Life cycle of a Public Service case

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Life cycle of a Public Service case

    The life cycle of a public service request case in ServiceNow's Public Sector Digital Services involves progressing through four key stages—Intake, Review, Process, and Decision. Each stage has specific statuses that reflect the case’s progression, guiding government service agents and constituents through information collection, troubleshooting, resolution, and closure.

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    Key Features

    • Intake Stage: Cases start as Draft (not submitted) and move to New upon creation. Agents can assign, accept, update, close, or delete cases. Constituents can update or close cases.
    • Review Stage: Agents perform initial troubleshooting, check for duplicates, or request inspections. Statuses include Open, Inspection in Progress, and Awaiting Info when additional details are needed from constituents.
    • Process Stage: Agents begin work with statuses such as Work in Progress and Work Assignment in Progress. They can request more information, which moves cases to Awaiting Info.
    • Decision Stage: After resolution, agents propose solutions with mandatory resolution codes and notes. Constituents can accept (closing the case) or reject the solution (reopening the case). Closed cases are final and cannot be edited.
    • Additional Statuses: Awaiting Info allows constituents to provide requested details; cases can be Cancelled to terminate the request.

    Practical Implications for ServiceNow Customers

    • Understanding case stages and statuses helps agents efficiently manage public service requests with clear actions at each point.
    • Constituents have defined options for interacting with cases, ensuring transparency and collaboration.
    • Mandatory resolution documentation ensures accountability before closing cases.
    • Cases cannot be modified once Closed or Cancelled, preserving data integrity.

    A public service request case within one of the three Public Sector Digital Services playbook applications can be in one of several states as it progresses through the fulfillment cycle.

    Public Service request case stages

    A public service request case has four stages:
    • Intake
    • Review
    • Process
    • Decision

    As a public service request case moves through the stages listed above and toward a resolution, the case status is updated. Stage and status are related to each other as described in the following table.

    Table 1. Public service request case stages and status
    Case Stage Case Status Description
    Draft The case has not yet been submitted, and the public service request case record has not yet been created.
    Intake

    Guides the agent to collect the information needed to create the public service request case.

    		 New The initial status for a new public service case created through the Government Service Portal or one of the Public Sector Digital Services playbooks.
    In this state, a government service agent can do one of the following:
    • Assign to me: Assign themselves the case. The state changes to Open.
    • Accept: If the case was assigned to the agent by a government service manager, the can agent accept or re-assign the case. If accepted, the state changes to Open.
    • Update: Update the case.
    • Close Case: Close the case.
    • Delete: Delete the case.
    In this state, a constituent can do either of the following:
    • Update: Update the case with additional information.
    • Close Case: Close the case.
    Open A case changes from New to Open when a government service agent assigns the case to themselves (Assign to me), or accepts a case assigned to them by a government service manager.
    In this state, the agent can do one of the following:
    • Update: Update the case.
    • Request Info: Request additional information from the constituent. The case state changes to Awaiting Info.
    • Propose Solution: Propose a solution for the case. The case state changes to Resolved.
    • Close Case: Close the case.
    • Delete: Delete the case.
    Awaiting Info Additional information has been requested from the constituent. In this state, the constituent can do one of the following:
    • Update: Add the requested information to the case. Once that information has been received, the case moves back to Open.
    • Close Case: Close the case.
    Review

    Enables the agent to do initial troubleshooting on the case, check for similar or duplicate case requests, and determine what services need to be rendered.

    		 Open In this state, the agent can do one of the following:
    • Check to see if there are similar or duplicate requests. If so, the case can be moved to progress directly.
    • Request an Inspection: If an inspection is requested, the case status moves to Inspection in Progress
    Inspection in Progress Inspection of the service location by a field service agent is in progress. Once complete, the case is moved to Process.
    Awaiting Info If an agent requests more information at any time during the Review stage, the status of the case changes to Awaiting Info.
    In this state, the agent can do one of the following:
    • Open Case: Change the case state back to Open.
    • Update: Update the case.
    • Close Case: Close the case.
    • Delete: Delete the case.
    In this state, the constituent can do one of the following:
    • Update: Add the requested information to the case. Once the constituent updates the case, the state changes to Open.
    • Close Case: Close the case.
    Process Work in Progress The case status changes to Work in Progresswhen the agent selects Start Work. A work order is now in progress to solve the public service request.
    Work Assignment in Progress A work order is in progress, and the government service agent resolves any open case tasks associated with the case.
    Awaiting Info The case moves to the Awaiting Info state when an agent selects Request Info to request more information from the requester. The agent has requested more information during or after work has been done to resolve the case.
    Decision

    Allows the requester to review the agent's decision and either accept or reject.

    		 Ready for Decision The case is ready for an agent decision.
    Resolved Once an agent provides a resolution code, enters resolution notes in the Resolution Information tab, and selects Propose Solution, the case state changes from Awaiting Info to Resolved.

    The Resolution code and Resolution notes fields are mandatory for an agent to propose a solution to the case.

    In this state, the agent can do one of the following:
    • Update: Update the case
    • Close Case: Close the case.
    A case cannot be closed by an agent or agent manager when it is in this state.
    In this state, the constituent can do one of the following:
    • Accept Solution: Accept the solution proposed by the agent. The case state changes to Closed and a survey is displayed.
    • Reject Solution: Reject the solution proposed by the agent. The case state changes to Open.
    • Delete: Delete the case.
    Closed After proposing a solution, the agent waits for a constituent response.
    • If the constituent clicks Accept Solution, the case state changes from Resolved to Closed.
    • If the constituent clicks Reject Solution, the state changes from Resolved to Open, and the agent must propose another solution.

    Closing a case as an agent or agent manager requires comments to be added to the Resolution notes field. This is not required when a customer closes a case.

    A case cannot be updated once it is closed.
    Cancelled The public service request is cancelled.
    Note:
    You can't edit a public service request case when the state of the case is set to Closed complete or Canceled.