Homepage deprecation help tool features

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Homepage deprecation help tool features

    The Homepage deprecation help tool in ServiceNow’s Xanadu release enables administrators to manage all homepages centrally by converting them to dashboards, retiring unwanted homepages, and restoring retired homepages as dashboards. This tool supports a smooth transition from traditional homepages to modern responsive dashboards, which will become the default landing pages.

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    To use the tool effectively, an admin must first disable the creation of new homepages by setting the system property com.glideapp.home.deprecatehomepages to true. This change prevents new homepage creation and sets dashboards as the default start pages. Additionally, admins or users with the dashboardadmin and flowdesigner roles must populate the homepage migration status table to begin the migration process.

    Key Features

    • Homepage deprecation dashboard: This dashboard has four tabs that organize homepage management:
      • Overview: Provides status reports and links to start the deprecation process, including disabling homepage creation and populating the migration status table.
      • Personal homepages: Lists homepages owned by inactive or locked-out users, helping identify candidates for retirement.
      • Menus and Favorites: Displays homepages linked to menus and those marked as favorites by users. When migrating, menu items must be updated to point to converted dashboards, and users should be informed to update their favorites accordingly.
      • Usage: Shows homepages not viewed in the last 30 days, highlighting candidates for retirement.
    • Reports on the Overview tab: Include counts and lists of homepages by their migration status (not deprecated, converted, retired, restored) and assignments to users and groups, enabling targeted management actions.
    • Actionable links and filters: Allow admins to quickly access lists of homepages for conversion or retirement, particularly personal homepages owned by inactive users.

    Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers

    This tool is essential for customers migrating from legacy homepages to dashboards, ensuring a controlled, efficient transition with minimal disruption to users. By centrally managing homepage statuses and dependencies such as menu items and user favorites, admins can maintain navigation integrity and user experience. The ability to restore retired homepages as dashboards offers flexibility during migration. Tracking inactive or unused homepages helps optimize and clean up the instance.

    Adopting this tool will help customers enforce dashboard usage, reduce reliance on deprecated homepages, and streamline the user interface consistent with ServiceNow’s evolving platform standards.

    Use the Homepage deprecation help tool to find all of your homepages in one place and convert them to dashboards, retire them, and restore retired homepages as dashboards.

    To access the Homepage deprecation dashboard, navigate to All > Homepage deprecation help tool > Overview.

    Before you use the homepage deprecation help tool, perform these two steps. A user with the admin role must change the system property. A user with the admin role or a user with both the dashboard_admin and flow_designer roles can populate the homepage migration status table.
    1. Disable the creation of new homepages: Set the system property com.glideapp.home.deprecate_homepages to true.
      Important:
      When set to true, this property disables the creation of new homepages and sets the default start page or landing page to Dashboards. Menu items and URLs that open homepages will continue to point to those homepages. Otherwise, homepages are unavailable and should be migrated using this tool.
    2. Populate the homepage migration status table.
    The Homepage deprecation dashboard has four tabs:
    Overview
    The overview enables you to start the deprecation process and view the general status of the homepages on your instance.
    Personal homepages
    A list of all the homepages that are owned by individuals who are inactive or locked out of the instance. Personal homepages are different than Global homepages, which are accessible to all users.
    Menus and Favorites
    Lists of homepages that appear on configured menus and homepages that are marked as favorites by users. In the first case, you must reconfigure the menu item to point to the converted dashboard. In the second case, you must alert users to mark the new converted dashboard as a favorite.
    Usage
    A list of all the homepages that have not been viewed in the last 30 days.
    Figure 1. Homepage deprecation dashboard
    Animated gif of homepage deprecation dashboard that scrolls through all four tabs

    Overview tab

    The Overview tab includes links for getting started and several reports that enable you to choose homepages that need attention.

    In the How to start section, admins have links to disable creation of new homepages and to populate the homepage migration status table.

    Report Type Description
    Homepages not deprecated Single score Number of homepages that you have not converted or retired. Select this report to see the associated homepages on the Homepage migration status table.
    Converted homepages Single score Number of homepages that you’ve converted to responsive dashboards. Select this report to see the associated homepages on the Homepage migration status table.
    Retired homepages Single score Number of homepages that you’ve retired. Select this report to see the associated homepages on the Homepage migration status table.
    Restored homepages Single score Number of retired dashboards that you’ve restored as responsive dashboards. Select this report to see the associated homepages on the Homepage migration status table.
    Assigned to users Bar report Homepages that are assigned to users. The bar labeled empty accounts for homepages that don’t have any assigned users. Select any bar in this report to see the associated homepages on the Homepage migration status table.
    Assigned to groups Bar report Homepages that are assigned to groups. The bar labeled empty accounts for homepages that don’t have any assigned groups. Select any bar in this report to see the associated homepages on the Homepage migration status table.
    All converted homepages from app and other actions List report All dashboards that have been converted from homepages, whether in the help tool, or by other means.

    Personal homepages

    This tab shows a list of the homepages whose owners are inactive or otherwise locked out. These homepages may be good candidates for retirement. Select the link to open a filtered list containing only the personal homepages to retire or convert them.

    Menus and Favorites

    The Menus and Favorites tab has three lists.
    Homepages connected to menus
    Shows the homepages that are connected to menus in the filter navigator. When you convert or retire these homepages, you must point the menu item to the converted dashboard or remove the menu item.
    Homepages connected to favorites
    Shows homepages that users identify as a favorite. When you convert or retire these homepages, tell them that they should mark the converted dashboard as a favorite.
    Menus and Modules connected to Homepages
    Shows homepages that appear in the filter navigator as either menu items or modules. Edit the menu and module items to open the converted dashboard. Remove menu or module items that open retired homepages.

    Usage

    The Usage tab shows a list of all homepages not viewed in the last 30 days. These homepages may be good candidates for retirement.