Project Portfolio Management release notes
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Summary of Project Portfolio Management release notes - Australia Release
The ServiceNow® Project Portfolio Management (PPM) application in the Australia release offers enhanced capabilities for managing planning items ranging from small tasks to large project portfolios. This release introduces AI-driven features, improved user roles and permissions, UI updates, and new experience options to streamline demand and project management processes.
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Key Features
- AI Integration in Demand Management: Users can associate AI systems directly with demands and generate concise, structured demand summaries using the new demand summarization skill. This skill now incorporates data from related entities such as tasks, cost plans, benefits, resource assignments, and work notes for comprehensive insights.
- ServiceNow AI Platform Licensing Tiers: The release introduces three AI licensing tiers—Foundation, Advanced, and Prime—granting access to various AI features including generative skills, agentic workflows, and AI agents based on entitlement.
- Role-Based Property Management: Enhanced controls restrict editing of key system properties and project properties to users with specific admin roles (ideaadmin, ppsadmin), ensuring better governance and security.
- Demand Management UI Enhancements: Labels for date fields have been updated for new installations, and an AI Associations section is available within demand forms for AI-related demands, improving clarity and workflow integration. The new Next Experience workspace offers a unified, guided interface with improved navigation and integration of Playbooks and Docs, available under Strategic Portfolio Management licenses.
- Deprecations and Replacements: Several legacy features are being phased out, including Scenario Planning, Project Status Report, PMO dashboard, Investment Portal, and Project Workbench. Alternative capabilities are provided through Strategic or Portfolio Planning Workspaces and Project Workspace to ensure continuity.
Key Outcomes
- Improved Demand Management: AI-powered summarization and system associations deliver clearer, data-rich demand insights, facilitating better decision-making and prioritization.
- Enhanced Security and Role Governance: Restricting property edits and access to sensitive functionality to designated admin roles ensures secure and controlled management of PPM settings.
- Modernized User Experience: The Next Experience workspace and UI updates offer a streamlined and intuitive interface for managing demands, boosting productivity and user satisfaction.
- Future-Ready PPM Platform: Preparation for deprecating older modules and dashboards aligns the platform with modern ServiceNow AI capabilities and workspace solutions, enabling customers to leverage improved, supported tools.
Activation and Related Applications
Project Portfolio Management features in this release are accessible by activating the PPM Standard plugin (com.snc.financialplanningpmo). Customers seeking enhanced project management should also consider using the Project Workspace application, which provides an intuitive experience for project planning and management.
The ServiceNow® Project Portfolio Management application enables you to create and manage a wide range of planning items from a few small tasks to large portfolios of projects. Project Portfolio Management was enhanced and updated in the Australia release.
Project Portfolio Management highlights for the Australia release
- Update the idea and demand-related system properties by using the idea_admin or pps_admin roles.
- Link AI systems to demands in Demand Management.
- Generate a concise summary of a demand by using the demand summarization skill.
See Explore Project Portfolio Management for more information.
New in the Australia release
Australia Patch 1
- ServiceNow product tiers
- 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
Depending on your entitlements, you will have access to certain application features, generative AI skills, agentic workflows, and AI agents.
- Associate AI systems with demands in Demand Management
- Add and manage AI system associations directly from the AI Associations tab in Demand Management. You can select impacted AI systems or create AI systems using related links directly within the demand workflow.
- Summarize demand records with the demand summarization skill
- Generate a concise, structured summary of any demand using the demand summarization skill through the Summarize button in the demand form. The skill reviews the demand fields and helps create a clear summary of the demand.
- Admin role enhancements in Demand Management
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- Enabling all users to create ideas with a minimum read role added to the com.snc.idea.universal_request.copy_fields system property.
- The com.snc.idea.universal_request.copy_fields system property can be updated only by users with the idea_admin or pps_admin roles.
- Help ensure that only authenticated users have access to the bubble chart workbench through the UserIsAuthenticated condition added to the bubble chart workbench ACL (access control list).
- Admin role enhancements in Project Management
- The Project properties can be edited only by users with the pps_admin role.
- Admin role enhancements in Innovation Management
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- The write role has been added for the idea.notification.sender.email and com.snc.innovation_management.im_editor_attachment_tag_id system properties.
- The idea.notification.sender.email and com.snc.innovation_management.im_editor_attachment_tag_id system properties can be added or updated only by users with idea_admin roles.
UI changes
- Demand Management UI changes
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- The Start date and Due date column labels have been renamed Planned start date and Planned end date, respectively. This change is applicable only for new installations of the Australia version. To ensure continuity, if you’re upgrading to the Australia release from an earlier release, you’ll continue to see the prior labels.
- If you have the AI Control Tower plugin installed and the investment type of the demand is set to artificial intelligence:
- The AI Associations section in the Demand form is displayed. The following fields are included:
- Product: Enables you to select the product or system that the demand relates to.
- Impacted AI systems: Links the impacted AI systems with the demand. You can select existing AI systems from the list or remove systems that are no longer relevant.
- An option to create an AI system under Related Links in the Demand form is available for users with the sn_ai_steward role.
- The AI Associations section in the Demand form is displayed. The following fields are included:
Changed in this release
Australia Patch 2
- Demand summarization skill enhancements
- The demand summarization skill incorporates data from related entities when generating a summary. In addition to demand record fields, the summary includes insights from demand tasks, cost plans, monetary and non-monetary benefit plans, resource assignments, and work notes. The generated summary covers business requirements, timeline, risks, stakeholder comments, cost, effort, monetary and non-monetary benefits, and ROI.
- Next Experience for Demand Management
- The new Next Experience for Demand Management provides a unified layout, guided stages, improved navigation, and enhanced capabilities such as Playbooks and Docs integration. As you move to Next Experience for Demand Management, you’ll find it easier to create, review, and manage demands with a cleaner layout and guided actions. The classic UI is still available, but new improvements will appear in the workspace.
Next Experience for Demand Management is available with the Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) Standard and Pro licenses.
Removed in this release
- For Demand Management:
- The permission to edit the value of the dmn_stakeholder_register.number field in the Stakeholder Register [dmn_stakeholder_register] table has been removed for the admin role.
- The admin role ACL has been removed for the bubble chart workbench.
- The duplicate app module that was created for the admin role has been removed.
Deprecated features
- Starting with Australia release, Scenario Planning for PPM (com.snc.ppm_scenario_planning) is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer available for activation but will continue to be supported. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support knowledge base.
Alternatively, Strategic Planning Workspace (for SPM pro users) or Portfolio Planning Workspace (for SPM standard users) provides the Scenario Planning capability. For details, see Scenario planning in Strategic Planning or Scenario planning in Portfolio Planning.
- Starting with Australia release, the Project Status Report (com.sn_store_ppm.mobile) is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer available for activation but will continue to be supported. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support knowledge base. Alternatively, Project Workspace provides the Status Report capability.
- Starting with Australia release, the PMO dashboard is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer available for activation but will continue to be supported. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support knowledge base. Alternatively, Execution dashboard provides the PMO dashboard capability.
- Starting with Australia release, the Investment Portal is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer available for activation but will continue to be supported. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support knowledge base. Alternatively, Portfolio Planning Workspace provides the Investment Portal capability.
- Starting Australia, Project Workbench is no longer deployed, enhanced, supported or available for activation. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support knowledge base.
Activation information
Project Portfolio Management is a ServiceNow AI Platform feature that is available with activation of the PPM Standard (com.snc.financial_planning_pmo) plugin. For details, see Activate PPM Standard (Project Portfolio Management).