Creating action items in events

Release version: Xanadu

Updated July 31, 2025

3 minutes to read

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Summary of Creating action items in events

Starting with BCM release 9.0.x, ServiceNow enables crisis managers to create ad-hoc action items during open crisis events or exercises. These action items can be assigned to recovery members or teams without needing linkage to event assets or recovery plans, and they are excluded from the event recovery timeline. This capability allows crisis managers to dynamically assign tasks such as safety verifications, business continuity plan reviews, or real-time assessments during incidents.

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Key Features

Real-time task creation: Crisis managers can create and assign tasks on the fly during events or exercises.
Flexible assignment: Action items can be assigned to groups, individual team members, or multiple assignees using fields like Assignment group, Assigned to, and Additional assignee list.
Task details and tracking: Action items track fields including actual start and end dates, total time taken, short description, detailed description, due date, and type.
Workflow states: Action items move through states Open, Work in progress (auto-captures start time), Skipped (removes time tracking), and Closed (auto-captures end time). Tasks can be reopened and updated by BCM managers or planners.
Integration with assessments: Use Smart Assessment integration to create assessment-type action items relevant to the event.

Comparison with Event Tasks

Action items differ from event tasks in several ways:

Dependencies and automation: Event tasks support dependencies, automation, and auto-calculated orders; action items do not.
Time tracking: Event tasks’ time rolls up to activated plans and impacted assets; action items’ time is tracked independently and not rolled up.
Workflow differences: Event tasks include a Pending state and more detailed closure statuses; action items have a simpler workflow.
Access and roles: Both event tasks and action items can be created, updated, and deleted by plan owners and program managers. Recovery event owners and assignees have read and update access to assigned action items.

Roles and Permissions

Plan owner: Can create, read, update, and delete action items if they are the event owner.
Program managers: Have full permissions on action items for all events.
Viewers: Can read all action items.
Recovery event/Plan owners: Can read and update action items assigned to them.

Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

This feature empowers crisis managers to respond dynamically during events by assigning focused, actionable tasks that are not tied to formal recovery plans or assets. It supports more granular and flexible crisis management workflows, enhancing responsiveness and clarity during incident handling. The ability to track the lifecycle and timing of these tasks provides transparency and accountability, while integration with Smart Assessment helps streamline situation evaluation and response prioritization.

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

The Action items tab contains the following details related to the ad-hoc tasks:

Actual start date
Actual end date
Total time taken
Event (Reference)
Short description
Description
Due date
Task numbers
Type
Task
Assessment

The following workflow (states) are associated with action items.

Table 1. States associated with action items
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.

You can assign the action item tasks to the groups or team members by using the following fields:

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.

Table 2. Comparison between event tasks and action item tasks
Fields/Criteria	Event task	Action items
Details	Short description Description Task numbers Dependencies Activated plan Impacted assets Task ID	Short description Description Task numbers Type
Assignment	Assignment group Assigned to Recovery team Additional assignee list	Assignment group Assigned to Additional assignee list
Access	Plan owner, Program manager can create/update/delete action items. Event recovery members can read/update action items that they are assigned to.	Plan owner, Program manager can create/update/delete action items. Event recovery members can read/update action items that they are assigned to.
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.

Table 3. Roles associated with action item tasks
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.