State model and transitions

Release version: Xanadu

Updated August 1, 2024

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Summary of State model and transitions

Change Management in ServiceNow uses a state model to track and manage change requests through various stages. This model helps control the lifecycle of normal, standard, and emergency changes, ensuring proper review, authorization, scheduling, implementation, and closure. Notifications are sent to requesters at key progress points, improving communication and transparency.

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Change States and Transitions

New (-5): Initial state where the change request is being prepared but not yet submitted.
Assess (-4): Peer and technical review stage for change details.
Authorize (-3): Final authorization and scheduling by Change Management and CAB.
Scheduled (-2): Change is fully scheduled and awaiting implementation; email notification sent.
Implement (-1): Actual work on the change begins; email notification sent.
Review (0): Post-implementation review to assess success; email notification sent. Cancellation is disabled at this stage.
Closed (3): Change is complete with no further action required.
Canceled (4): Change can be canceled anytime except when already closed; email notification sent.

State Progression by Change Type

Normal changes: Progress through all states sequentially.
Standard changes: Pre-authorized, bypass Assess and Authorize states; approvals move them forward, rejection returns them to New.
Emergency changes: Similar to standard but require authorization.

Reverting and Modifying Changes

Emergency and Normal changes can be reverted back to the New state from Assess or Authorized states using the "Revert to New" action, which restarts workflow and cancels pending approvals. This is useful for including missing configuration items before approval.
The type of a change request can be modified in the New state before any approvals are generated, allowing changes between Standard, Normal, and Emergency types as appropriate.
If a Normal or Emergency change is rejected, it resets to New, enabling type modification and resubmission.

Restrictions and Attributes

The Cancel action is disabled for change requests in the Review state to prevent cancellation after work completion.
Change Managers can assign attributes to states to mandate specific actions, such as allowing configuration item (CI) modifications or indicating implementation.
The allowcimodification attribute controls whether CIs can be changed in a given state.
The allowimplementation attribute replaces the existing implementation states field and governs whether the change is considered implemented in that state.

Customization

New states can be added to the existing state model to align with organizational requirements.
State model transitions and criteria for moving between states can be customized using script includes or UI policies, providing flexibility in workflow automation and enforcement.

Change Management offers a state model to move and track change requests through several states.

State transitions in a normal change request — Figure 1. Example of state transitions for a normal change request

The following table provides a list of all the states that a change request can progress through. Email notifications can be sent to the user who requested the change when it progresses to the following states: Scheduled, Implement, Review, and Canceled.

Table 1. Change states
State	Description	State value
New	Change request is not yet submitted for review and authorization. A change requester can save a change request as many times as necessary while building out the details of the change prior to submission.	-5
Assess	Peer review and technical approval of the change details are performed during this state.	-4
Authorize	Change Management and the CAB schedule the change and provide final authorization to proceed.	-3
Scheduled	The change is fully scheduled and authorized, and is waiting for the planned start date. An email notification is sent to the user who requested the change.	-2
Implement	The planned start date has approached and the actual work to implement the change is being conducted. An email notification is sent to the user, who requested the change.	-1
Review	The work has been completed. The change requester determines whether the change was successful. A post-implementation review can be conducted during this state. An email notification is sent to the user who requested the change. Note: You cannot cancel the change request if it is in the Review state.	0
Closed	All review work is complete. The change is closed with no further action required.	3
Canceled	A change can be canceled at any point when it is no longer required. However, a change cannot be canceled from a Closed state. An email notification is sent to the user who requested the change.	4

Normal, standard, and emergency changes progress through states in different ways.

Change state progress for different types of changes — Figure 2. Change state progress

State progress for different changes

Normal changes progress through all states.
Standard changes are considered to be pre-authorized, so they bypass the Assess and Authorize states that trigger approval records. Approving these changes progress the change to the next appropriate state. Rejecting these changes send them back to New state.
Emergency changes are similar to standard changes, except that they must be authorized.

Revert a change request to a New change

Change Management allows the Emergency and Normal change types to be reverted to the new state which is the first approval state using the Revert to New action from the Context Menu. This action is performed if the approval was requested and the submitter recognizes that not all configuration item in the scope of the change is included before submitting for approval.

To modify the Normal change request to the New state, modify the state of a change request from Assess state to New state by clicking Revert to New from the Context menu.
To modify the Emergency change request to the New state, modify the state of a change request from Authorized state to New state by clicking Revert to New from the Context menu.
Note:
When you revert to New from the Assess state or the Authorized state, the workflow is restarted and all pending approvals are cancelled.

Modify change request type

A new ACL for change_request.type has been added that allows modification of the Type field in change request when the change request is in a New state and no approvals have been generated yet for it.
In case of Standard change request, you can modify the type of the change request from Standard to Normal or Emergency, if the state of a change request is New.
In case of Normal or Emergency change request, you can modify the type of the change request from Normal to Emergency or vice versa if the state of a change request is New.
If a Normal or Emergency change request is rejected, the state of the change request is set to New. As the state of the change request is New, you can modify the type of the change request again. For example, if your Emergency change request is rejected on the grounds that the change request is Normal, you can modify the Type of the change request to Normal and resubmit the change request.

Disabled Cancel change action

The Cancel option for a change request in the Review state is disabled. This restricts cancelling the request when the work is complete and is waiting for review.

Change model attributes

The Change Manager has the option to mandate specific actions when a Change Request is moved to a specific state. Attributes assigned to that state determine what actions can take place.

By default, there are two attributes to manage a change request:

allow_ci_modification – Allows to modify the CI. Attributes are only considered if they are included in a model. If the allow_ci_modification attribute is not added to a model, it defaults to its initial state.
allow_implementation – Indicates that the change will be implemented. By enabling allow_implementation, this feature replaces the implementation states field currently present on the Change model. Both the states listed in the implementation states field and the attribute will be respected.