Linking issues to multiple objects using Many-to-many table relationship

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Linking Issues to Multiple Objects Using Many-to-Many Table Relationship

    This feature allows ServiceNow users to link issues to various objects, such as risks, controls, and policies, using many-to-many relationship tables. This capability is essential for assessing the impact of issues on multiple related objects and streamlining issue management processes.

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    Key Features

    • Many-to-Many Relationships: Issues can be linked to controls, control objectives, authority documents, policies, and more through specific many-to-many (m2m) tables, enhancing visibility and organization.
    • Role-Based Access: Users with specific roles (e.g., corporate compliance analysts) can create and delete m2m records but require GRC admin privileges to update existing records.
    • Related Lists: Issues can be viewed as related lists within their parent objects, facilitating impact analysis and reducing duplication of efforts.

    Key Outcomes

    • Improved visibility and consolidation of related issues for impact analysis.
    • Reduction in the effort needed to manage duplicate issues.
    • A comprehensive 360° view of compliance objects linked to issues, aiding in detailed oversight and management.

    Users can create and manage GRC issues linked to various compliance objects via the Compliance Workspace, enabling efficient tracking and categorization of issues as either automatically generated or manually created.

    Issues can be linked to different types of objects such as risk, entity, control, control objective, engagement, policy, authority document, and others to determine issue impact. Use the many-to-many relationship tables for each of the objects to link similar issues to an object.

    Note:
    The Issue record has controls, control objectives, authority documents, policy, and engagements that can be associated with it as related items. However, you must associate the issue and each object as a corresponding m2m record which is stored in the corresponding m2m tables.

    For example, issues are configured as a related list in the Controls form and you can link the issue to the control parent object. When you add an issue to a control, a record is created associating the item that is the control with the issue, in the Issue to Control [sn_grc_m2m_issue_item] table.

    Viewing the issues related to a control was mainly only for reference. However, you can also link as many issues that are related to the control within the Control form. With this enhancement, you have the ability of:
    • visibility of viewing, and consolidating all related issues raised on the control
    • determining the impact analysis of all related issues
    • reducing the effort in working on duplicate issues and manage issue impact analysis

    A user with sn_compliance_ws.corporate_compliance_analyst, sn_compliance_ws.corporate_compliance_manager, sn_compliance_ws.it_compliance_manager, or sn_compliance.admin roles can create and delete the records in the many-to-many tables. However, users with these roles cannot update an existing record in the m2m tables. To update a record, you require GRC admin (sn_grc.admin) role.

    Many-to-many tables used in Compliance Workspace for creating and deleting the issue to object relationships are:
    • sn_grc_m2m_issue_item – Issue to control
    • sn_grc_m2m_issue_content – Issue to control objective
    • sn_grc_m2m_issue_engagement – Issue to Engagements
    • sn_grc_m2m_issue_document – Issue to Policy and Issue to Authority document
    For more information, see: