolution notes generation, and agentic workflows.
    Enterprise Service Management Foundation
    Unifies IT, HR, finance, procurement, legal, and workplace services on one AI platform. It delivers a simplified and unified implementation, service delivery, and employee experience for growing organizations.