Demand form

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 11 minutes to read
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    Summary of Demand Form for Demand Management

    The Demand Form in ServiceNow allows users to create and manage new demands, categorizing them as either Strategic or Operational. Each category determines the types of demands that can be selected and the associated fields that are displayed for assessment and financial analysis.

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    Key Features

    • Name: Identifies the demand.
    • Category: Choose between Strategic (for future planning) or Operational (for ongoing work).
    • Type: Specific demand types based on the selected category, including options like Project, Epic, and Change.
    • Project Management: Allows for tracking of projects created from demands, including resource plans and enhancement or change numbers.
    • Assessment Data: Includes impact, risk, and value calculations to evaluate the demand's importance and potential return on investment.
    • Financials: Tracks costs, expected financial benefits, and budget allocations.
    • Preferences: Options for closing demands automatically upon project creation or closure.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing the Demand Form effectively, ServiceNow customers can streamline their demand management processes, ensuring that all relevant details are captured for informed decision-making. This enables better prioritization of demands, efficient resource allocation, and clearer alignment with strategic goals, ultimately leading to enhanced project outcomes and business value.

    Use the demand form to create a new demand.

    Table 1. Demand form
    Field Description
    Name

    Name of the demand.
    Category Category of the demand:
    • Strategic- Choose this category if the demand is for future planning, such as, project and story.
    • Operational- Choose this category if the demand is for operational work, such as change or defect.
    Type The Category field selection determines the selections available in this field.
    • The following demand types are available if the Category is Strategic:
      • Continual Improvement Management
      • Enhancement
      • Project
      • Epic
      • Story
      • SAFe Epic
      • SAFe Story
      • SAFe Feature
      • No Conversion
    • The following demand types are available if the Category is Operational:
      • Change
      • Defect
      • No Conversion

    The Story, Epic,Enhancement, and Defect options only appear if the administrator has activated the Agile Development 2.0 plugin.

    The SAFe Story, SAFe Feature, and SAFe Epic options only appear if the administrator has activated either the Essential SAFe or Portfolio SAFe plugin.

    You can select No Conversion if you want to use your demand to fund a large project that includes one or more projects, epic, or programs.

    The selections in the Category and Type field also determine the fields that are displayed in the Assessment Data related list.

    The Category and Type fields become read-only when a work entity is created from a demand. If you delete the created work entity, these fields become editable again.
    Project Name of the project created from this demand.

    This field is visible only when you convert the demand into a project. Any resource plans that are attached to the demand propagate to the project.
    Enhancement Number of the enhancement created from this demand.
    Change Number of the change created from this demand.
    Defect Number of the defect created from this demand.
    Number Unique, auto-generated identification number for the demand.
    Approved start date The approved date for starting the demand. This date is populated by the Portfolio manager so that the Demand Manager can adjust the schedule for executing the demand. This field is carried forward to the Approved start date field of the Project form if the demand is converted to a project. This field is highlighted with red color if the date in this field is different than the Start date field.
    Note:
    If this field is left blank while creating a demand, the date from the Start date field is populated in this field.
    Approved end date The approved date for completing the demand. This date is populated by the Portfolio manager so that the Demand Manager can adjust the schedule for executing the demand. This field is carried forward to the Approved end date field of the Project form if the demand is converted to a project. This field is highlighted with red color if the date in this field is different than the Due date field.
    Note:
    If this field is left blank while creating a demand, the date from the Due date field is populated in this field.
    Start date Start date for the demand. This date is changed to Planned start date when the demand is converted to a project.
    Note:
    When you change the planned start date of a demand or project, the associated cost and resource plans also change. The project property Change Resource Plan and Cost Plan Start Date with Demand or Project Start Date Change controls the behavior for demand date change. This property is not enabled by default.
    Due Date Requested completion date for the demand. This date is changed to Planned end date when the demand is converted to a project.
    Similar demands Demands that have similar values for the Short description fields using predictive intelligence and machine-learning algorithms. For more information, see Predictive Intelligence for Demand Management.
    Related Search Search results matching the Name field by default. You can use this field to search for matching demands using other terms also.
    Table 2. Details section of the Demand form
    Field Description
    Portfolio Portfolio indicating the business focus of the demand.
    Program Name of the program to which the demand belongs.
    Investment Class Type of investment class category assigned to the demand:
    • Run: Investment made to sustain the existing business.
    • Change: Investment made to implement a change in the business.
    Investment Type Investment type of the demand.
    Submitted by User submitting the demand.
    Demand Manager Name of the demand manager.
    Collaborators Users who can edit or contribute to the demand. A demand requester can select any user as a collaborator.
    Department Department in a business unit to which the demand submitter belongs.
    Note:
    If you do not select a department, the value defaults to the name of the department to which the submitter belongs.
    Project Manager Project manager that would be assigned to the project created from this demand. When a project is created, this field becomes read-only. This field appears if the Category field is set to Strategic and the Type field is set to Project. If you delete the project created from this demand, this field becomes editable.
    Business Unit Business unit to which the demand submitter belongs.
    Impacted Business Units Business unit which is impacted due to the submitted demand.
    Idea Unique identification number of the idea from which the demand was created.
    Business Capabilities If the demand is to change, enhance, or add one or more business capabilities, they can be associated to the demand. Business capabilities are defined in the Enterprise Architecture (formerly Application Portfolio Management) module.
    Business Applications If the demand is to change, enhance, or add one or more business applications, they can be associated to the demand. Business applications are defined in the Enterprise Architecture (formerly Application Portfolio Management) module.

    You can select any business application in your enterprise, irrespective of it being related to the capability that you have selected in the Business Capabilities field.
    Table 3. Business Case section of the Demand form
    Field Description
    Strategies Strategic objectives of the organization that the demand fulfills. A demand can fulfill multiple strategic objectives.

    If a Business Unit for the demand is selected in the Details tab, then the list displays the business strategies for the selected business unit along with other enterprise strategies.
    Goals Goals associated to the selected strategy. A demand can fulfill multiple goals.

    If a strategy is not selected, then all goals are displayed in the list.
    Business case Business arguments that support the demand.
    Risk of performing Risks if the demand is approved and implemented.
    Risk of not performing Risks if the demand is not approved, for example, risk of loss of opportunity.
    Enablers Key enablers for the demand.
    Barriers Major barriers to the demand.
    In scope Scope of the demand. It is the set of boundaries that define the extent of a demand.
    Out of scope Activities or deliverables that are not in the scope of the demand. Anything which is not defined in the scope is out of scope.
    Assumptions Assumptions made for the demand. Assumptions help to define scope and risks, and fine-tune the estimates for time and cost.
    Table 4. Financials section of the Demand form
    Field Description
    Rate Model Rate model assigned to the demand. The rate model is used to derive hourly rates for the associated resource plans and time cards.
    Note:
    If the rate model assigned to the demand is changed or removed, the cost fields on the associated resource plans are not recalculated.
    Project Currency Currency that is used to execute the project once the project is created from this demand.

    You can select any active currency from the list of values that are listed in the Currency [fx_currency] table.

    After you create a project in the selected project currency, you can't change the project currency in the Project form if the demand contains a cost plan, a benefit plan, or a project budget. If the demand has no plan or budget attached to it, then you can change the project currency in the Project form.
    Note:
    The value of this field defaults to the Project currency field of the Financials tab in the project currency view of the Project form as well. This field is available only when the PPM Standard Multicurrency (com.snc.ppm_multicurrency) plugin is activated and the Demand Currency view is enabled.
    Capital expense Capital expenditure (Capex) for the demand.
    Operating expense Operational expenditure (Opex) for the demand.
    Total planned costs Result is calculated based on values in the Capital expense and Operating expense fields.
    Financial return Result is calculated based on values in the Total costs and Financial benefit fields.
    Financial benefit Estimate of revenue if the demand is approved.

    This value is rolled up from the benefit breakdown of the demand.

    You can also enter the value manually. Select a currency icon and enter a value.
    ROI % Result is calculated based on values in the Total costs and Financial return fields.

    The value in this field is updated when a cost plan, benefit plan, or resource plan is created or updated for the demand in the Qualified or Approved state.
    Capital budget Total capital budget allocated to the demand across all fiscal years.

    The value is rolled up from the capex budget of the demand.
    Operating budget Total operational budget allocated to the demand across all fiscal years.

    The value is rolled up from the opex budget of the demand.
    Discount Rate % Demand discount rate.

    The discount rate is the interest rate to determine the present value of future cash flows.
    Net present value Present value of future cash based on the given annual interest rate.

    It is a measure for comparing money spent today against future expected financial benefits. It helps when evaluating the overall investment performance.

    For example, at 12% discount rate, $1.00 today is worth $0.80 in two years. Therefore, receiving $1.00 in two years, is the same as receiving $0.80 today.

    Net present value (NPV) is calculated from total costs per year, financial benefit per year, and the discount rate for the demand.
    Internal rate of return % Annual interest rate required to achieve an NPV of zero.

    Internal rate of return (IRR) helps to determine which demands can deliver higher rate of return in terms of revenue.
    Demand Actual Cost Total cost incurred while working on a demand and demand tasks. Demand actual cost comes after the assignee of the demand task creates and submits a time card. When the time card is approved, the resource rate, derived from the rate card, labor rate, or system properties, is used to populate this field.
    Note:

    If you are upgrading to New York, this field remains empty for existing demands. To populate this field, run the Update Demand Actual Cost and Actual Effort schedule job.
    Demand Actual Effort Time accrued or spent by a resource while working on a demand or a demand task as derived from the submitted and approved time cards. This field is not available on the Demand form by default. Configure the form to add this field if required.
    Note:

    If you are upgrading to New York, this field remains empty for existing demands. To populate this field, run the Update Demand Actual Cost and Actual Effort schedule job.
    Table 5. Assessment Data section of the Demand form
    Field Description
    Impact Level of business impact created by the demand.
    Risk Risk value calculated from the demand assessment.
    Value Business value of the demand calculated from the Impact and Financial return fields.
    T-Shirt size Size of the demand.

    Before using T-Shirt size as an indicator of demand size, consider creating and publishing definitions for each option, outside the application. This process ensures that the values are interpreted correctly and consistently across the organization or department.
    Score Demand score is calculated based on risk, value, and size attributes in the base system.
    The value of the risk, value, and size attributes are derived from the assessment metric category results. For more information, see Assessment metric categories and their results.
    • When the risk and size are high, the score of the demand is low.
    • When the value is high, the score of the demand is high.
    Assessment Required Option for enabling the assessments for the demand.

    By default the field is selected. When clear, the assessment questionnaire is not triggered for the demand.

    Only a demand manager can update the field when the demand is in the Draft or Submitted state.

    Note:
    When this field is clear, and you reset the demand to draft, the value for Assessment Required is retained as clear.
    Note:
    The values in Value and Score fields are updated when a cost plan, benefit plan, or resource plan is created or updated for the demand in the Qualified or Approved state. The values in the fields are updated only until an artifact such as project, enhancement, defect, or change is created from the demand.
    Table 6. Notes section of the Demand form
    FIeld Description
    Watch list List of groups and users who are subscribed to the demand and who can view the Additional comments.
    Work notes list List of groups and users who are subscribed to the demand and who can view Work notes.
    Work notes Information about the demand. Not visible to customers. Work notes are added throughout the demand management life cycle to communicate with other users associated with the demand.
    Table 7. Preferences section of the Demand form
    Field Description
    Close Demand
    Choices to specify when to close the demand automatically if it is converted to a project.
    • None: Keeps the demand in the Open state after it is converted to a project.
    • On creation of project: Closes the demand when the demand is converted to a project.
    • On closure of project: Closes the demand when the project created from the demand is closed.
    Note:
    The On creation of project and On closure of project options appear when the value for the Type field is set as Project. If the Type field is set as Enhancement, then None appears as the default option.
    Project Calculation Choices to specify the calculation to use for task dependencies for the project when the demand is converted to a project.
    • Manual: Task dates do not reflect any changes made to dependencies.
    • Automatic: Task dates are automatically updated to reflect any changes made to dependent or child tasks.
    Note:
    The default method for calculation is selected as Automatic.